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The process of mummification comes
about when the natural onset of
putrefaction of the body is by some means, either natural or artificial,
prevented from dissolving tissues. In hot climates such as Egypt, the drying
effect of the hot sand in which bodies were interred led to the preservation of
the dead with a 'life-like' appearance. Such climatic conditions do not prevail
in the temperature zones and natural mummification is a rare occurrence.
According to what few statistics there are, the commonest incidences of
mummification are the concealed deaths of new-born babies. The reason that these
infants are so suitable for the process is that at birth a baby's body contains
few bacteria, which eliminates the main cause of
putrefaction. In addition, the child will normally be well wrapped up and
hidden in a warm, dry place - a drawer, or the back of a cupboard - where, given
a moderate circulation of air and the relatively small size of the body,
dehydration will take place.
Examples of adult mummification are seldom encountered, the best-known being the
desiccated corpse found in the hall cupboard at an address in Rhyl, North Wales
in 1960. The Harvey family had always lived in the house in Kinmel Street, and
when her husband, Alfred died in 1938, Mrs Sarah Harvey took paying guests to
help make ends meet. In 1960, at the age of sixty-five, Mrs Harvey was admitted
to hospital for a routine check-up, and in her absence her son Leslie, now
married and living in nearby Abergele, decided to redecorate the house as a
'welcome home' present.
As they made their way upstairs making a note of the jobs to be done, Leslie
Harvey and his wife found themselves facing the large wooden cupboard on the
first-floor landing. In Leslie's recollection it had always been locked and
strictly out-of-bounds when he was a child; he had been told that it contained
some things belonging to Mrs Frances Knight, a former lodger who had long since
moved on. With renewed curiosity Leslie Harvey prised open the double doors with
a screwdriver, prepared at worst for the task of clearing out some dusty old
suitcases. With an understandable revulsion he stood speechless as the contents
of the cupboard were revealed by the invading light. These were not somebody's
possessions - they were somebody's remains; and they had obviously been there
for a very long time.
The Chief Constable of Flint, Reginald Atkins, and coroner Dr Rhys Llewellyn
Jones peered closely at the grim bundle that had until so recently occupied the
landing cupboard. The body was in a doubled up position, clothed in a now-faded
and cobweb-encrusted nightdress and dressing gown. The skin was shrunken and
leathery, what flesh remained was hard as stone - the whole corpse had been
mummified by the natural process of warm, dry air rising and circulating around
the cupboard, slowly drying out the body tissue. Atmospheric conditions which
had made it possible to conceal a corpse for many year without the tell tale
stench of putrefaction. Quite obviously Mrs Harvey had some explaining to do; it
is not every day that a twenty year old corpse is found in your cupboard. She
admitted hiding the body of Mrs Knight when she died some time in April 1940,
and she admitted claiming her former lodger's maintenance grant each week since
then, but Sarah Harvey emphatically denied that she had murdered the woman. The
Crown put up a half-hearted case at best, and mainly in defense to her advanced
years and declining health, Mrs Harvey was found guilty only of the lesser
charge of fraud and sentenced to a token fifteen months imprisonment. |
