Mummy

A mummy is a dead body that has been preserved by natural or artificial processes. Historically, mummification has been widely practiced by the ancient Egyptians and Incans, among other cultures. The concept of undead or reanimated mummies is a common trope in fantasy and horror fiction, tracing back to The Mummy!: A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century (1827) by Jane Webb,Wikipedia, "The Mummy!". and popularized by the 1932 film The Mummy.Collider, "The Legacy of 1932's The Mummy Explained", by Nicholas Vanes, January 12, 2022.
==In Lovecraft's Fiction==
While the ancient Egyptians had a long tradition of mummifying people and animals, it was only in the latter days of their civilization that certain priests started to create "composite mummies" by combining human and animal body parts, in an attempt to imitate their gods. Nowadays, the reanimated composite mummies still inhabit subterranean catacombs ruled by Khephren and Nitokris, and worship the Sphinx. (: "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs")
Mummification was also practiced by the non-human inhabitants of the Nameless City. (: "The Nameless City")
In 1770, Joseph Curwen acquired a cargo of Egyptian mummies with the purpose of reanimating them and learning their secrets. (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
The greatest collection of mummies in America is located in the Cabot Museum's hall of mummies. The collection includes ancient Egyptian specimens, prehistoric mummies from the Aleutian Islands, citizens of Pompeii preserved by the volcanic ashes, and the naturally-mummified bodies of people who died in mines and excavation shafts. In 1879, Curator Pickman acquired an alleged "mummy" found on a newly-emerged portion of the lost continent Mu. This "mummy" was actually the still-living body of T'yog, a victim of the petrifying glare of Ghatanothoa. (: "Out of the Aeons")
Surama, an Atlantean sorcerer raised from his tomb after thousands of years, is compared to "a Pharaoh’s mummy, if miraculously brought to life." (: "The Last Test")
In 1913, Arthur Jermyn acquired the mummified body of a white ape princess who turned out to be his great-great-great-grandmother. (: "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family")
St. John's collection of ghoulish trophies includes "cases of antique mummies" that line the walls. (: "The Hound")
== Other Mythos Writers ==
Friedrich von Junzt discovered the mummy of a high priest in the Temple of the Toad, in Honduras. (: "The Thing on the Roof")
Simon of Gitta fled from an army of mummies in the crypts beneath the Pyramids. (: "The Treasure of Horemkhu")
The looting of the mummy of a priest of Sebek to New Orleans brought the crocodile-headed god himself to seek vengeance. (: "The Secret of Sebek")
== References ==
Category:Other Supernatural Beings