13 scary real-life stories from Newcastle's gruesome past
Updated
ByEmily Meritt
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
"Her hair was long and reddish but turning grey in places."
9) THE UNWRAPPING OF AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY
People were fascinated by Egyptology in the mid-19th Century, so the opening of a sarcophagus at the Literary and Philosophical Society on Westgate Road was a huge coup for the city.
The casket contained the mummified remains of a female which had been obtained by John Bowes Wright in Paris where it had been brought from Egypt by Baron Denton.
Three surgeons opened the well-preserved sycamore case at on March 8, 1830. It took two hours to unwind the nankeen cloth (pale yellow cotton) weighing 50lb 6oz (23 kilos) protecting the body which was found to be "in a remarkably perfect state".
Her hair was long and reddish but turning grey in places, her teeth were white and had been well cared for, while the skin was sepia brown in colour.
The naked mummy was displayed in a glass case in the gallery room of the Lit & Phil library.
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