The "screaming man" is an awful or I suppose, awe-inspiring, Egyptian mummy dated to the New Kingdom in Egypt. Called much more blandly "Unknown Man E", this mummy is about as extreme a puzzle as you get in Egyptology: an improperly embalmed mummy.
The Screaming Man: Unknown Man E at Deir el Bahri Photo by National Geographic
I remember the first time I ran into him, when I was reading Grafton Eliot Smith's 1912 book on the Royal Mummies from Deir el Bahri (fabulous night-time reading if you have trouble falling asleeep by the way; so dull you drop right off). I read the description of Unknown Man E and wondered if the mummy's condition inspired the fictional Imhotep mummy that terrorizes Peter Cushing and Brendan Fraser and Charlton Heston, et cetera, et cetera. I was wrong, as usual.
Still,Unknown Man E is a fascinating mummy, if a bit ickier than most mummies.
- Mystery of the Screaming Man, Viewers Guide from About.com
- Mystery of the Screaming Man, Nat Geo
- The Cache at Deir el Bahri
- The Mummy in Fiction
- The Mystery of Unknown Man E, Bob Brier, Archaeology Online
Mystery of the Screaming Man will premiere tonight, Friday, November 21, 2008, on the National Geographic Channel. Check local listings.
Comments
Um, I have to say…I’d never thought about how a mummy smells before reading about it in your Viewer’s Guide….
I know: weird, huh? In the Harper’s article I cited, the ‘how a mummy smells’ was the ‘hook’ the writer used to bring people into the text. The archaeologist Otto Schaden made a comment about the smell of a mummy to the writer Gregory Jaynes and Jaynes found the opportunity to sniff one for himself. Jaynes’ quote is the one I used in the VG. I left the comments out of my discussion of Jaynes article here
http://archaeology.about.com/b/2008/01/09/the-mummys-curse-having-a-journalist-drop-by-your-site.htm
because it wasn’t really germane.
But, it’s interesting, isn’t it? and it underscores the shock that Maspero must have gotten when Unknown Man E was so different.
Kris
Having seen the Nat. Geo programme on unknown man E, I am convinced that it must be Pentawar, mummified alive, his organs ripped out while he was tied, and his death scream was left on his face on purpose because his suffering had to be visible while he was sent to hell. After that he was covered by the quick wash, the goat fur covered his body, no name was left on his royal sarcophage. An eternal warning not to commit high treason.