Mayan mummies

While researching the Maya Mummy in Castle, I came across this item:

By Cavett Binion

Plot Synopsis

American "B"-movie mogul Jerry Warren can always be counted on to turn a cheap but fun horror import into a boring, unwatchable mess-as proven by this tedious effort, originally produced in Mexico as The Aztec Mummy and later padded out with deadly-dull exposition. The original film is silly enough; the first of a popular Mexican series, it involves the awakening of the mummy Popoca to avenge the desecration of his tomb by infidels. As a cost-saving measure, instead of re-dubbing the Spanish dialogue, Warren added new scenes with American actors, who drone on about reincarnation and past-life regression and bring the action to a screeching halt.

Similar Works

La Casa del Terror (1959, Gilberto Martinez Solares)
La Maldicion de la Momia Azteca (1957, Rafael Lopez Portillo)
La Momia Azteca (1957, Rafael Lopez Portillo)

Plus these items:

It has been scientifically proved that America's ancient inhabitants, the Maya, used to wrap the deceased in caoutchouc and evaporate the mummies in humid tropical jungle, like in a sauna.Note: The article's content doesn't justify the scaremongering headline: "shocks scientists with its brutality." The text notes how the Maya drew their own blood, but I wouldn't call that "brutal."Evidence of the extraordinary longevity of tattoos has finally been discovered, in a mummified Mayan female whose panoramic tattoos have lasted almost two thousand years.

Note: A naturally mummified body isn't the same as the artificially mummified body in Castle.

DESCRIPTION: Mayan Mummies appear to be desiccated corpses dressed in the priest garments of a Mayan worshiper of Tezcatlipoca. The bodies are often still adorned with the jewelry and raiments the individual had in life. Because of the particular preserving process, the creature is also usually covered in salt.

Comment: The last image pretty much sums up the linkage between Mesoamericans and horror. If blood and death were involved, the people had to have been evil, right?

The second link is the only semi-scientific reference I found to Maya mummies. And it comes from a UFO site. So far the existence of Maya mummies remains unconfirmed, to put it mildly.

• Mayan Mystery
• Mayan gods of life
• Mayan culture Art
• Maya period