A gentile visitor to Nauvoo (?) described a tour given by Joseph Smith of his cabinet of curiosities, including this passage:

"'And now come with me,' said the prophet, 'and I will show you the curiosities.' So saying, he led the way to a lower room… There were some pine presses fixed against the wall of the room. These receptacles Smith opened, and disclosed four human bodies, shrunken and black with age. 'These are mummies,' said the exhibitor. 'I want you to look at that little runt of a fellow over there. He was a great man in his day. Why, that was Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt!'"

Whether or not the "little runt" was Pharaoh Necho/Neco/Nekau II who slew King Josiah at the battle of Megiddo in 609 B.C. (I think not; but JS would have been familiar with his name from 2 Kings 23:29-30, which mentions the battle and Josiah's death), I began to wonder:

Whatever happened to those four mummies? Did they disappear back then, sold on to another sucker, or dumped in some Illinois forest? Or does the Church still have them in a storage basement somewhere under the control of the Church Archivist's department?

I'm curious whether anyone has ever heard about Joseph's private collection of mummies?

in b 4 ~ that's a good question OPie ~

I would be most interested in reading accounts of this particular ("Mormon mummies") chapter in the overall, looting of, and subsequent black market in, ancient Egyptian mummies story.

The first time I read about this was when I was just about ready to enter junior high, and I have been fascinated about the overall story ever since: my childhood curiosity (and budding sense of the morbid) was sparked by the references to medicinal pills (for various ailments), intended for Americans and Europeans, which were made from ground-up mummy bodies.

More general info about this topic:

http://www.ajaonline.org/book-review/1184



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2018 09:55PM by Tevai.

I wonder if Joseph was killed by a Mummy’s Curse. That would be a nice discussion for your TBM friends or EQ class.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
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> I wonder if Joseph was killed by a Mummy’s
> Curse. That would be a nice discussion for your
> TBM friends or EQ class.

I think you might find it was not a Mummy who killed Joseph Smith but the Daddy of a girl he tried to molest.

Mother Lucy Mack, who was a middling witch, was allowed to charge all who came round the house 25 cents for a peek at the bones.

At that rate, she'd have to had flogged them 50 years to earn back the two or three grand Holy Jo's pals and handlers spent to buy the stuff from that carnival barker.

The dry and dusty stinkers likely ended up in a dump.

Unfortunately, the papyrus scrolls stuffed under the mummies' armpits later turned up in a New York museum for all to see.

Scholars found them perfect proof that the flim-flam club's BoA was another crude bit of historical bogus.

Turns out the hieroglyphics attributed to Abraham were really magic charms to prevent dead Egyptians from losing their mouths on their road to living Hell.

as their family business. Lucy charged admission to see the mummies. Joseph Smith, Sr. charged money for "patriarchal blessings." Since it is likely that historical records only provide information on a fraction of what these characters got up to, it's probably safe to assume that they were constantly scheming to profit from the prophet business.

Of course we know that Joe Junior was working every possible angle. Banking, real estate, lodging, booze...you name it. I'm sure that we know less than a tenth of what he got up to. I wouldn't be surprised if he was generating income from the polygamy scam too. "Hey, Brother Fester, I see you have an eye on Sister Beatrice Butterheigen. I've been praying for a revelation about whether God wants you two together. It's not clear...yet.... Why, Brother Fester, a $50 donation? That is so generous! Now, that I contemplate the matter some, the inspiration seems to be getting clearer. The Lord is impressing on my mind that you and Beatrice do indeed belong together."

I have been reading this site more years than I care to recall. I vaguely remember this question arising before and someone stated that the mummies ended up in Chicago ( post Nauvoo period of flight to Utah) and that they were alleged to be burned up in the Great Chicago Fire. It was also alleged that the papyrus were destroyed at that time but that was partially disproved when some fragments turned up in the Met Museum in New York in the 1960's who was said to have donated them to the Mormons in Salt Lake City. Drats, old age has taken many of the details from my memory so I don't know if this was helpful !

They were dunked
Now they are dead

They look the same
As they every did

They are invisible
Earthly mummy said

They never existed
Heavenly farter said

They were never born
They were never dead
Said Fred (who's dead)

M@t

tracks perfectly with the "Liar" character that Jon Lovitz used to do on SNL.

Even the way he introduces his lie about Pharaoh Necho. "Why...that's Pharaoh Necho, right over there...yeah...Pharaoh Necho.... That's who it is. And right next to him...why, that's none other than Nippertiti, cousin of Nefertiti. She was reputed to have been the most bodacious woman in the world...yeah...that's right."

The only thing missing is Lovitz's trademark catch phrase "yeah, that's the ticket" whenever it looked like the suckers were buying into the lie.

After Mother Smith died, Emma sold the mummies and papyri. The mummies originally went to St Louis then ended up in Chicago and are presumed destroyed during the great fire but.....the same was thought of the papyri only to find out many years later not all of the collection was senf to Chicago. So it is possible one or more if them may still be out there.

...or was sustained as such. Just sat slumped over in a wheelchair that was wheeled out at conference time. I may be mistaken. But seems like that was what happened. He may still be stored in one of the vaults up in the canyon for future use.

...stop it!! Just deal with the reality that Joe's mummies had star power, and you didn't. Sick of it!!!!............

I admit that I resented it when everyone was running to their mummies with every little problem and ignoring me.

I did not have ordinary star power. I had Kokaubeam power...so blindingly bright that it was ignored by those who chose to live in darkness with their mummies.

They were sold to the highest bidder - along with the plates [from China] - the (other) circus.

Back when I was a kid, the building on the south side of Temple Square was a funkier museum that had at least one mummy. I was creeped out. So where did they come from and where did they go?

The temple square mummies I believe were native american and ended up in the Utah Museum of Natural History. I don't know if they were ever repatriated.

They were taken up to heaven to hide because finding them doesn't require faith.

They probably got lost in all the moves and abandoning properties, such as Nauvoo when they were driven out from there after Smith's demise.

Such a shame. Now there was something of real value, lost. If they were burned up in the Chicago fire, at least it (maybe) gave those mummies some closure they were sorely in need of.

R.I.P. mummies dear. They deserve as much. It was very desecrating to be put on parade the way they were, as part of a traveling circus show and then J Smith and Co.

Amyjo Wrote:
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>
> R.I.P. mummies dear. They deserve as much. It was
> very desecrating to be put on parade the way they
> were, as part of a traveling circus show and then
> J Smith and Co.


You're right! I had never thought of it that way.

and, who has the Kinderhook Plates???

One plate is in the possession of the Chicago History Museum.

covered them in a denim dress.

This is one awesome thread.....and I do think Wally is on to something with his Mummy-speculation-skills.

Perhaps, just maybe, ALL of the prophets and 12 have been mummy-infested for these past Mormon years (they sure look like this is the case) because of the Mummy-Smith-Sideshow-Treatment they, the great Egyptian Mummiea received being used and abused and, of course, never receiving one single red cent by way of profit for their tireless participation. This Smith Family Group sure were cheap-skates.

Then, the mummies found themselves forgotten, just tossed aside like some old dusty rags. "Revenge is ours!" they shouted, and the rest is history because Egyptian-mummy magic is more potent then that wimpy-head-in-the-hat-Smith-magic.