A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits

Book excerpt: "This book recounts the detective work of the Houston Mummy Research Program as it investigates the mysterious Egyptian mummy of a man named Ankh-Hap. CT-scans reveal that the mummy has wasp nests in its skull, wooden poles within its wrappings, and a suspicious number of missing body parts. Clues inside the coffin take the investigation to a company in Rochester, N.Y. founded by Henry Augustus Ward. This businessman raided the mummy-pits of Egypt and sold whole bodies and body parts to the public. The book investigates mummy trafficking in America and the uses made of these human remains for amusement and the manufacture of medicine, paint, and other products. The trail next leads to Texas, where the mummy spent part of the twentieth century in a veterinarian's classroom before it was lost inside an abandoned campus restroom"--