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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,655 ANNOUNCER: The following program 2 00:00:06,758 --> 00:00:10,172 contains disturbing subject matter and images. 3 00:00:10,275 --> 00:00:12,413 Viewer discretion is advised. 4 00:00:15,344 --> 00:00:17,517 WILLIAM SHATNER: A pharaoh's tomb 5 00:00:17,586 --> 00:00:18,689 with a deadly curse. 6 00:00:20,655 --> 00:00:22,000 A dictator 7 00:00:22,103 --> 00:00:24,137 who gets younger with time. 8 00:00:24,241 --> 00:00:26,551 And life-sized dolls 9 00:00:26,620 --> 00:00:29,172 made from human remains. 10 00:00:33,655 --> 00:00:35,655 For thousands of years, 11 00:00:35,758 --> 00:00:39,827 people around the world have practiced mummification 12 00:00:39,896 --> 00:00:41,413 in the belief that one day... 13 00:00:43,689 --> 00:00:45,586 ...the dead will rise again. 14 00:00:45,655 --> 00:00:49,862 Today we consider such views to be preposterous. 15 00:00:49,931 --> 00:00:52,689 Irrational. Unbelievable. 16 00:00:53,827 --> 00:00:55,896 But what if we're wrong? 17 00:00:55,965 --> 00:00:58,724 What if the ancient art of mummification 18 00:00:58,793 --> 00:01:02,448 could somehow, someday... 19 00:01:02,517 --> 00:01:04,793 bring back the dead? 20 00:01:04,862 --> 00:01:06,482 Well... 21 00:01:06,551 --> 00:01:09,310 that is what we'll try and find out. 22 00:01:09,413 --> 00:01:11,379 ♪ ♪ 23 00:01:30,551 --> 00:01:34,724 A young boy working for a British excavation team 24 00:01:34,827 --> 00:01:37,379 led by archaeologist Howard Carter 25 00:01:37,482 --> 00:01:40,482 is riding his donkey home one night, 26 00:01:40,551 --> 00:01:42,551 when suddenly the animal's hoof slips 27 00:01:42,655 --> 00:01:44,793 into a hole below the sand. 28 00:01:46,517 --> 00:01:50,413 Carter and his team later excavate the site 29 00:01:50,482 --> 00:01:53,241 and discover a mysterious chamber 30 00:01:53,344 --> 00:01:55,482 hidden deep beneath the shifting sands. 31 00:01:55,551 --> 00:01:57,206 Peering inside, they lay their eyes 32 00:01:57,275 --> 00:02:00,172 upon one of the most incredible 33 00:02:00,241 --> 00:02:03,000 archaeological finds in history. 34 00:02:03,103 --> 00:02:06,206 A massive treasure trove 35 00:02:06,275 --> 00:02:09,241 of gold and ebony artifacts, 36 00:02:09,310 --> 00:02:11,275 all laid out before another chamber 37 00:02:11,344 --> 00:02:13,931 guarded by two imposing statues 38 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:15,827 and sealed shut 39 00:02:15,931 --> 00:02:20,827 with an intricate combination of rope knots and clay. 40 00:02:20,931 --> 00:02:22,793 The long-lost tomb 41 00:02:22,862 --> 00:02:26,206 of King Tutankhamen. 42 00:02:26,310 --> 00:02:29,034 It was absolutely a magnificent discovery, 43 00:02:29,103 --> 00:02:31,034 made headline news all over the world, 44 00:02:31,103 --> 00:02:33,310 and really sort of captured public imagination 45 00:02:33,379 --> 00:02:35,172 at-at just the right time. 46 00:02:37,241 --> 00:02:40,068 Unlike most of the other tombs that had been discovered 47 00:02:40,137 --> 00:02:41,448 of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, 48 00:02:41,551 --> 00:02:44,241 King Tut's tomb was untouched. 49 00:02:44,344 --> 00:02:46,793 It had not been plundered, it had not been destroyed, 50 00:02:46,862 --> 00:02:50,068 and so there was a tremendous wealth of archaeological data 51 00:02:50,172 --> 00:02:53,241 as well as just a stunning display of artifacts. 52 00:02:53,344 --> 00:02:57,000 SHATNER: After spending nearly three months cataloguing 53 00:02:57,103 --> 00:02:59,103 the more than 5,000 relics 54 00:02:59,172 --> 00:03:01,551 found within the tomb's antechamber... 55 00:03:03,172 --> 00:03:05,931 ...on February 16, 1923, 56 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,827 at just after 2:00 in the afternoon, 57 00:03:08,896 --> 00:03:12,068 members of the press gathered to watch Howard Carter 58 00:03:12,172 --> 00:03:14,275 finally break the seal 59 00:03:14,379 --> 00:03:17,103 protecting King Tut's burial chamber, 60 00:03:17,172 --> 00:03:20,068 which had lain undisturbed 61 00:03:20,172 --> 00:03:22,275 for more than 3,000 years. 62 00:03:24,379 --> 00:03:27,206 NICHOLAS BROWN: Carter started excavation of the burial chamber 63 00:03:27,275 --> 00:03:29,172 within Tutankhamen's tomb 64 00:03:29,275 --> 00:03:31,931 and he found the intact burial of Tutankhamen, 65 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,965 which was contained, essentially, 66 00:03:34,068 --> 00:03:35,896 within nine protective layers. 67 00:03:37,241 --> 00:03:39,413 The sarcophagus is very elaborate. 68 00:03:39,482 --> 00:03:42,206 It's got gold, it's inlaid with precious stones, 69 00:03:42,275 --> 00:03:44,137 and there's several layers of it 70 00:03:44,241 --> 00:03:46,758 before you get down to the central layer, 71 00:03:46,827 --> 00:03:48,689 which is, of course, the mummy 72 00:03:48,793 --> 00:03:50,413 of King Tutankhamen himself. 73 00:03:51,862 --> 00:03:54,206 BROWN: Once Carter began unwrapping the mummy of Tutankhamen 74 00:03:54,275 --> 00:03:56,620 and removed the funerary death mask 75 00:03:56,689 --> 00:03:58,379 and made his way through 76 00:03:58,448 --> 00:04:00,482 the different mummy bandages and the bundle itself, 77 00:04:00,551 --> 00:04:03,620 he was able to see the face of Tutankhamen, 78 00:04:03,724 --> 00:04:06,379 which hadn't been seen by any living person 79 00:04:06,482 --> 00:04:08,586 for nearly 3,500 years. 80 00:04:09,724 --> 00:04:13,068 So in a way, the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen 81 00:04:13,137 --> 00:04:14,689 is a kind of a resurrection. 82 00:04:34,241 --> 00:04:36,586 SHATNER: The discovery of King Tut's mummy 83 00:04:36,655 --> 00:04:39,034 launched an international media frenzy, 84 00:04:39,103 --> 00:04:42,965 making headlines in every major newspaper around the world. 85 00:04:43,034 --> 00:04:45,206 But Howard Carter and his team 86 00:04:45,310 --> 00:04:47,551 had barely begun enjoying their success 87 00:04:47,655 --> 00:04:50,724 when several strange things 88 00:04:50,827 --> 00:04:53,448 started happening to them. 89 00:04:53,517 --> 00:04:56,275 That evening Howard Carter is having his dinner 90 00:04:56,344 --> 00:04:58,551 and hears a commotion in the next room. 91 00:04:58,655 --> 00:05:01,310 Goes in, and his pet canary 92 00:05:01,413 --> 00:05:03,172 is being attacked 93 00:05:03,241 --> 00:05:06,965 inside its cage by a king cobra. 94 00:05:07,034 --> 00:05:09,965 Now, the king cobra is a symbol for the pharaoh. 95 00:05:10,068 --> 00:05:11,586 And a canary, the symbolism. 96 00:05:11,655 --> 00:05:14,103 The canary is the first to go. 97 00:05:14,206 --> 00:05:16,551 The canary is the weakest and a warning. 98 00:05:18,172 --> 00:05:19,689 After that, Lord Carnarvon, 99 00:05:19,793 --> 00:05:21,689 the financier of the whole expedition, 100 00:05:21,758 --> 00:05:24,689 was there on site. 101 00:05:24,758 --> 00:05:27,896 And then, while they're inventorying the treasures, 102 00:05:27,965 --> 00:05:30,206 he gets a mosquito bite. 103 00:05:30,275 --> 00:05:34,310 A few days later, accidentally nicks the bump with his razor. 104 00:05:34,413 --> 00:05:36,379 The bump gets infected. 105 00:05:36,482 --> 00:05:37,965 It leads to blood poisoning, 106 00:05:38,034 --> 00:05:39,965 and he dies of it. 107 00:05:42,758 --> 00:05:45,689 A prominent British radiologist came out to the site 108 00:05:45,758 --> 00:05:47,482 to X-ray King Tut, 109 00:05:47,551 --> 00:05:49,448 and shortly after handling the mummy, 110 00:05:49,517 --> 00:05:51,689 he catches a mysterious disease 111 00:05:51,758 --> 00:05:53,724 that cannot be diagnosed, cannot be treated, 112 00:05:53,793 --> 00:05:55,206 and it kills him. 113 00:05:55,275 --> 00:05:57,931 SHATNER: All told, the deaths of no fewer 114 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,379 than seven members of Howard Carter's expedition 115 00:06:01,448 --> 00:06:03,965 took place shortly after the reopening 116 00:06:04,034 --> 00:06:06,310 of Tutankhamen's burial chamber. 117 00:06:06,413 --> 00:06:08,517 While it was certainly possible 118 00:06:08,620 --> 00:06:11,724 their untimely deaths were nothing more than coincidences, 119 00:06:11,793 --> 00:06:15,931 many believed that by disturbing King Tut's mummy, 120 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,344 the archaeologists had somehow triggered 121 00:06:18,448 --> 00:06:20,482 a deadly curse. 122 00:06:23,482 --> 00:06:26,137 To the ancient Egyptians, 123 00:06:26,241 --> 00:06:27,896 death was not the end. 124 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:33,724 But in order to guarantee yourself eternal life, 125 00:06:33,793 --> 00:06:36,896 you actually had to preserve your earthly body 126 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,068 for the spirit to be able to function properly. 127 00:06:41,551 --> 00:06:42,965 The idea of a mummy curse 128 00:06:43,034 --> 00:06:45,034 is to keep those people out of the tombs. 129 00:06:45,103 --> 00:06:47,689 The Egyptians said 130 00:06:47,793 --> 00:06:50,586 if you bothered these mummies, 131 00:06:50,655 --> 00:06:52,862 you would have a problem. 132 00:06:52,965 --> 00:06:56,068 And people who have discovered those tombs 133 00:06:56,137 --> 00:06:58,620 actually ended up dying weird ways. 134 00:06:58,724 --> 00:07:01,137 If that's not a curse, what would be? 135 00:07:18,344 --> 00:07:22,379 The ancient Egyptians prepared the body for mummification by 136 00:07:22,482 --> 00:07:24,586 removing the internal organs. 137 00:07:24,689 --> 00:07:27,793 They would remove the brain through the nose 138 00:07:27,862 --> 00:07:28,827 with a metal hook 139 00:07:28,896 --> 00:07:31,310 and clean out all of the organs 140 00:07:31,413 --> 00:07:33,965 and put them in jars, except for the heart, 141 00:07:34,034 --> 00:07:37,172 because for them the heart was the key to the afterlife. 142 00:07:37,241 --> 00:07:39,103 And then, at that point, 143 00:07:39,206 --> 00:07:41,275 they'd wrap the body in linen, 144 00:07:41,379 --> 00:07:44,758 and then they'd put them in sarcophagi 145 00:07:44,862 --> 00:07:46,896 that looked like human beings 146 00:07:46,965 --> 00:07:49,655 and they were made to resemble the deceased. 147 00:07:49,724 --> 00:07:53,586 The Egyptians thought the soul had multiple parts. 148 00:07:53,655 --> 00:07:56,413 Upon death, certain parts of the soul 149 00:07:56,482 --> 00:07:57,931 went down into the Earth, 150 00:07:58,034 --> 00:08:00,551 certain parts went up into the sky, 151 00:08:00,620 --> 00:08:03,793 and then other parts remained with the actual body. 152 00:08:03,896 --> 00:08:08,137 If you want that person perpetuated for eternity, 153 00:08:08,241 --> 00:08:10,344 you need to maintain 154 00:08:10,448 --> 00:08:13,068 all aspects of the soul together. 155 00:08:13,137 --> 00:08:16,068 That can happen if the body is preserved. 156 00:08:16,137 --> 00:08:19,103 THOMPSON: The idea was that at some point 157 00:08:19,172 --> 00:08:20,517 you will face the gods 158 00:08:20,586 --> 00:08:21,896 and those who are unworthy 159 00:08:21,965 --> 00:08:23,689 would be obliterated for all time. 160 00:08:23,758 --> 00:08:26,551 So these tombs were meant to be there 161 00:08:26,620 --> 00:08:28,413 until the day of judgment. 162 00:08:28,482 --> 00:08:31,068 You were not supposed to open these. 163 00:08:31,137 --> 00:08:33,137 SHATERN: Is it possible that the ancient Egyptians 164 00:08:33,241 --> 00:08:34,896 were able to preserve 165 00:08:34,965 --> 00:08:38,931 the soul of King Tut within his mummified remains, 166 00:08:39,034 --> 00:08:42,448 effectively keeping his spirit alive for thousands of years? 167 00:08:42,517 --> 00:08:45,931 And if so, could the pharaoh's spirit have unleashed a curse 168 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,379 upon the men responsible for disturbing 169 00:08:48,448 --> 00:08:50,758 his sacred burial chamber? Perhaps. 170 00:08:50,827 --> 00:08:53,620 But there are some researchers 171 00:08:53,689 --> 00:08:56,965 who claim that even before King Tut's tomb was disturbed, 172 00:08:57,034 --> 00:09:00,724 there was already a pharaoh's curse in place. 173 00:09:00,793 --> 00:09:04,896 A curse that was associated not with King Tut 174 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,827 but with his father, Akhenaten. 175 00:09:08,896 --> 00:09:11,724 YOUNG: Akhenaten was controversial 176 00:09:11,793 --> 00:09:14,724 because he used his considerable power as pharaoh 177 00:09:14,793 --> 00:09:16,793 to change the religious system. 178 00:09:16,862 --> 00:09:21,034 Ancient Egypt had always been polytheistic, 179 00:09:21,137 --> 00:09:22,965 many gods, 180 00:09:23,068 --> 00:09:25,827 and then there is a new pharaoh with a new idea. 181 00:09:25,931 --> 00:09:29,896 Akhenaten announces there will be one god, 182 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,206 they will be a monotheistic people. 183 00:09:33,310 --> 00:09:35,310 Aten, the sun god, 184 00:09:35,379 --> 00:09:37,275 would be the one divinity 185 00:09:37,344 --> 00:09:38,862 they all worshipped. 186 00:09:38,965 --> 00:09:40,413 The sun disc. 187 00:09:40,482 --> 00:09:44,931 It shook the empire in really terrible ways. 188 00:09:47,034 --> 00:09:49,551 BROWN: Part of this religious revolution 189 00:09:49,620 --> 00:09:52,034 included purposely erasing 190 00:09:52,103 --> 00:09:53,655 the names of older gods, 191 00:09:53,724 --> 00:09:55,758 closing down their temples, 192 00:09:55,827 --> 00:09:58,034 erasing their names from monuments, 193 00:09:58,137 --> 00:10:00,758 and trying to obliterate these other deities 194 00:10:00,862 --> 00:10:02,758 that the Egyptians used to worship. 195 00:10:02,827 --> 00:10:04,827 SHATNER: Before the reign of Akhenaten, 196 00:10:04,931 --> 00:10:07,172 the most sacred deity of the ancient Egyptians 197 00:10:07,241 --> 00:10:08,862 was known as Amun-Ra, 198 00:10:08,931 --> 00:10:11,620 the chief of all Egyptian gods. 199 00:10:11,689 --> 00:10:15,448 According to legend, Amun-Ra was angered 200 00:10:15,517 --> 00:10:17,793 by Akhenaten's acts of heresy 201 00:10:17,896 --> 00:10:20,275 and took vengeance upon the pharaoh. 202 00:10:21,724 --> 00:10:25,689 For his offense, Akhenaten was cursed by Amun-Ra, 203 00:10:25,793 --> 00:10:31,241 a curse unique to religious views in Egypt. 204 00:10:31,344 --> 00:10:36,103 He would be cursed after death to wander endlessly. 205 00:10:36,172 --> 00:10:39,586 His soul would never be reunited with his body, 206 00:10:39,689 --> 00:10:43,517 which was the point of all those funerary practices. 207 00:10:43,586 --> 00:10:47,517 He would be disconnected and dislodged forever. 208 00:10:47,586 --> 00:10:50,827 SHATNER: If Akhenaten's soul was doomed 209 00:10:50,896 --> 00:10:53,310 to never reach the afterlife, 210 00:10:53,379 --> 00:10:55,413 was King Tut's body mummified 211 00:10:55,482 --> 00:10:58,068 and placed within a sealed burial chamber 212 00:10:58,137 --> 00:11:00,758 so that he could escape the fate of his father? 213 00:11:03,482 --> 00:11:07,172 And is that why breaking the seals on the tomb of King Tut 214 00:11:07,275 --> 00:11:10,931 brought a curse upon Howard Carter and his team? 215 00:11:11,034 --> 00:11:13,793 If the ancient Egyptians were right about the power 216 00:11:13,896 --> 00:11:16,275 of mummification, then it might be possible. 217 00:11:16,344 --> 00:11:19,206 But the Egyptians weren't the only ancient civilization 218 00:11:19,310 --> 00:11:23,172 that believed mummies held the secret of eternal life. 219 00:11:23,275 --> 00:11:26,517 Some were so convinced of the power of mummification, 220 00:11:26,586 --> 00:11:29,310 they didn't even bother to wait... 221 00:11:29,379 --> 00:11:31,275 until death. 222 00:11:40,068 --> 00:11:41,827 SHATNER: Every three years, the villagers 223 00:11:41,896 --> 00:11:43,689 in this mountainous region 224 00:11:43,758 --> 00:11:46,344 gather to celebrate with members of their families. 225 00:11:46,413 --> 00:11:50,862 But what's odd about this party is that the guests of honor 226 00:11:50,965 --> 00:11:52,896 are all dead. 227 00:11:54,689 --> 00:11:58,241 THOMPSON: We look at these corpses and say that's a dead person. 228 00:11:58,344 --> 00:11:59,793 They look at that same corpse 229 00:11:59,862 --> 00:12:02,103 and say, "No, no, that spirit's still there." 230 00:12:02,172 --> 00:12:03,827 And if the spirit's still there, well, then that's 231 00:12:03,896 --> 00:12:06,000 the person, that-- the person is still there. 232 00:12:06,103 --> 00:12:09,137 SHATNER: While the idea of having a get-together 233 00:12:09,241 --> 00:12:12,000 with your dead relatives might sound unnerving, 234 00:12:12,103 --> 00:12:15,758 the truth is ritual preservation and 235 00:12:15,827 --> 00:12:18,310 personification of the dead is actually 236 00:12:18,413 --> 00:12:20,379 very common around the world. 237 00:12:21,965 --> 00:12:23,793 When we think of mummies, we often go 238 00:12:23,896 --> 00:12:25,206 directly to ancient Egypt. 239 00:12:25,275 --> 00:12:27,379 But we find mummies in other cultures 240 00:12:27,448 --> 00:12:29,689 around the world in various forms. 241 00:12:29,758 --> 00:12:32,896 So we find this sort of very elaborate mummification 242 00:12:32,965 --> 00:12:35,586 preparals in the Aztec Empire 243 00:12:35,655 --> 00:12:37,931 and the Incan Empire. 244 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,758 And in Asia, there is an interesting 245 00:12:39,827 --> 00:12:41,689 history of mummification. 246 00:12:43,034 --> 00:12:44,758 SHATNER: But of all the forms of mummification 247 00:12:44,862 --> 00:12:46,724 that have been practiced, 248 00:12:46,793 --> 00:12:48,758 the one that is perhaps the most extraordinary 249 00:12:48,827 --> 00:12:51,413 and the most unsettling 250 00:12:51,482 --> 00:12:54,241 involves turning people into mummies 251 00:12:54,310 --> 00:12:58,000 while they're still alive. 252 00:13:03,758 --> 00:13:06,724 Just outside the Tsuruoka City limits, 253 00:13:06,827 --> 00:13:08,793 sits Churen-ji Temple. 254 00:13:08,862 --> 00:13:12,000 Surrounded by 200-year-old cherry blossom trees, 255 00:13:12,068 --> 00:13:14,931 Churen-ji is similar to many other 256 00:13:15,034 --> 00:13:16,758 rural temples throughout the region, 257 00:13:16,862 --> 00:13:19,482 with one notable exception. 258 00:13:19,586 --> 00:13:21,620 The monk who presides here 259 00:13:21,689 --> 00:13:23,862 has been seated in meditative prayer 260 00:13:23,965 --> 00:13:27,379 for almost 200 years. 261 00:13:27,482 --> 00:13:29,206 JEREMIAH: Among the mummified monks 262 00:13:29,275 --> 00:13:33,034 of Yamagata, Japan, Sunada Tetsu is perhaps the most famous. 263 00:13:33,103 --> 00:13:37,034 And his body is currently located at Churen Temple, 264 00:13:37,137 --> 00:13:39,655 in northern Yamagata prefecture. 265 00:13:39,724 --> 00:13:43,000 Sunada Tetsu is an 18th-century Buddhist monk, 266 00:13:43,068 --> 00:13:45,551 who wasn't a religious person at all. 267 00:13:45,655 --> 00:13:48,620 He didn't plan on entering religion. 268 00:13:48,689 --> 00:13:51,172 However, he ended up killing two samurai. 269 00:13:56,482 --> 00:13:58,586 And at the time, 270 00:13:58,689 --> 00:14:01,379 19th-century Japan, if you kill two samurai 271 00:14:01,448 --> 00:14:05,344 and you're a commoner, you're gonna be killed. 272 00:14:05,413 --> 00:14:08,689 But local temples were exempt from that law. 273 00:14:08,793 --> 00:14:10,931 So he joined Churen Temple, 274 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:12,931 and over time became a believer 275 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,758 and one of the most holy people 276 00:14:15,827 --> 00:14:17,827 in Japan, traveling throughout 277 00:14:17,896 --> 00:14:20,241 the Japanese countryside, repairing bridges, 278 00:14:20,310 --> 00:14:22,034 doing anything he could to help people. 279 00:14:22,103 --> 00:14:24,379 SHATNER: Sunada Tetsu 280 00:14:24,448 --> 00:14:27,034 was so dedicated to serving the Japanese people 281 00:14:27,137 --> 00:14:29,448 that the onetime outlaw earned a reputation 282 00:14:29,517 --> 00:14:30,896 as a miracle worker. 283 00:14:31,931 --> 00:14:34,034 But as old age began approaching, 284 00:14:34,137 --> 00:14:36,896 Sunada Tetsu realized there was only one way 285 00:14:36,965 --> 00:14:40,103 for him to continue his good works well into the future. 286 00:14:40,172 --> 00:14:44,241 The ancient art of self-mummification, 287 00:14:44,344 --> 00:14:46,862 known as Sokushinbutsu. 288 00:14:47,793 --> 00:14:49,827 In this particular tradition 289 00:14:49,896 --> 00:14:52,862 of, uh, Buddhism that we find in Japan, 290 00:14:52,931 --> 00:14:55,862 there's this practice of Sokushinbutsu, 291 00:14:55,965 --> 00:14:59,172 which is basically a mummification practice 292 00:14:59,275 --> 00:15:02,482 the practitioner undertakes when they're still alive. 293 00:15:04,034 --> 00:15:07,241 People who engaged in the process of self-mummification, 294 00:15:07,310 --> 00:15:09,275 they wanted to preserve the flesh 295 00:15:09,344 --> 00:15:11,586 because they thought there was a divine merit 296 00:15:11,655 --> 00:15:15,034 that could be of use of people who are still alive. 297 00:15:15,137 --> 00:15:18,206 SHATNER: In order for a monk's soul to shed his body 298 00:15:18,275 --> 00:15:22,000 in the proper manner, the practitioners of Sokushinbutsu 299 00:15:22,068 --> 00:15:24,931 were required to undergo a very specific process. 300 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,275 A process which, 301 00:15:27,344 --> 00:15:28,931 as one can imagine, 302 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,034 isn't exactly pleasant. 303 00:15:33,379 --> 00:15:35,034 JEREMIAH: The process of self-mummification 304 00:15:35,103 --> 00:15:37,965 is to gradually decrease the amount of food 305 00:15:38,034 --> 00:15:40,551 you're ingesting, and in place, 306 00:15:40,655 --> 00:15:44,000 start ingesting things that are preservative in nature. 307 00:15:44,068 --> 00:15:45,517 And in the case of the self-mummified monks, 308 00:15:45,586 --> 00:15:46,931 they were pine bark, 309 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:48,655 pine resin... 310 00:15:48,724 --> 00:15:51,172 and urushi tea. 311 00:15:51,241 --> 00:15:53,862 Urushi tea, which comes from the lacquer tree, 312 00:15:53,931 --> 00:15:56,655 is considered to be extremely toxic, 313 00:15:56,724 --> 00:16:01,344 but it also lacquers the body from inside out, and it removes 314 00:16:01,413 --> 00:16:03,931 moisture at the same time from the organs 315 00:16:04,034 --> 00:16:06,827 and presents some kind of embalming faculties. 316 00:16:06,896 --> 00:16:10,931 When the monks have completed their pre-mummification diet, 317 00:16:11,034 --> 00:16:15,137 they would be placed into a box made of pinewood 318 00:16:15,206 --> 00:16:17,586 and buried underground 319 00:16:17,655 --> 00:16:19,965 with a little bell. 320 00:16:21,689 --> 00:16:23,517 Once the bell stopped ringing, 321 00:16:23,586 --> 00:16:27,275 the other monks would know that the self-mummifying 322 00:16:27,379 --> 00:16:30,896 practitioner had, uh, deceased inside the box. 323 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,689 SHATNER: According to historical accounts, 324 00:16:33,793 --> 00:16:36,931 Sunada Tetsu spent 3,000 days, 325 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,034 which is more than eight years, 326 00:16:39,103 --> 00:16:42,344 starving himself in preparation for his living burial. 327 00:16:42,413 --> 00:16:45,689 After his body was eventually unearthed, 328 00:16:45,793 --> 00:16:48,896 it showed no decay whatsoever, 329 00:16:48,965 --> 00:16:51,551 signifying that his spirit was indeed pure. 330 00:16:51,655 --> 00:16:55,241 But as morbid as Sunada Tetsu's tale may be, 331 00:16:55,344 --> 00:16:57,758 he was not the first to attempt 332 00:16:57,827 --> 00:17:00,344 the extreme ritual of Sokushinbutsu. 333 00:17:00,413 --> 00:17:02,586 Nor the last. 334 00:17:02,655 --> 00:17:04,931 The founder of esoteric Buddhism in Japan 335 00:17:05,034 --> 00:17:07,344 was believed to have, uh, studied in China, 336 00:17:07,448 --> 00:17:10,137 and, uh, learned about this practice there. 337 00:17:10,206 --> 00:17:13,275 And subsequently brought it to Japan, 338 00:17:13,379 --> 00:17:15,896 upon which some Japanese monks, the most intrepid amongst them, 339 00:17:15,965 --> 00:17:18,896 would have picked it up and applied it. 340 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,241 But the self-mummification practice 341 00:17:21,310 --> 00:17:23,172 was outlawed in the 19th century 342 00:17:23,275 --> 00:17:25,793 because it was rarely successful. 343 00:17:25,896 --> 00:17:29,931 SHATNER: Today, the mummies of only 24 monks who underwent 344 00:17:30,034 --> 00:17:33,586 the ritual of Sokushinbutsu remain known, 345 00:17:33,655 --> 00:17:36,620 although historians estimate that hundreds 346 00:17:36,724 --> 00:17:40,137 underwent the journey before it was declared illegal. 347 00:17:40,241 --> 00:17:45,034 But why would so many willingly attempt what was essentially 348 00:17:45,137 --> 00:17:47,586 a slow and agonizing suicide? 349 00:17:47,655 --> 00:17:50,655 As it turns out, there was a very good reason. 350 00:17:50,758 --> 00:17:54,862 They wanted to become what are referred to as... 351 00:17:54,931 --> 00:17:57,551 "living Buddhas." 352 00:17:57,620 --> 00:18:00,034 JEREMIAH: They actually wanted to cause their own death 353 00:18:00,103 --> 00:18:02,655 so they could be in meditative posture 354 00:18:02,724 --> 00:18:04,103 so they could direct their soul 355 00:18:04,172 --> 00:18:05,620 where they wanted it to go afterwards. 356 00:18:05,689 --> 00:18:08,379 That's why they're considered living Buddha. 357 00:18:08,448 --> 00:18:11,413 These mummies are still alive because 358 00:18:11,482 --> 00:18:14,241 they are in between the realm of life and death 359 00:18:14,310 --> 00:18:16,379 and perhaps they can influence the two of them. 360 00:18:17,724 --> 00:18:21,068 SHATNER: Could dying by self-mummification 361 00:18:21,137 --> 00:18:24,862 actually be the secret to living forever? 362 00:18:24,965 --> 00:18:27,172 Gauging by the number of visitors who come 363 00:18:27,241 --> 00:18:29,517 to seek his blessing every year, 364 00:18:29,586 --> 00:18:31,931 it would appear Sunada Tetsu certainly has achieved 365 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,310 a form of eternal life. 366 00:18:34,413 --> 00:18:37,862 Just like another mummy who was also put on display. 367 00:18:37,931 --> 00:18:40,655 One who achieved immortality 368 00:18:40,758 --> 00:18:43,000 not by ending his own life, 369 00:18:43,068 --> 00:18:45,344 but someone else's. 370 00:18:56,655 --> 00:19:01,000 SHATNER: The St. Louis World's Fair opens to packed crowds. 371 00:19:01,068 --> 00:19:03,275 Over the course of the next six months, 372 00:19:03,344 --> 00:19:06,103 more than 19 million people stroll down 373 00:19:06,172 --> 00:19:09,448 a mile-long midway lined with exhibitions 374 00:19:09,551 --> 00:19:12,517 showcasing the world's most advanced science, 375 00:19:12,620 --> 00:19:14,137 technology, art... 376 00:19:14,241 --> 00:19:17,655 and one rather bizarre attraction: 377 00:19:17,724 --> 00:19:21,793 the alleged mummy of John Wilkes Booth, 378 00:19:21,862 --> 00:19:25,413 the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. 379 00:19:26,586 --> 00:19:28,827 NATE ORLOWEK: Encountering a mummy that is being 380 00:19:28,931 --> 00:19:30,310 claimed to be John Wilkes Booth, 381 00:19:30,413 --> 00:19:33,620 the man who killed who I think most people think 382 00:19:33,724 --> 00:19:36,862 was our greatest president, would be pretty mind-boggling. 383 00:19:36,931 --> 00:19:41,413 YOUNG: So it was a high point of many people's lives to see 384 00:19:41,482 --> 00:19:44,793 the mummy of the dark figure of American history, 385 00:19:44,896 --> 00:19:47,068 John Wilkes Booth. 386 00:19:47,137 --> 00:19:49,896 To see some part of that story, 387 00:19:49,965 --> 00:19:51,793 even the horrific part of it, 388 00:19:51,862 --> 00:19:54,103 is still an expression of grief 389 00:19:54,206 --> 00:19:56,517 and attachment to Abraham Lincoln. 390 00:19:56,620 --> 00:20:01,310 SHATNER: For nearly three decades, the mummy of John Wilkes Booth, 391 00:20:01,379 --> 00:20:04,344 America's most infamous assassin, 392 00:20:04,413 --> 00:20:07,172 drew eager crowds around the world. 393 00:20:07,241 --> 00:20:09,965 Which was extraordinary, 394 00:20:10,034 --> 00:20:12,172 because according to the United States government, 395 00:20:12,241 --> 00:20:14,000 the body of John Wilkes Booth 396 00:20:14,103 --> 00:20:16,103 had been buried in a Baltimore cemetery 397 00:20:16,172 --> 00:20:18,241 since 1865. 398 00:20:20,448 --> 00:20:23,965 According to most historical accounts, 399 00:20:24,068 --> 00:20:26,620 after John Wilkes Booth shot 400 00:20:26,689 --> 00:20:28,965 President Lincoln during a performance at Ford's Theatre 401 00:20:29,034 --> 00:20:33,482 in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865... 402 00:20:33,586 --> 00:20:35,344 [gunshot] 403 00:20:35,413 --> 00:20:38,172 ...Booth fled on horseback to Virginia, 404 00:20:38,241 --> 00:20:40,793 eluding Union soldiers that were stationed 405 00:20:40,862 --> 00:20:43,724 at the city exits by Vice President Andrew Johnson 406 00:20:43,827 --> 00:20:46,482 with orders to kill anyone attempting to leave. 407 00:20:46,551 --> 00:20:49,344 Booth was eventually cornered inside a barn 408 00:20:49,413 --> 00:20:52,344 just south of Port Royal, Virginia, 409 00:20:52,413 --> 00:20:54,965 where-- after he refused to surrender-- 410 00:20:55,034 --> 00:20:59,793 Union troops shot and killed him on April 26, 1865. 411 00:21:02,965 --> 00:21:04,379 ORLOWEK: The barn was set on fire. 412 00:21:04,482 --> 00:21:08,758 The traditional version is that the body was identified 413 00:21:08,827 --> 00:21:11,068 and eventually the government released the body 414 00:21:11,137 --> 00:21:12,724 to the Booth family. 415 00:21:12,827 --> 00:21:14,896 SHATNER: After receiving the body, 416 00:21:14,965 --> 00:21:18,965 Booth's family supposedly buried him in the family plot 417 00:21:19,034 --> 00:21:21,379 at a Baltimore cemetery. 418 00:21:21,448 --> 00:21:23,344 But if that's the case, 419 00:21:23,448 --> 00:21:25,827 how did his preserved remains end up 420 00:21:25,896 --> 00:21:28,379 as a traveling sideshow attraction? 421 00:21:28,482 --> 00:21:30,827 According to some researchers, it was all due 422 00:21:30,931 --> 00:21:35,793 to a chance encounter involving a man named Finis L. Bates 423 00:21:35,862 --> 00:21:39,655 that occurred 12 years after Booth's supposed death 424 00:21:39,758 --> 00:21:42,241 in 1865. 425 00:21:42,310 --> 00:21:46,620 MARK EBNER: Bates was this lawyer slash carney barker, 426 00:21:46,689 --> 00:21:49,724 slash showman. 427 00:21:49,793 --> 00:21:53,379 He was living in a town called Granbury, Texas, 428 00:21:53,448 --> 00:21:56,931 and befriended a guy named John St. Helen. 429 00:21:57,034 --> 00:22:01,758 ORLOWEK: One night, St. Helen became very ill 430 00:22:01,827 --> 00:22:03,379 and called Bates to his bedside. 431 00:22:03,448 --> 00:22:07,310 And he gasped out to Bates that in fact, 432 00:22:07,379 --> 00:22:09,827 he was really John Wilkes Booth. 433 00:22:09,931 --> 00:22:12,827 Bates, of course, thought the man was hallucinating, 434 00:22:12,896 --> 00:22:14,620 because everybody had been told that John Wilkes Booth 435 00:22:14,689 --> 00:22:17,310 had been killed 12 years earlier. 436 00:22:17,413 --> 00:22:19,827 Booth slash St. Helens, 437 00:22:19,896 --> 00:22:23,379 he recovers from this illness and he skips town. 438 00:22:23,482 --> 00:22:27,965 Years later, in Enid, Oklahoma, 439 00:22:28,068 --> 00:22:30,517 there is a guy, David George. 440 00:22:30,586 --> 00:22:34,448 George had enough of this world and he killed himself. 441 00:22:34,517 --> 00:22:36,931 And there was no next of kin, 442 00:22:37,034 --> 00:22:38,586 but he did leave word, 443 00:22:38,689 --> 00:22:43,206 "Please call Finis L. Bates," and that they did. 444 00:22:44,931 --> 00:22:46,517 SHATNER: As the story goes, 445 00:22:46,586 --> 00:22:49,620 when Finis L. Bates arrived in Enid, Oklahoma 446 00:22:49,689 --> 00:22:52,275 and viewed the dead body of David George, 447 00:22:52,379 --> 00:22:55,206 he made two startling observations. 448 00:22:55,275 --> 00:22:57,655 The first was that David George's appearance 449 00:22:57,758 --> 00:23:00,517 closely matched that of John St. Helen's, 450 00:23:00,586 --> 00:23:04,620 the man who had claimed to be John Wilkes Booth. 451 00:23:04,724 --> 00:23:07,517 And the second was that George's body 452 00:23:07,586 --> 00:23:10,862 had been strangely preserved. 453 00:23:13,586 --> 00:23:15,965 YOUNG: The undertaker, 454 00:23:16,034 --> 00:23:18,379 having no money for a burial, 455 00:23:18,482 --> 00:23:21,344 puts arsenic in the veins to preserve the body, 456 00:23:21,413 --> 00:23:23,068 mummified the body, 457 00:23:23,172 --> 00:23:25,655 and then puts it in a store window as a gag 458 00:23:25,724 --> 00:23:26,896 holding a newspaper. 459 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:28,827 So they get ahold of Bates, 460 00:23:28,896 --> 00:23:30,551 who puts two and two together, 461 00:23:30,655 --> 00:23:35,000 realizes it's the man who claimed to be John Wilkes Booth, 462 00:23:35,068 --> 00:23:37,724 takes possession of this mummy, 463 00:23:37,827 --> 00:23:40,965 he goes into the sideshow business 464 00:23:41,034 --> 00:23:42,724 and for a small price, 465 00:23:42,793 --> 00:23:47,586 you could see the mummy of John Wilkes Booth. 466 00:23:47,655 --> 00:23:52,068 SHATNER: If Finis L. Bates's story is true, 467 00:23:52,172 --> 00:23:54,724 and John Wilkes Booth lived under 468 00:23:54,793 --> 00:23:57,517 at least two other identities before dying 469 00:23:57,586 --> 00:24:00,724 in Enid, Oklahoma in 1903, 470 00:24:00,793 --> 00:24:04,862 the question is: how did Booth escape the barn 471 00:24:04,965 --> 00:24:08,862 where he was supposedly killed by Union troops? 472 00:24:08,965 --> 00:24:11,862 ORLOWEK: In 1919, the granddaughter of one of the soldiers 473 00:24:11,931 --> 00:24:13,413 who was at the barn 474 00:24:13,482 --> 00:24:15,275 gave a sworn affidavit 475 00:24:15,379 --> 00:24:17,068 saying that man was not John Wilkes Booth 476 00:24:17,172 --> 00:24:18,379 who was killed in the barn. 477 00:24:18,448 --> 00:24:19,896 That man had red hair and ruddy features. 478 00:24:19,965 --> 00:24:21,275 John Wilkes Booth had black hair 479 00:24:21,344 --> 00:24:23,034 and smooth features. 480 00:24:23,103 --> 00:24:24,551 EBNER: If revisionist history 481 00:24:24,655 --> 00:24:28,344 is to be believed, John Wilkes Booth 482 00:24:28,413 --> 00:24:32,931 was given a password to freedom 483 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,931 and this was done by the original conspirator 484 00:24:38,034 --> 00:24:40,344 in Abraham Lincoln's death, 485 00:24:40,413 --> 00:24:42,896 supposedly... 486 00:24:42,965 --> 00:24:46,689 Vice President Andrew Johnson. 487 00:24:46,793 --> 00:24:49,000 YOUNG: John St. Helen is apparently 488 00:24:49,068 --> 00:24:52,862 on his deathbed and he made kind of a deathbed confession. 489 00:24:52,931 --> 00:24:54,413 He tells the whole story 490 00:24:54,517 --> 00:24:56,896 of how it was plotted not by himself, 491 00:24:56,965 --> 00:24:59,620 but by the vice president, Andrew Johnson, 492 00:24:59,689 --> 00:25:01,448 who was, of course, the beneficiary, 493 00:25:01,517 --> 00:25:02,931 became president because of the death. 494 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,068 SHATNER: Is it possible John Wilkes Booth 495 00:25:06,137 --> 00:25:08,310 lived as John St. Helen 496 00:25:08,413 --> 00:25:12,275 before dying as David George in 1903, 497 00:25:12,344 --> 00:25:15,965 only to be reborn as a mummified curiosity? 498 00:25:16,034 --> 00:25:19,724 While this may seem like a far-fetched notion, 499 00:25:19,827 --> 00:25:22,862 according to researchers, we may never know 500 00:25:22,965 --> 00:25:24,758 what really happened, 501 00:25:24,862 --> 00:25:27,344 because authorities are preventing anyone 502 00:25:27,413 --> 00:25:30,241 from finding out the truth. 503 00:25:30,310 --> 00:25:33,689 In the 1990s, the Booth family was 504 00:25:33,758 --> 00:25:36,482 convinced that John Wilkes Booth really got away 505 00:25:36,551 --> 00:25:40,103 and they agreed to authorize the excavation of the body. 506 00:25:40,172 --> 00:25:42,448 There are all sorts of tests that would compare it 507 00:25:42,517 --> 00:25:45,137 with DNA from anyone of John Wilkes Booth's 508 00:25:45,206 --> 00:25:46,413 immediate family members. 509 00:25:46,482 --> 00:25:49,379 Unfortunately, the cemetery fought it 510 00:25:49,448 --> 00:25:51,482 and the Booth family was denied permission. 511 00:25:51,586 --> 00:25:54,137 SHATNER: Now you might be thinking, 512 00:25:54,206 --> 00:25:57,000 if officials at the cemetery are preventing Booth's grave 513 00:25:57,103 --> 00:25:59,517 from being exhumed, 514 00:25:59,586 --> 00:26:03,137 why not simply do a DNA test on his supposed mummy? 515 00:26:03,206 --> 00:26:07,172 Not surprisingly, researchers agree that a DNA test 516 00:26:07,241 --> 00:26:09,275 would solve the mystery, 517 00:26:09,379 --> 00:26:14,137 if only they knew where to find the mummy. 518 00:26:14,206 --> 00:26:16,517 ORLOWEK: So unfortunately, it's uncertain where it is. 519 00:26:16,586 --> 00:26:19,206 So unless we can either find the mummy 520 00:26:19,275 --> 00:26:22,517 or dig up the body in the Booth plot, 521 00:26:22,620 --> 00:26:25,517 this will forever be a mystery. 522 00:26:25,586 --> 00:26:28,586 Does John Wilkes Booth really lie buried 523 00:26:28,689 --> 00:26:31,137 in a Baltimore cemetery? 524 00:26:31,206 --> 00:26:35,517 Or did he somehow escape death at the hands of Union soldiers 525 00:26:35,586 --> 00:26:39,862 and his mummified remains are out there somewhere, 526 00:26:39,931 --> 00:26:42,931 collecting dust in someone's attic? 527 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,137 Either way, it seems that mummies do, in a sense, 528 00:26:47,241 --> 00:26:50,172 keep the memory of the dead alive. 529 00:26:50,241 --> 00:26:54,206 But there are some mummies whose place in history 530 00:26:54,275 --> 00:26:57,448 is preserved, not just in our minds, 531 00:26:57,517 --> 00:27:01,586 but right before our eyes. 532 00:27:12,551 --> 00:27:15,034 SHATNER: Near the center of this ancient city 533 00:27:15,137 --> 00:27:18,793 rise the soaring twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral. 534 00:27:18,896 --> 00:27:21,448 Every day, more than 20,000 people 535 00:27:21,517 --> 00:27:23,586 flock through its arched doors 536 00:27:23,689 --> 00:27:27,413 to visit one of Catholicism's most important sites, 537 00:27:27,482 --> 00:27:29,862 the Tomb of the Three Kings. 538 00:27:29,931 --> 00:27:32,000 Those who pray at this ancient shrine 539 00:27:32,068 --> 00:27:34,344 believe that they will be divinely favored, 540 00:27:34,413 --> 00:27:38,793 because it contains the bones of the three biblical Wise Men 541 00:27:38,862 --> 00:27:42,068 who visited Jesus shortly after his birth, 542 00:27:42,137 --> 00:27:46,068 and whom the Catholic Church considers to be saints. 543 00:27:48,551 --> 00:27:51,689 JEREMIAH: After death, a lot of the so-called 544 00:27:51,758 --> 00:27:54,482 saints in Catholic Christianity, 545 00:27:54,586 --> 00:27:57,965 their body parts were distributed. 546 00:27:58,068 --> 00:27:59,965 And the reason for that was 547 00:28:00,068 --> 00:28:02,517 there was this idea that they were a source 548 00:28:02,586 --> 00:28:04,827 of divine power 549 00:28:04,931 --> 00:28:08,275 that could affect people, that could affect miracles. 550 00:28:08,344 --> 00:28:11,724 SHATNER: For the faithful, being in the presence 551 00:28:11,793 --> 00:28:15,551 of even a tiny portion of a holy figure's body 552 00:28:15,620 --> 00:28:18,172 is a powerful reminder of God's promise 553 00:28:18,241 --> 00:28:20,000 of eternal life in heaven. 554 00:28:20,103 --> 00:28:23,448 So imagine how they must feel when in the presence 555 00:28:23,517 --> 00:28:26,689 of not merely the body parts of a saint, 556 00:28:26,793 --> 00:28:29,310 but the entire body of one, 557 00:28:29,379 --> 00:28:33,517 like in the case of the remains of St. Bernadette of Lourdes, 558 00:28:33,620 --> 00:28:37,482 which lie perfectly preserved in a chapel in France, 559 00:28:37,586 --> 00:28:41,034 more than a century after her death. 560 00:28:41,103 --> 00:28:46,068 St. Bernadette was born in France in 1844, 561 00:28:46,172 --> 00:28:52,793 and she saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary 18 times. 562 00:28:52,862 --> 00:28:55,689 And it started when she was 14. 563 00:28:57,034 --> 00:29:00,689 The spring that St. Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary in 564 00:29:00,758 --> 00:29:03,965 is now a point of healing for many people, 565 00:29:04,034 --> 00:29:08,413 and many people go to Lourdes just to obtain the water. 566 00:29:08,482 --> 00:29:11,793 JEREMIAH: St. Bernadette ended up dying 567 00:29:11,862 --> 00:29:14,310 in 1879 of tuberculosis 568 00:29:14,379 --> 00:29:16,551 and the Church decided 569 00:29:16,620 --> 00:29:19,448 that her claim that she visited with the Virgin Mary 570 00:29:19,517 --> 00:29:22,689 in Lourdes, France was trustworthy 571 00:29:22,758 --> 00:29:25,448 and decided to make her a saint. 572 00:29:25,551 --> 00:29:30,655 And as such, they had to remove her body from the current tomb, 573 00:29:30,758 --> 00:29:33,448 identify it, and then relocate it 574 00:29:33,517 --> 00:29:34,827 closer to the Church. 575 00:29:34,896 --> 00:29:37,206 And when they were doing that, 576 00:29:37,275 --> 00:29:40,137 they found out that she was in a perfect state of preservation. 577 00:29:40,206 --> 00:29:42,620 She looked as though she was still alive. 578 00:29:42,689 --> 00:29:45,068 SHATNER: To this day, St. Bernadette 579 00:29:45,137 --> 00:29:49,413 appears as youthful in death as she did in life. 580 00:29:49,517 --> 00:29:53,586 Could it be possible that St. Bernadette's lack of decay 581 00:29:53,689 --> 00:29:57,310 is actually the result of divine intervention? 582 00:29:57,379 --> 00:30:00,206 An incorruptible saint 583 00:30:00,275 --> 00:30:05,931 symbolizes that God has blessed that particular saintly person 584 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,827 so that their body that so many people have loved in life 585 00:30:09,896 --> 00:30:15,482 is still recognizable and becomes a focus for devotion. 586 00:30:15,551 --> 00:30:17,758 SHATNER: Despite the symbolic miracle 587 00:30:17,862 --> 00:30:20,206 such incorruptible bodies represent 588 00:30:20,275 --> 00:30:23,655 for the faithful, according to many researchers, 589 00:30:23,724 --> 00:30:26,793 there's nothing miraculous about them. 590 00:30:26,862 --> 00:30:30,172 JEREMIAH: A lot of the so-called incorruptibles 591 00:30:30,241 --> 00:30:33,586 were blatantly mummified. 592 00:30:33,655 --> 00:30:36,517 St. Bernadette was enclosed in two 593 00:30:36,620 --> 00:30:38,689 hermetically sealed caskets. 594 00:30:38,793 --> 00:30:42,793 Once exposed to air, she started to decay, 595 00:30:42,862 --> 00:30:45,137 so they covered her face and hands with wax. 596 00:30:45,206 --> 00:30:49,758 SHATNER: To the millions of faithful who visit the small chapel 597 00:30:49,827 --> 00:30:52,137 where St. Bernadette's body now lies, 598 00:30:52,206 --> 00:30:56,586 her uncanny appearance remains proof of the power of faith. 599 00:30:56,655 --> 00:30:59,689 Unlike another incorruptible mummy 600 00:30:59,793 --> 00:31:01,793 which many consider to be evidence 601 00:31:01,896 --> 00:31:03,517 of a much different power, 602 00:31:03,586 --> 00:31:07,000 the power of the state. 603 00:31:16,034 --> 00:31:18,241 More than one million mourners stand for hours 604 00:31:18,310 --> 00:31:19,965 in below-freezing temperatures 605 00:31:20,034 --> 00:31:23,034 to pay their final respects to Vladimir Lenin, 606 00:31:23,103 --> 00:31:27,068 the Bolshevik leader who ushered in the Communist revolution. 607 00:31:27,137 --> 00:31:29,689 ALEXEI YURCHAK: When Lenin died in 1924, 608 00:31:29,793 --> 00:31:32,896 he was associated in the minds of millions of people-- 609 00:31:32,965 --> 00:31:35,103 not everyone, but the majority-- 610 00:31:35,172 --> 00:31:38,344 with a radical transformation of human history. 611 00:31:40,620 --> 00:31:43,758 Lenin and, uh, especially his family, 612 00:31:43,827 --> 00:31:45,586 wanted him to be buried, 613 00:31:45,689 --> 00:31:49,241 but Stalin decided to create a symbolism 614 00:31:49,310 --> 00:31:53,482 of an utopia that was created. 615 00:31:53,586 --> 00:31:56,241 So the idea was to keep him preserved 616 00:31:56,344 --> 00:31:58,689 for future generations. 617 00:31:58,793 --> 00:32:02,482 SHATNER: According to reports, Soviet scientists devised 618 00:32:02,551 --> 00:32:05,931 an entirely new method for creating Lenin's mummy, 619 00:32:06,034 --> 00:32:09,379 one intended to preserve his body for eternity, 620 00:32:09,448 --> 00:32:13,034 as though he were frozen in time. 621 00:32:13,137 --> 00:32:15,896 It had to be the exact likeness of Lenin. 622 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,068 It also had to feel like Lenin. 623 00:32:18,172 --> 00:32:20,068 The so-called presence had to be there. 624 00:32:20,137 --> 00:32:22,482 SHATNER: Almost 100 years later, 625 00:32:22,551 --> 00:32:25,896 Lenin's mummy still remains on display in his mausoleum 626 00:32:25,965 --> 00:32:28,310 near Red Square in Moscow, 627 00:32:28,379 --> 00:32:30,689 and it appears as though his body hasn't decayed 628 00:32:30,793 --> 00:32:34,000 in the slightest. 629 00:32:34,068 --> 00:32:37,310 Every few months, they give him a recharge, you know, 630 00:32:37,379 --> 00:32:39,000 they hydrate him a little bit. 631 00:32:39,068 --> 00:32:41,965 They put fake eyelashes on him. 632 00:32:42,034 --> 00:32:48,586 As the art of mummification advances, so, too, does Lenin. 633 00:32:48,655 --> 00:32:51,344 He's looking better every year. 634 00:32:51,448 --> 00:32:53,000 STONEHILL: For many people, 635 00:32:53,068 --> 00:32:55,965 it was more than just a mere body that was being preserved, 636 00:32:56,034 --> 00:32:57,793 it was the spirit of the era. 637 00:32:57,862 --> 00:33:00,206 And Stalin was gone, 638 00:33:00,275 --> 00:33:03,103 Khrushchev was gone, but Lenin was always there. 639 00:33:03,172 --> 00:33:06,689 Is it really possible for a dead body 640 00:33:06,793 --> 00:33:08,758 to remain perfectly preserved, 641 00:33:08,862 --> 00:33:13,103 untouched by decay, ageless for all eternity? 642 00:33:13,172 --> 00:33:17,275 In any case, the very public fate of some corpses 643 00:33:17,344 --> 00:33:21,931 reminds us that, regardless of what arrangements we make, 644 00:33:22,034 --> 00:33:26,172 the fate of our remains is no longer ours to control. 645 00:33:26,241 --> 00:33:28,000 There's even a chance we could end up becoming 646 00:33:28,103 --> 00:33:33,275 unwitting participants in someone's bizarre attempt 647 00:33:33,344 --> 00:33:35,965 to bring us back to life. 648 00:33:47,241 --> 00:33:50,758 SHATNER: Police investigating a series of grave desecrations 649 00:33:50,827 --> 00:33:53,793 trace them back to the home of local history professor 650 00:33:53,862 --> 00:33:58,793 Anatoly Moskvin, where they make a gruesome discovery. 651 00:34:00,655 --> 00:34:03,724 A collection of eerie, life-sized dolls 652 00:34:03,827 --> 00:34:06,931 that upon closer examination turn out to be 653 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:11,310 the mummified remains of young girls. 654 00:34:13,689 --> 00:34:17,448 Moskvin was a very intelligent person 655 00:34:17,551 --> 00:34:23,689 who had phenomenal memory, who could speak 13 languages. 656 00:34:23,758 --> 00:34:26,241 His colleagues said he was mild-mannered, 657 00:34:26,310 --> 00:34:31,931 kind and loved cemeteries and anything related to death. 658 00:34:32,034 --> 00:34:33,965 He was commissioned, at some point, 659 00:34:34,034 --> 00:34:36,586 to research, uh, cemeteries 660 00:34:36,655 --> 00:34:41,000 in a very large area of Nizhny Novgorod, 661 00:34:41,068 --> 00:34:44,965 when he started digging up the graves of young girls. 662 00:34:45,034 --> 00:34:47,068 EBNER: His poor parents, 663 00:34:47,137 --> 00:34:49,103 they thought he was a little craftsman 664 00:34:49,206 --> 00:34:51,517 sewing together these little dolls. 665 00:34:51,586 --> 00:34:55,172 They honestly had no idea 666 00:34:55,275 --> 00:34:59,172 what was going on behind the closed door of this guy's room. 667 00:35:02,275 --> 00:35:04,931 HICKEY: He spent some serious time 668 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,620 in mummification of these corpses. 669 00:35:07,724 --> 00:35:10,793 To preserve them, he used fragrances 670 00:35:10,862 --> 00:35:12,344 to make them smell better. 671 00:35:12,448 --> 00:35:14,413 He clothed them. 672 00:35:14,482 --> 00:35:18,034 He inserted things inside them so they wouldn't shrink. 673 00:35:18,137 --> 00:35:20,068 And he took very good care of them. 674 00:35:20,172 --> 00:35:22,862 SHATNER: All in all, Moskvin collected the bodies 675 00:35:22,931 --> 00:35:25,172 of 29 young girls, 676 00:35:25,275 --> 00:35:29,000 earning him the nickname "Lord of the Mummies." 677 00:35:29,103 --> 00:35:31,965 But when authorities asked Moskvin 678 00:35:32,034 --> 00:35:35,000 why he assembled his ghoulish collection, 679 00:35:35,103 --> 00:35:38,413 his motive was more disturbing than they ever imagined. 680 00:35:40,448 --> 00:35:43,034 Moskvin was a firm believer that he actually was able 681 00:35:43,137 --> 00:35:44,896 to speak to the dead and that the dead 682 00:35:44,965 --> 00:35:46,413 were able to speak back. 683 00:35:48,206 --> 00:35:50,758 PICKNETT: He claimed that he only ever dug them up 684 00:35:50,827 --> 00:35:56,931 when they'd given him permission to do so, in some spiritual way. 685 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,310 And some of them were crying out, he said, to be rescued. 686 00:36:02,034 --> 00:36:04,206 EBNER: So at one point, he said to himself, 687 00:36:04,275 --> 00:36:06,724 "Well, it's cold out here in these cemeteries. 688 00:36:06,793 --> 00:36:09,241 "Why don't I take these kids home 689 00:36:09,310 --> 00:36:15,241 and they can keep me company in the comfort of my own home?" 690 00:36:15,310 --> 00:36:18,793 He actually treated them like they were living human beings. 691 00:36:18,896 --> 00:36:21,172 Uh, he would have parties for them. 692 00:36:22,172 --> 00:36:23,724 He had birthday parties. 693 00:36:23,793 --> 00:36:25,517 He watched television with them. 694 00:36:25,586 --> 00:36:27,482 He talked to them. 695 00:36:27,551 --> 00:36:30,137 He interacted with them like they were alive. 696 00:36:30,241 --> 00:36:32,896 And to anybody else, that would be crazy, but to him, 697 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:34,448 it made perfect sense. 698 00:36:34,551 --> 00:36:35,862 [bell tolls] 699 00:36:35,931 --> 00:36:38,103 So Moskvin has indicated 700 00:36:38,206 --> 00:36:39,827 if he's ever released from prison, 701 00:36:39,896 --> 00:36:41,310 he's going to go back to those specific corpses 702 00:36:41,379 --> 00:36:44,793 and dig them up again, because he truly believes 703 00:36:44,862 --> 00:36:46,586 that these girls can be brought back to life. 704 00:36:48,034 --> 00:36:49,896 SHATNER: Anatoly Moskvin's belief 705 00:36:49,965 --> 00:36:52,379 that he can bring dead people back to life 706 00:36:52,482 --> 00:36:55,241 certainly seems like a misguided fantasy. 707 00:36:55,310 --> 00:36:59,551 But on the other hand, who knows what might happen in the future? 708 00:36:59,655 --> 00:37:03,103 What if scientific breakthroughs actually make it possible 709 00:37:03,206 --> 00:37:07,931 for us to resurrect dead bodies that have been preserved? 710 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,034 So, you don't believe in miracles, 711 00:37:10,137 --> 00:37:12,103 uh, but what you can, uh, hope for 712 00:37:12,172 --> 00:37:14,275 is a scientific breakthrough, a scientific miracle. 713 00:37:15,275 --> 00:37:17,068 Like, the idea of cryogenics. 714 00:37:17,137 --> 00:37:19,275 You can freeze yourself and maybe someday 715 00:37:19,344 --> 00:37:22,551 science will be able to get you back alive. 716 00:37:22,620 --> 00:37:24,482 PICKNETT: A lot of people have had the idea 717 00:37:24,551 --> 00:37:28,000 that one day advanced science can reanimate them. 718 00:37:28,103 --> 00:37:30,551 But that presupposes many things. 719 00:37:30,620 --> 00:37:32,413 It presupposes that there isn't an afterlife 720 00:37:32,517 --> 00:37:34,344 that you don't automatically go to. 721 00:37:34,448 --> 00:37:38,000 Or they could bring you back, but you could have lost 722 00:37:38,103 --> 00:37:40,000 everything that made you you. 723 00:37:41,206 --> 00:37:42,931 So it's the idea of-of preserving the body 724 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,275 for reanimation through science. 725 00:37:46,344 --> 00:37:49,172 It still gets us right back to that elemental question 726 00:37:49,241 --> 00:37:50,793 that so many people have: 727 00:37:50,896 --> 00:37:52,965 if there is a soul, if there is an afterlife, 728 00:37:53,034 --> 00:37:55,068 what is the relationship between that soul 729 00:37:55,137 --> 00:37:56,931 and the physical body? 730 00:37:57,034 --> 00:38:01,275 If the body is still somehow connected to the soul, 731 00:38:01,344 --> 00:38:05,034 maybe someday science will be able to save all of us. 732 00:38:06,793 --> 00:38:10,103 SHATNER: Could new technology offer us the ability 733 00:38:10,206 --> 00:38:13,724 to revive our bodies after we die? 734 00:38:13,793 --> 00:38:16,068 It's a fascinating notion. 735 00:38:16,137 --> 00:38:18,931 One that raises an even more profound question: 736 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,827 if science can bring a recently mummified body 737 00:38:21,896 --> 00:38:23,551 back from the dead, 738 00:38:23,655 --> 00:38:26,241 might there also be a way for modern technology 739 00:38:26,344 --> 00:38:30,068 to bring ancient mummies back to life as well? 740 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,517 SHATNER: Scientists publish the results of an extraordinary study. 741 00:38:47,620 --> 00:38:51,931 By CT-scanning the mummy of an ancient Egyptian priest 742 00:38:52,034 --> 00:38:54,931 known as Nesyamun, and using this information 743 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,482 to recreate his vocal tract using a 3D printer, 744 00:38:59,586 --> 00:39:02,793 the scientists were able to engineer an approximation 745 00:39:02,862 --> 00:39:05,068 of the dead priest's voice 746 00:39:05,137 --> 00:39:08,448 which hadn't been heard for 3,000 years. 747 00:39:08,517 --> 00:39:11,793 [low groaning] 748 00:39:11,896 --> 00:39:13,586 MICHIO KAKU: "Hear dead people speak." 749 00:39:13,655 --> 00:39:15,965 That was the headline. 750 00:39:16,068 --> 00:39:18,034 Because it was such an interesting concept, 751 00:39:18,103 --> 00:39:20,517 using modern technology to understand 752 00:39:20,620 --> 00:39:22,379 what the person may have sounded like. 753 00:39:22,448 --> 00:39:24,344 [low groaning] 754 00:39:26,448 --> 00:39:31,103 As a priest of Amun, Nesyamun was responsible 755 00:39:31,172 --> 00:39:34,034 for guiding the mummy from the realm of the living 756 00:39:34,137 --> 00:39:35,689 into the realm of the dead. 757 00:39:35,793 --> 00:39:37,620 [low groaning] 758 00:39:37,689 --> 00:39:41,103 And the very fact that his voice seems to echo 759 00:39:41,206 --> 00:39:43,827 through the centuries perhaps is proof 760 00:39:43,896 --> 00:39:46,103 of the Egyptian belief 761 00:39:46,206 --> 00:39:49,862 that the soul remains connected to the body 762 00:39:49,931 --> 00:39:52,827 for eternity through the afterlife. 763 00:39:52,896 --> 00:39:56,413 SHATNER: Thus far, the team working to restore Nesyamun's voice 764 00:39:56,517 --> 00:39:59,413 has only managed to reproduce a single sound. 765 00:39:59,517 --> 00:40:02,344 [low groaning] 766 00:40:02,413 --> 00:40:04,551 In time, it is believed they may be able 767 00:40:04,655 --> 00:40:08,172 to make him speak words, or even entire sentences. 768 00:40:08,241 --> 00:40:10,862 And if some researchers are correct, 769 00:40:10,931 --> 00:40:13,931 scientists may even soon be able to recreate 770 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,310 his entire body. 771 00:40:16,379 --> 00:40:18,965 STEAVU: We could technically 772 00:40:19,068 --> 00:40:21,931 extract DNA from a mummy and then clone it, 773 00:40:22,034 --> 00:40:25,896 and reanimate the deceased person. 774 00:40:25,965 --> 00:40:29,620 So we could grow King Tut once more. 775 00:40:30,827 --> 00:40:33,310 SHATNER: Regrow King Tut? 776 00:40:33,379 --> 00:40:36,724 While the possibility of reviving 3,000-year-old mummies 777 00:40:36,793 --> 00:40:38,586 may in fact be within our reach, 778 00:40:38,655 --> 00:40:42,137 there are those who believe that just because we can 779 00:40:42,206 --> 00:40:46,655 doesn't necessarily mean we should. 780 00:40:46,724 --> 00:40:49,275 The ancient Egyptians, it was really important for them 781 00:40:49,379 --> 00:40:52,758 to have a peaceful, uh, burial and existence. 782 00:40:52,827 --> 00:40:56,517 So they might perceive these scientific investigations 783 00:40:56,586 --> 00:41:00,620 to try to clone a mummy or try to recreate a mummy's voice 784 00:41:00,689 --> 00:41:02,655 as perhaps invasive, uh, 785 00:41:02,724 --> 00:41:05,689 to their actual religious afterlife beliefs. 786 00:41:05,758 --> 00:41:09,172 JEREMIAH: We have two major mysteries in life, 787 00:41:09,241 --> 00:41:11,793 and one is the nature of life itself, the other is death. 788 00:41:11,896 --> 00:41:16,620 And mummified bodies serve kind of as a conduit between the two. 789 00:41:16,689 --> 00:41:21,551 And the truth is maybe they still are influencing reality. 790 00:41:22,862 --> 00:41:26,034 So, uh, what do you think? 791 00:41:26,103 --> 00:41:28,137 Would you like to try getting yourself mummified 792 00:41:28,206 --> 00:41:31,034 after you die, and then be brought back to life? 793 00:41:31,103 --> 00:41:32,965 It's a tantalizing concept. 794 00:41:33,034 --> 00:41:36,034 But then again, maybe we should heed 795 00:41:36,137 --> 00:41:39,137 the lesson of King Tut's tomb, and remember 796 00:41:39,206 --> 00:41:43,655 that it might be better to let mummies rest in peace, 797 00:41:43,758 --> 00:41:47,103 leaving the question of whether they will ever rise again 798 00:41:47,172 --> 00:41:53,068 to remain, at least for now... 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