Austrian ‘mummy’ mystery resolved

The mystery surrounding the mummified remains stored at the church of Sankt Thomas am Blasenstein, a small village in Upper Austria, has finally been solved. Researchers have now identified the person who in death became known colloquially as the “air-dried chaplain,” and they have also solved the puzzle of just how he was embalmed (Front. Med. 2025, DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1560050). Unlike mummification practices in ancient Egypt, the process involved no removal of internal organs. Instead, the embalmers packed the intact body with materials such as wood chips and fabric to dry it out.

The remains had been rumored to be those of local aristocratic monk Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg, who died in 1746. Past studies resolved little and revealed new questions about the monk’s life and death. An X-ray analysis in 2000 identified a dense round object in the lower abdomen, leading to conjecture that the monk was murdered via a poisoned capsule. Meanwhile, how and why this corpse was so well preserved has puzzled scientists for decades.

A recent renovation of the church’s crypt provided a unique opportunity for in-depth study of this mysterious individual. With permission from the church, an international team of analytical chemists, medical researchers, and conservation historians led by Andreas Nerlich at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich performed a series of comprehensive analyses to unravel the story of his life and death and understand the reasons for the body’s excellent preservation.

The team began by comparing data from radiocarbon, stable isotope, and anthropological analyses against known details from the life of Sidler. These studies suggested the mummified male had most likely died between 1734 and 1780, at an age of about 35–45 years. The individual had consumed a high-quality diet, consistent with Sidler’s documented life.

Further analyses, including computed tomography (CT) scans and histological sampling, identified dental wear consistent with prolific pipe smoking and found minimal evidence of joint degradation, suggesting a relatively easy life without manual labor. The condition of his lungs, blackened and containing numerous calcified lumps, suggested the individual spent long periods near open fires and had developed chronic pulmonary tuberculosis, which almost certainly was Sidler’s ultimate cause of death.

The CT scans also alerted Nerlich and his team to material packed in the abdomen. A subsequent autopsy found twigs, wood chips, and fabric stuffed inside the abdominal cavity, reaching as high as the diaphragm on the right side. The materials were presumably intended to absorb any decomposition fluid released by the corpse. The researchers detected high levels of zinc via toxicologic analysis, which they suggest were also likely remnants of this intentional embalming process, possibly from adding zinc chloride to the body as an additional desiccant and disinfectant.

Meanwhile, the dense round object that had been previously thought to be a poison capsule was instead identified as a small glass bead, possibly originating from a broken rosary and introduced accidentally during this embalming procedure.

Nerlich says these findings all point “to a hitherto unreported type of embalming that consisted of stuffing the body with wooden chips, fabric, and zinc chloride—all inserted through the anal canal—to avoid rapid decomposition.” He adds that “the body is not opened, as in classical Egyptian mummies, through an evisceration cut at the left pelvic region, but through incision of the rectum.”

“It’s an exemplary piece of research,” says Matija Strlic, a heritage scientist at University College London. The combination of scientific and historical perspectives gives vital context to the underlying sociological reasons behind intentional mummification, he adds.

As for why Sidler was embalmed in such a way, one suggestion is that it was done to prevent the spread of disease (in this case, tuberculosis). This is very different from the impetus behind ancient Egyptian mummification. It is, Strlic says, “extremely interesting from a viewpoint of medical history.”