Q: Today I heard a speaker repeat the story that mummies were used as fuel in British trains. I recall this was a classic legend first related by Mark Twain in The Innocents Abroad, but the speaker insisted that she thoroughly researched the subject, and it was true. Got anything on this?
—B. Dail
A: This bit of morbid historical curiosa, suitably limned with anti-colonial themes, has been around for over a century and reported as true by a handful of writers. Discover magazine writer LeeAundra Temescu wrote in 2006 that “During a railway expansion in Egypt in the nineteenth century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as locomotive fuel.” This factoid inspired poet Charles Webb to write a piece titled “Mummies to Burn” for Slate in January 20101.
There is no evidence at all that mummies were burned in locomotives, and Dail correctly identified the origin of the myth. Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope received a similar query in 2002 and replied, in part, “What you heard was a mangled version of a classic joke told by one of the masters of the art. But don’t feel bad—people have been falling for this one for more than 130 years.” Some people, apparently unaware of Twain’s penchant for humor and hyperbole, took his comment literally or as “reporting.” For example, Joann Fletcher (2011), an honorary research fellow at the University of York and part of York’s Mummy Research Group, in an article for no less an authoritative source than the BBC, wrote that “Even less fortunate were those mummies exported to the U.S. for use in the papermaking industry or even, as Mark Twain reported, to be burnt as railroad fuel.”
So let’s consult the source: in Twain’s The Innocents Abroad, chapter 58, he writes, in part:
I shall not tell of the Great Caravan which leaves for Mecca every year, for I did not see it; nor of the fashion the people have of prostrating themselves and so forming a long human pavement to be ridden over by the chief of the expedition on its return, to the end that their salvation may be thus secured, for I did not see that either; I shall not speak of the railway, for it is like any other railway—I shall only say that the fuel they use for the locomotive is composed of mummies three thousand years old, purchased by the ton or by the graveyard for that purpose, and that sometimes one hears the profane engineer call out pettishly, “D–n these plebeians, they don’t burn worth a cent—pass out a King;”—(Stated to me for a fact. I only tell it as I got it. I am willing to believe it. I can believe anything.)
I include the preamble for context—though no excuse is needed to quote Twain at any length—and not only is the comment explicitly made in the context of other absurd claims (“a long human pavement to be ridden over” by exalted leaders would surely be a needlessly bumpy ride), but Twain goes out of his way to say that if he (and by extension his readers) will believe that, they’ll “believe anything.” It seems he was right. From competitive jumping frogs to Tom Sawyer’s adventures, it’s hard to fathom how, of any English-language author, Twain’s works would not be recognized as satirical and greatly embellished.
It’s certainly true that in the 1800s Egyptian mummies were both plentiful and often displayed with little respect for the dead in sideshows and museums. But the idea that they were burned for fuel (or “bailed into” the locomotive furnace) is another matter. Most sources I found debunk and discredit the story (including Mummies: Truth and Rumors by Heather Montgomery), but probably the most definitive appears in the book The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead, by Heather Pringle (2001, Penguin Books). On pages 189 and 190 she explains, “So striking was this brief sketch that Twain’s tale has lodged itself firmly in mummy lore. No mummy expert has ever been able to authenticate the story, however, although several have tried and written about their frustration. Twain seems to be the only published source—and a rather suspect one at that.”
Pringle notes that it’s only one of several legends about mummies of that era, including that in the 1850s as demand for paper grew in America, mummies were imported and their ancient linen used to help manufacture brown wrapping paper for household use (York University’s Joann Fletcher mentions this). This “mummy paper” was discontinued when it was discovered that diseases had leached from the Egyptian bodies and into the wrapping paper.
In the mid-1990s, Joseph Dane, an America English professor, went hunting for proof that mills had ever recycled mummy wrappings. He was unable to recover a single shred. He came across no conclusive records of the trade, nor even a single example of the paper—surprising given how novel these sheets would have seemed at the time. (Pringle 2001, 191)
It’s not uncommon for people to mistakenly repeat myths and misinformation; we all hear and share information that we haven’t personally vetted. I’m more concerned about the “expert” who repeated this myth to Dail and her audience; if she really did “thoroughly research the subject” as she claimed, it raises serious questions about her researching skills. It is one thing to present a piece of information with a caveat such as “some say” or “attributed to,” but quite another to positively affirm an inherently suspect or dubious claim by personally endorsing it.
This example shows why diligent research involves consulting a variety of sources; at least three and ideally five or more. If you just do an internet search and glance at the top result to see if any writers or experts have reached the same conclusion you have, you may likely find confirming information. But if you spend a few minutes to do a less superficial search, you’re more likely to discover if the idea is widely accepted or has been thoroughly debunked. Besides, everyone knows that kings make better human pavement than peasants.
Note
- The error was pointed out to the magazine’s editors, who later added a note at the bottom of the online version acknowledging that “this was probably a hoax.” The fact that the misinformation was cited as true four years later by Slate poet Charles Webb suggests that the correction has gone largely unnoticed.
References
- Fletcher, Joann. 2011. Mummies around the world. BBC News (February 17). Available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/mummies_01.shtml.
- Pringle, Heather. 2001. The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead. New York: Penguin Books.
- Temescu, LeeAundra. 2006. 20 things you didn’t know about … death. Discover (September). Available online at http://discovermagazine.com/2006/sep/10-20thingsdeath.
- Twain, Mark. 1869. The innocents abroad. In The Unabridged Mark Twain (1976). Lawrence Teacher, Ed. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press.