Dead Bodies In This Colombian Town Keep Mummifying, And Nobody Knows Why

This mysterious discovery, which initially seemed like an isolated incident, has puzzled the people of San Bernardo for decades.

In the small, mountainous Colombian town of San Bernardo, an unusual discovery has left residents and scientists confused. There's a common occurrence at the town's municipal cemetery - deceased residents keep mummifying without preservatives, and their clothes, hair and even eyes often remain intact. This mysterious discovery, which initially seemed like an isolated incident, has puzzled the people of San Bernardo for decades. Despite many attempts to unravel its mystery, the exact cause remains hidden. "People were a little incredulous about what was happening," Rocio Vergara, a guide at the town cemetery's Museum of Mummies, said, as per Science Alert. 

According to the outlet, the petrified corpses, which belong to people born in roughly the past century, were first exhumed in the 1950s from the Alpine villages' cemetery after it was relocated because of a flood. By the late 1980s, the officials at San Bernardo municipal cemetery began removing bodies interred in vaults from decades past to make room for new burials. At one point, residents were reportedly digging up as many as 50 per year, although that dropped to only about five annually. 

Now, a dozen or so of the best-preserved specimens are on display at the Jose Arquimedes Castro Mausoleum for all to see. Some of the corpses appear so decomposition-proof that even their most perishable features, like eyes, clothes and hair, remain intact.