The ''Blinking'' Mummy

By Crusader1307

 Odd title? Even odder story. This involves the long known (and visited) Cappuchian (Religious Order) Catacombs, in Northern Palermo, Italy. For 300 years, The Monks placed their deceased Brothers within the deep and quite dry caves near their Monastery. The dry conditions would transform the bodies into what is known as ''Natural Mummies''. In time, Townspeople too, requested to be buried in The Catacombs, and likewise (to varying degrees), were so transformed. But of all the macabre figures, it is little Rosalia Lomardo who attracts the most attention. You see, She died in 1920 at the age of 2 years, among the last in The Town to pass from the infamous ''Spanish Flu''. So distraught, Her Father commissioned a well known Embalmer to perform a still to this day – marveled at technique of preservation which rivals even The ancient Egyptians.

It would be almost 50 years after the Little Girl died, that His notes were found to explain His technique and complex chemical infusions to explain His ''creation''. Rosalia is so perfectly preserved, with VERY little ''recognizable'' evidence of decomposition, that She ''appears to be simply sleeping'' (hence Her nickname of The ''Sleeping Beauty''). Examined (as much as could be) many times, Rosalia was buried in a small wooded box encased in 19th Century glass. Constant examination though caused damage and the ''start'' of natural decomposition. As such, She was re-sealed in a hermetically seal, glass container into which was placed inert gases to help ''maintain'' Her ''pristine condition''. But that is just the start of Rosalia's ''Legend''.

For many decades, it was reported that The Little Girl's ''eyes'' will ''open and shut'', throughout the day! She would become a major attraction, so much so that for several decades, Visitors were stopped from ''visiting''. However, the ''scientific explanation'' is not so ''Paranormal''. Rosalia's Embalmer ''set Her eyes'', slightly open (as was custom), as the natural light passes thru the glass and interacts with both the days shadowing and how it passes thru the light parafin wax applied to her eyelids, gives the ''appearance'' of ''moving'' even slowly ''closing'' at the end of the day...at least One hopes!