Smallscreen News

Curiosity: I Was Mummified, premieres Sunday, Oct. 21 at 9 PM E/P

By April MacIntyre Oct 12, 2012, 18:30 GMT

How do you perfectly stop time at the moment of death? What types of materials do you use? And can it be done without modern-day chemicals?

One dying man helps scientists learn ancient mummification technique.

A team of scientists are on a quest to solve one of the greatest mysteries of ancient Egypt – the art of mummification. 

How do you perfectly stop time at the moment of death? What types of materials do you use?  And can it be done without modern-day chemicals?

From Discovery

In “I Was Mummified,” the latest episode of the ground-breaking series CURIOSITY, airing Sunday, Oct. 21 at 9 PM E/P on Discovery Channel, a team of researchers think they’re close to finding answers to these questions. 

All they need is a body. 

Enter Allan Billis, a 61-year-old cab driver with terminal lung cancer, who decides to donate his body to science after reading an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a volunteer to be mummified.

After 36 years of marriage, Alan’s wife Jan has become accustomed to surprises though was still thrown off at first.  “You’ve what?” Jan said, after hearing about his decision.   “And I thought, ‘Oh, here he goes again.’ That’s just the sort of thing you would expect him to do.”

Over the next three months, a carefully assembled team of experts will attempt to preserve Alan’s body by using techniques last practiced by the ancient Egyptians more than 3,000 years ago.  Will they be able crack the secret in stopping the body’s natural decay after death? 

CURIOSITY will take viewers behind the scenes to see whether this unassuming man will become the world’s first modern-day pharaoh.

Curiosity, now in its second season on Discovery Channel, brings the ‘I wonder?’ moment to television with a unique array of provocative subjects.   The next episode, “Brainwashed,” airing Sunday, Oct. 28, explores whether we truly are in command of our own minds and follows a hypnotherapist and a group of scientists as they embark on an audacious experiment -- to see if ordinary people can be brainwashed and turned into assassins.

“I Was Mummified” is produced by Blink Films for Discovery Channel.