Episode 6: Beyond Belief, Was the Mummy Fact or Fiction?

Ii-Wey! I’m sure I must have watched a few episodes of the Fox series, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction that aired from 1997 through 2002, for four seasons. The structure of each episode featured four to five stories that defied logic yet were based on factual events – maybe. It was up to the viewer to decide prior to end of the episode, which stories were fact and which were fiction. Obviously, no paranormal series would be complete without a mummy story. 

Our mummy story appeared during season two, episode 13 (1998) with the ubiquitous title, “The Mummy,” which is by far the most overused mummy story title in the history of mummies in media. In this story, a museum curator and his director arrive at an appointment with a private collector who is interested in selling a sarcophagus, complete with an Egyptian mummy, identified as Princess Ferrantiti. The collector, Monsieur Duqua, states that the princess was wrapped 300 years before Christ, as he hands over the requisite documentation to the curator for inspection. The museum officials ask the collector where he obtained the artifacts, but he declines to divulge that information. 

After some hours’ inspection, the curator claims the mummy and the sarcophagus are authentic. With that validation complete, the museum pays and takes possession of the artifacts. In a voice over, the curator mentions that the embalming expects will still need to run their tests, but the museum has wasted no time putting the mummy and her sarcophagus on display in the meantime. 

One evening at the museum near the mummy exhibit, as the cleaning lady is scrubbing the floor, she sees a young beautiful woman floating next to the sarcophagus. She is in contemporary attire and her feet are bare. When the woman tells the curator, he does not believe her. She quits. A week goes by and then a security guard reports seeing a young woman (the same woman). At this point, the curator has a frank discussion with the museum director, who dismisses both accounts, stating that the cleaning woman obviously told the guard what she saw. The curator responds that while he could easily dismiss the woman’s testimony (ouch!), he utterly believes the guard since he has worked for the museum for 15 years. The director remains unconvinced; he believes the visions are a result of watching too much television or reading too many tabloids. 

While the director goes off to a dinner date, the curator continues to work late into the night. Soon he feels a chill and realizes the fire has died down in the fireplace. Then, he sees the same woman, floating a few feet above the floor in his office. She pulls back her hair to reveal a deep gash in her forehead and then silently beckons him to follow her. He does. He finds her in the sarcophagus. He immediately calls the police. The authorities investigate and discover that Monsieur Duqua murdered the woman in the sarcophagus. When questioned where he had stashed the princess’ body, Duqua refuses to answer. 

Was this fact or fiction? The mummy cum ghost story was not a new plot device. There were occasions in early mummy literature and comic book stories in which the presence of a mummy or an artifact, such as a sarcophagus, was a way of introducing a ghost element to the narrative. This was also a way of revealing the rather unsavory habit of mummifying individuals in a process to age them and their wrappings so they appeared to be authentic artifacts when in fact the mummy was a contemporary fake (read Anne Rice’s The Mummy or Ramses the Damned comic book). While this story follows in that vein, how much more intriguing would the story have been if the ghost was the Egyptian princess?

Along with our mummy story, host Jonathan Frakes also introduces viewers to stories about a teenage girl who dies sitting in a cemetery, a murder committed by a giant, a disheveled man looking for his towed car, and a security guard’s perfect “no burglaries” record that gets challenged. In the last six minutes of the episode, Frakes challenges the viewers to guess which stories are real and which are works of fiction. What do you think about the mummy story? 

Frakes reveals that the mummy story was based on a true event. However, we know how “true” is true when based on a true event. While “The Mummy” was presented as contemporary story, based on the description of the authentication process and the way the opportunity came about in the opening scene of the vignette, I tend to believe that this Beyond Belief story was inspired by an event several decades before, perhaps at the turn of the 20^thcentury. I did spend some time looking for any connection between the mummy story and the factual event, but I was not successful. I guess that mystery will stay securely wrapped. 

Note: To watch this episode or the entire series of Beyond Belief, you can watch it for free through Amazon Prime.

Senebti!