For reasons that are not entirely clear, Colonel George Fabyan had a mummy. Col. Fabyan often purchased unclaimed rail freight cars and our best guess is that the "Fabyan Mummy" was found in one of them. Whether it was a mummy or a dummy was not known until February 5, 1982. According to the Geneva Republic, when forensic anthropologist Dr. Michael Finnegan from Kansas State University first saw the mummy, "He thought it looked real in many ways. The color of the wrapping was good. The right tibia poking through the wrapping looked authentic. The face looked pretty good." X-rays by Dr. Finnegan at a clinic in Aurora, however, proved that the mummy was a fake, constructed with bamboo, plaster, nails, and a small piece of bone (the right "tibia") from a dog. While there was some disappointment that the mummy was a fake—something we do not believe Col. Fabyan knew—the Fabyan Mummy has become an integral part of Colonel Fabyan's story. The Fabyan Mummy and the x-rays from 1982 are at the Fabyan Villa Museum May to September.
Thank you for reading! If this story interested, inspired, or informed you, please consider subscribing to our monthly e-newsletter so more of these stories come right to you!
PHOTO by Dave Renar.
SOURCES: "Mummy Expert to Give Free Lecture," Aurora Beacon-News, February 4, 1982; Dianne Herschelman, "Fabyan Museum Mummy has Wood and Nails, but No Skeleton," Geneva Republican, February 11, 1982; Dave Renar, “Mummy or Dummy? Insight 27, no. 3 (February 22, 1982): 1.