Swedish Mummy's Secret Exposed: 350-Year-Old Bishop Buried With Baby Hidden in Coffin

Swedish Bishop Peder Winstrup died some 350 years ago and his body was mummified to preserve it, which worked so well that it is said to be among the best preserved bodies of his century, The Guardian reported.

Recently, scientists started running several tests on the bishop's mummy to shed light about Winstrup, and to find information of his life and social conditions but what they have found came as a big surprise. After scanning the mummy with CT imaging, the scientists discovered that the Bishop was not alone in his coffin for the last 350 years at all! He had a tiny companion with him: a prematurely born baby, hidden under his feet.

Director of the museum at Lund University, where the mummy is kept, Per Karsten shared the news with journalists, and said the coffin had been investigated many times before and the mummy was still in great condition; you could still recognize Bishop's face from a portrait and all his clothes were intact and well-preserved. Although there was no finding about a baby. The part of the reason why the baby was missed was be because it was well-hidden under the herbs that decorate the coffin.

The next step for the scientists is to look into the DNA of both the baby and Bishop to see if they are related. The guardian reports that museum director Karsten believes premature born baby was of illegitimate origin and it would not be buried in a "holy" site and somebody sneaked the baby's body into the Bishop's coffin so that it could rest in a Christian site.

The guardian reports that Winstrup was among the founders of the Lund University in 1666, where his mummified body is now being examined. He was a scientist, theologian, scholar and also a collector, who reportedly died of pneumonia but the study also revealed that he had suffered several debilitating illnesses such as arthritis, plague, gout and probably tuberculosis.

The researchers were also able to predict his diet by looking at the condition of his body. For instance, he lost several teeth and had tooth decay, an accepted sign of existence of sugar in diet, which was not available to many folks in his time, thus also suggesting he was rich. Scientists also predict thated he had multiple stones in his gall bladder, which implies a fatty food rich diet.