Episode 1 Transcript
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BEYOND BIZARRE
EPISODE 1 “Bodies Dead and Alive”
Transcript
Note: Any slang or grammar irregularities are a direct result of the transcription
Jay Robinson: For the next hour join us as we leave the normal world behind and delve into a world of witches, desert giants and mystifying religious practices. We visit a remote western dry lake where rocks are moved by an unseen force and meet the incredible wolf boys of Mexico. From practitioners of modern mummification to encounters with aliens from outer space. You’ll be probing a world that is Beyond Bizarre.
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jay Robinson, your host for Beyond Bizarre. The dictionary defines bizarre as an adjective. The word meaning: “deviating from the customary; conceived or done with no reference to reality or common sense”. Well tonight, we will be taking you well beyond the customary the concept of reality and some may say well past what our culture considers “common sense”.
(Intro title sequence)
Jay Robinson: To begin our exploration of the bizarre perhaps it’s appropriate for us to start with the very cement that holds us together as a social community as adhesive is religion. Dictating the moral rules we must follow to achieve social stability while here and the immortality beyond. Are we all familiar with the world’s major forms of religious practices? There are a few that definitely fall into the dictionary’s definition of “bizarre”.
Bizarre #1:
Church Snake Handlers
Jay Robinson: In a small southern town sits an unassuming little church. a place people of faith gather to become closer to their maker; sing songs and read scriptures from their bibles and to share with their neighbors their belief in the hereafter there’s only one small difference between this church and most others. And some say it’s beyond bizarre
Guy #1: The bible says that: “Thy shall take up serpents. And thy shall not hurt ‘em.”
Guy #2: You know you’re in trouble if you get bitten.
Guy #3: Well inside it feels like I am going to bust.
Guy #4: If They do it and make sure that god’s moving on do it ‘cause there’s death in it.
Guy #1: I know a man who has died because of this.
Jay Robinson: These are the Pentecostal Serpent Handlers, a congregation of christians that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Kingston, Georgia who take the bible literally and use practices banned in most parts of US. The strange practice of handling deadly snakes originated sometime during the summer of 1909 in the hills and hollows of eastern Tennessee after a preacher named George Went Hensley took a literal reading of Mark 16.
Guy #3: “They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them and they shall lay hands on the sick and thy shall recover.”
Jay Robinson: Since its inception numerous people have died while handling poisonous snakes during religious ceremonies and yet many snake handlers who have practiced their faith for years are still around to talk about it and many have been bitten numerous times.
Guy #2: I have been bitten 116 times and with cottonmouths, northern copperheads, southern copperheads, western diamondback and pacific. Really, I don’t care about what’s going to happen. If I’m going to die, I’ll die with it and that will be fine. I know I could die. And I know it could hurt and some of them do hurt me real bad. And the last time I got bit, I was down a few days. ‘Til I got bit with two rattlesnakes the same night about just like - Just like that…right in here. (points to his shoulder) Well, I started hurting right quick. And in just two minutes’ time, I was feeling very poor.
Jay Robinson: Common knowledge amongst snake handling experts,the diamondback rattlesnakes and cottonmouths are highly aggressive snakes striking at the slightest movement. Death is almost always imminent if one has to seek medical attention. Therefore it is questionable why these snakes seems so lethargic during this practice and why do these believers seem to recover so quickly after being bitten
Guy #4: We believe that god can heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and raise the dead or whatever is necessary. I believe god can do it.
Jay Robinson: Another act of faith practiced religiously during the ceremony is the drinking of deadly poison. The scriptures in Mark 16 state that if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. This poison happens to be the deadly and dreaded strychnine. Strychnine poisoning destroys the central nervous system by its effects on the brain. Symptoms are slurred speech, stiffening joints, jitters, nausea and uncontrollable jerking. To be followed later by convulsions and death by restricted bleeding. Yet none of these believers seems to show any ill effects after drinking the deadly brew.
Guy #3: Strychnine I wouldn’t advise nobody to even put up against their lips unless they’re living right. Because now a snake you might handle and God of Mercy may not let it bother you. But most times a person drinks Strychnine they’ll hit the floor if they ain’t living right.
Jay Robinson: The laying on of hands is also practiced by these christian serpent handlers They believe that through god they can heal the sick. Speaking in tongues is also experienced by many of these believers. Sometimes it is god speaking only to them or god through them to someone else in the parish who can understand the tongue. Casting out Satan in order to save a soul is yet another task. As the services are due to a close, our documentary crew was given permission to remove a sample of the liquid that they claim was strychnine. We made sure it was from the exact jar that everyone drank from. The sample was sent to Los Angeles where chemists tested the liquid to determine its makeup. The results may shock you. The liquid that these believers drank that day was unquestionably 100% strychnine poison.
Guy #3: I believe in drinking Strychnine, handling serpents, and speaking in tongues and all.
Jay Robinson: And there is no doubt that whatever the reason be it their faith in god, the power of mind over matter or pure luck these believers these serpent handlers of god most certainly possess something rather special.
Bizarre #2:
Witches of Wicca
Jay Robinson: Another unique religious practice is that of witchcraft. Not demonic evil witches cast out from Satan’s den but rather good witches. Witches that love the land and nature that surrounds them. They are the Witches of Wicca and their beliefs are as old as ancient times.
Woman #1: (performing a ritual) In the name of our lord and lady, I welcome you into this Temple of Circle of Isis Rising.
Man #1: We are in no way, shape or form are connected with black magic practices, Satanic practices or any of those negative sort of things. We primarily are earth, nature oriented religion.
Jay Robinson: Wicca practitioners come from all walks of life. The High Priestess is the Queen of Heaven and in some respects resembles the Egyption goddess, Isis. She is light, love and above all, fertility.
Woman #1: My responsibility is basically to serve people. To touch as many lives as I can in a positive way that’s my responsibility that I feel.
Jay Robinson: The High Priest is the Horn God, the dark male factor and between them they control the turning of the seasons. They bring fertility to both crops and animals and bestow magical powers upon their faithful followers
Woman #2: I have practiced spells for our district and our company for prosperity to come into our area and make money - and it has worked.
Jay Robinson: Magic and spells are still very much a part of their beliefs and practices but only good spells since a bad spell can come back to its creator three fold.
Woman #1: Whatever actions an individual puts out - it will come back to you threefold - or three times. Therefore, it doesn’t do any good to put out anything other than positive vibrations in this world because that is exactly what you are going to get back.
Jay Robinson: Regardless as whether you believe in witches or not, there’s no doubting their sincerities, how they feel about their fellow members.
Man #2: Wicca accepts me for who I am. It doesn’t try to change me and it hasn’t told me that I have to convince anyone else that they have to come to Wicca either.
Jay Robinson: As for their favorite holiday, you might have guessed.
Woman #2: We all get together. We all celebrate like the New Years for us which is Halloween, Samhain, and I just enjoy.
Jay Robinson: Luckily for these witches, there is no longer a fear of being burned at the stake. No longer do they need to run and hide if local townspeople discover their beliefs. Today they can blend in perfectly with society and no one knows the difference except on those cold breezy nights when the moon is full and all good witches gather to practice their centuries old ritual magic.
(ad break preview)
Jay Robinson:Coming up, an encounter with the mysterious giants of the desert.
(Next ad break preview)
Jay Robinson: Next, a glimpse of the anti-aging machine and its creator.
(Resumed from ad break)
Bizarre #3:
Death Valley Rocks
Jay Robinson: Some of the world’s most bizarre and baffling mysteries can be found in the American southwest. Tricks of nature, man made puzzles whose meanings have been lost in the mists of time. One such mystery involves rocks. (chuckles) Not just ordinary rocks, mind you, but rocks that have been propelled by unseen forces.
Jay Robinson: Below stretches of desert vastness of California’s Death Valley Monument the indians call it Timbisha, ground on fire and an appropriate name for a land where summertime soil temperatures reach 190 degrees, just 22 degrees below the boiling point of water. Come join desert adventurer Glenn Turner on a journey to view one of nature’s truly bizarre phenomena: Death Valley’s rocks that move.
Glenn Turner: (While driving his truck) It was about a year ago and a friend of mine Mike Bruin and myself would come out here. I guess we have heard about the rocks that move and when we came out to the area it was so eerie just walking around with no close life out there. There was almost like a presence.
Jay Robinson: According to Glenn’s account, he and his friend camped out on the Devil’s Racetrack near a large boulder. The morning they awakened to an incredible surprise. The boulder, weighing well over 100 pounds, had moved 50 or 60 feet.
Glenn Turner: When we get out there, I’ll show you some of the area but it was unexplainable. It was pretty bizarre.
Jay Robinson: Because of the 28 miles of bone jarring gravel road, few tourists visit this amazing sight. High clearance or four wheel drive vehicles are recommended. This is Tea Kettle Junction for reasons still unknown to park officials; occasional visitors to this remote site have nod their passing by hanging tea kettles on this road marker. Here the road forks and Gleen follows the trail to the Devil’s Racetrack, the dry lake bed for one can find the mysterious rocks that move.
In this desolate setting, Glenn hikes across the flat hot surface to the southern end of the Devil’s Racetrack where the majority of the moving rocks are found. The rocks ranging in size from small to large boulders weighing 100 pounds or more seem to be propelled over the racetrack by an unseen force. Leaving a visible trail on the dry lakebed. The first ones Glenn finds haven’t been moved for some time. Their trails are barely visible on the clay surface. Further out on the race track Glenn finds moving rocks that have left new trails that haven’t been eroded by winds of time.
First discovered by early Death Valley explorers the rocks remains an unsolved phenomenon But to this day, no one has seen them move.According to ranger Shirley Harding, the current official explanation for the moving rocks is that in periods of precipitation, the dry lake becomes wet. The surface freezes the rocks are propelled by high winds across the icy terrain. But as Shirley explains, other theories abound.
Shirley Harding: Some people thought just wind and the slick surface moves them. Some thought maybe UFOs maybe something strange that we are never going to find out about and In a way we haven’t. We’ve never seen it happen we’ve just seen the evidence.
Jay Robinson: Some dispute the wind and ice theory pointing out that on some occasions the trail left by the moving rocks have cut across the dry cracked surface. As in this photograph taken in 1968. Until someone actually sees them move, Death Valley’s Racetrack rocks will remains an unsolved and bizarre mystery.
Bizarre #4
Desert Giants
Jay Robinson: Our journey into the bizarre has brought us here to the small farming community of Blythe, California. But it’s here where one finds the mystifying Intaglios, the giants of the desert. With mystery seeker and self proclaimed “desert rat”, Tom Hinshaw’s our guide. We walk across a time stained gravel mesa to examine a few of the widely scattered intaglios. Intaglios are huge human and animal representations etched into the desert surface. Just who made them? When? And Why? Are Questions that remain unanswered to this day. According to the present day Mojave and Quechan indians of the lower Colorado river basin, the human figures may represent Mastamho, creator of the earth. This barely discernible mountain lion figure may be a drawing of Hatakulya, who, according to indian mythology, helped in the creation but what was their original purpose? Time they were made they can only be viewed in entirety by high flying birds. Modern man didn’t discover their existence until the 1830s when early day aviators spotted them from the air. Veteran charter pilot, Ed Venable flies north over the fertile Colorado river basin to get a better look at the serious Intaglios. Here of the desolate mesa overlooking the Colorado one can finally see the giants of the desert in their entirety. Below the man like figure of Mastamho comes into view along with the mountain lion, Hatakulya. Theories as to their purpose vary widely. Some say that they were sites that were sacred ceremony dances were held. If so, why the huge size? One of these figures measures 171 feet from head to toe. Others theorize that the intaglios were attempts by early man to contact beings from outer space. Credible thought? Not really when one delves into the history of unidentified flying objects.
Bizarre #5
Anti-Aging Machine
Jay Robinson: Northwest of the Blythe intaglios is the sparsely settled desert community of Landers, California. This is where the location of the strange dome structure called The Integratron. The story behind its construction is as strange as the building itself. To tell that story, we must first visit a nearby desert monolith called Giant Rock. Purported to be the world’s largest free standing boulder. Now abandoned, Giant Rock was once the unique home of this man: Dr. George Van Tassel. A former test pilot for Howard Hughes and DOUGLAS aircraft, George settled here in 1950. Beneath the rock George enlarged and improved a former desert rat subterranean dwelling, making an office and living quarters out of it. He expanded on the length of the nearby drive lake and created a runway for Giant Rock Airport, a unique fly away destination for private pilots.
Then, in 1953, something happened that changed George Van Tassel’s life forever. According to his own account, he was awakened from a deep sleep by strange beings. Beings from another planet. Humanoid in appearance. Visible spoke English and invited George to visit their spacecraft from which they have landed the end of Giant Rock’s runway, He then claimed he boarded the spacecraft and had the ride of his life. The aliens revealed unearthly secrets to him led to the construction: The Integratron. The building was to be an energy machine as George explained in his 1960s interview, the Integratron would be able to do amazing things to benefit mankind.
George Van Tassel: (archival footage of interview) Well, everything has a beginning, you know buddy.. A TV had its beginning and initial business and everything else. And this is a beginning into what we hope will be a mass rejuvenation of people.
Jay Robinson: For two decades, George worked on his energy machine spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on its all wood construction. Unfortunately he was never able to unveil himself of the machine’s rejuvenation capabilities, passing away from its completion. Today , the Integreon is owned by Emile Canning who carries on the amazing story.
Emile Canning: Very few people have actually really been in here because he kept people out while he was building it. So out of that 20 years maybe only in the last couple of years people were able to go through it. So out of the thousands of people very few have seen it. so I feel it is part of my responsibility to make it available for people to see it and experience it not only for its historical properties but also for the energy that is in this building. When you go outside and you look on the outside of the building you see these spokes that are coming out. Those spokes were supposed to be powered by an air compressor and that would lift them up and they would actually spin around the building the same way in your automobile you have a fan belt and that spins your alternator and your alternator generates power. When the outside of this building would spin it would generate power. When it would generate power, then it would be animated in the field above us and it would come down this column to where I am now sitting and send out a wave of energy. And he said that if you walked through here or you sat where I am sitting, you would experience the energizer. And his vision was that he would take 10 thousand people a day. They would be lined up. They/d come in through that door. They’d walk here. They’d sit here. They’d stand here. They’d get rejuvenated and then walk out the other door. He said he could take 10 or 15 years of aging off of people. He didn’t leave any written plans or written instructions. I never personally met the man so all I have is the facility that he built and what people have told me about him and what people told me that he was planning to do. So a lot of what I have to go on here is my best intuition; my best guess.
Jay Robinson: Doctor George Van Tassle: more mysterious dead than alive Did he really have encounters with aliens from another planet? Were the plans for the Integratron really channeled to him from space beings? Will Emile Canning be able to ultimately unravel the riddle of the giant energy machines design and operation? Only time will tell. Until then, the Integratron will remain a perplexing desert enigma.
(preview ad break)
Jay Robinson: Coming up: meet the amazing wolf boys of Mexico.
(ad break)
Jay Robinson: Next, see the severed head of infamous bandit, Joaquin Murrieta.
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Bizarre #6
Valiant Thor
Jay Robinson: Today’s newspapers are full of UFO sightings, mysterious crop circles and reports of alien abductions. Do humanoid appearing creatures from other worlds really exist? Well here’s one man who claims they do.
Frank E. Stranges: The ancient Romans called them “fiery shields”. The ancient Greeks called them “chariots of fire”. The ancient Chinese called them “fire boats” B-O-A-T-S. And down through human history it’s recorded by people who sole responsibility was to record unusual aerial phenomena. This dates back thousands upon thousands of years and has continuing to this day.
Jay Robinson: Meet Doctor Frank E. Stranges. Author and lecturer on the subject of UFO phenomena. He is also the president of the National Investigations Committee on UFOs. And according to Frank, their membership newsletter adheres to high journalistic standards of reporting. Over 45 years of research and investigation into unidentified flying objects and alien encounters has led Frank to the publication of several books on the subjects. In “Stranger At the Pentagon” Doctor Stranges relates the story to his initial meeting with Valiant Thor, a Venutian spaceship captain. His relationship with Thor continues to this day.
Frank E. Stranges: Commander Valiant Thor is an individual whose photograph was given to me by an Air Force photographer called August Roberts and he gave me this picture claiming that he took these pictures at a place in High Bridge, New Jersey. At the lawn UFO lecture at the home of Howard Menger. I said “Who is this man?” He said “Well this man claims to come from another planet.” I said “Ok, what have you been smoking?” Not too long after that I was invited to Washington to speak with the church convention and after the meeting, this woman comes to the platform and she identified this picture as someone who she thought I should meet. And she said “How would you like to meet him?” I said “I most certainly would.” and she said “Meet me downstairs in front of the hotel tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock and I will take you to where he is.” Needless to say I got very little sleep that night. But the following morning bright and early and 8 o’clock I was downstairs, she picked me up and brought me to the Pentagon. I got through 2 security guards going in and through 2 security guards coming out with no ID whatsoever.
This man, Commander Valiant Thor to my understanding is everything that he said he is. In essence, in a nutshell, he claims to come from the inside of the planet, Venus. He’s a phenomenal individual; he has an IQ that dumbfounded the experts at the Pentagon. Basically, he looks like a normal human being as you can see his picture. He did depart from this planet on the morning of March 16th, 1960 after being at the Pentagon for 3 years. He left the Earth for 1 year and then he appeared in the back seat of my car when I was driving to my attorney’s office in Beverly Hills 1 year to the day March 16th, 1961. Now this voice booms out from the back of my car “Hello, Frank. How are you?’ Well I nearly ran a red light but after I parked the car he got in like a normal individual in the front seat of the car and he’s been here ever since.
Jay Robinson: According to Dr. Stranges, Valiant Thor’s spacecraft is currently based somewhere in the desert terrain in Nevada’s huge lake Mead reservoir. When his occasion warrants it, Frank meets with Valiant Thor aboard the craft named Victory One.
Dr. Frank Stranges: My meetings with Val continue to this day from 1961 to this present day and the reason for the secrecy is that he believes he’s stated that he is acting within a time frame. And when the time comes for him to reveal himself to masses then he will and not before that time.
Jay Robinson: Dr. Frank E. Stranges: authority or charaton? If not Valiant Thor then who is this man in the mysterious photos? Is there a giant spacecraft based somewhere near Lake Mead? If so, then why does it remain unseen by thousands of yearly visitors? Until we know these answers, Dr. Frank E. Stranges’ encounters with Valiant Thor will remain in a twilight world that is truly beyond bizarre.
Bizarre #7
Joaquin Murrieta Head
Jay Robinson: Dr. Stranges, a man who seems to be able to keep a cool head when confronted with the bizarre. California bandit Joaquin Murrieta wasn’t so fortunate. He lost his head in an encounter with Californian rangers in 1853. Walter Johnson of Santa Rosa, California is a collector of western memorabilia and his prize relic is strange to say the least.
Walter Johnson: Well really almost all my life I have been interested in the old west. Mainly California history, Civil War, and I have eclectic guns for several years. Indian artifacts and western artifacts. I believe my prize is my buddy here ‘ol Joaquin Murrieta.
Jay Robinson: California rangers under the command of Captain Love ambushed Joaquin and his gang of cantina creek in July 7th 1853. As proof of their actions, they cut off Joaquin’s head. For several years it was displayed in California saloons before being exhibited at the Stockton House.Walter Johnson is the present owner of this truly unique relic of western history.
Bizarre #8
Wolf Boys of Mexico
Jay Robinson: Every once in a while a story hits the headlines which mystifies some people and angers others. That’s the case of 2 Mexican brothers dubbed the Wolf Boys first appeared in the press. Many people around the world have dismissed it as apocryphal or simply a crude hoax. Circus performers Danny and Larry Ramos Gomez have been cruelly compared to werewolves because of a rare genetic disorder which has left them totally covered in thick, curly black hair from head to toe. Some people refuse to believe they even exist. 14 year old Larry and little brother Danny aged 9 were born into poverty in a small Mexican village. A number of their relatives have also been affected by the rare syndrome. The brave brothers were paraded like freaks in a humiliating peep show and taunted as “los ninos lobos” aka “the wolf boys”. For the chance to escape see the world was offered to them by Roberto Campa, director of the Mexican National Circus. Which he recently brought to England.
Robert Campa: I found the boys one time working in a, in a carnival, and I talked to the, to the parents and I say “I can teach the boys to be something, you know?” I really feel like a father of the boys. Really, I take them with me, every place I go, what I plan to do with myself is teaching them to be a real good performer. They have the courage, you know? To go in the trapeze. So I know he gonna be a very good player. This little one, I think he’s going to be good, but he like to play too much.
Jay Robinson: The brother's medical condition has baffled experts here in Britain and doctors who have examined them in Japan, Argentina and America have also drawn a blank.
Medical Professional: We don't know exactly what causes the disorder because the condition itself is excessively rare, but we do have some information from drugs that produce a similar effect. Probably what's happening is the growth part of the hair cycle has been switched on continuously and all the follicles that the body are affected, but particularly the face and the skull.
Medical Professional: (Talking to the boys) You like. You like England? Bueno. Do you want to be in the circus all your life?
(boy replies back in spanish..sorry me no fluent!)
Robert Campa: (translating) He said “To me, the circus is the life. If the circus dies, I die too.”
Medical Professional: Any treatment would have to, for this disorder, would h
ve to be linked to, uh, finding out why their hair follicles had been continuously stimulated. Shaving would just produce a temporary improvement in the same way that you just shave your beard. Same goes for electrolysis. It would produce a temporary improvement, but because of the constant stimulation, the hair would grow back.
Jay Robinson: The boys have now returned home, but it was a sad day when the circus left town. The time came to say adios to the endearing Mexican visitors.
(ad break preview)
Jay Robinson: Coming up, the modern miracle of people frozen in time.
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Jay Robinson: Next, journey from the ancient pharaohs to modern day mummies.
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Bizarre #9
Carnal Houses
Jay Robinson: From time in memorial, man is worried about his mortality and the inevitability of death. In Ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs built great pyramids and temples to perpetuate their lifetime needs and conquests and the far reaches of the Pacific Polynesians turn the remains of royalty in secret caves to keep enemies from stealing the mana or powers within their bones.After the collapse of the Roman Empire of the Dark Ages, Europe's Reformation brought about new religious concepts concerning life after death. The salvation of souls, funeral practices began to take their present form with burials in cemeteries.
As Europe's small villages grew into towns and from towns to great cities, space for the dead became prime real estate. This led to the creation of carnal houses where the disinterred remains of former citizens were collected in a space saving move; incredibly enough in some places the practice continues to this day. With no more tombstones to mark their passing village painters and scribe the deceased names and dates of death on the exhumed skulls. They are then gathered in the carnal house, the final resting place until a future generation decides they must be moved again
For those who died and were interred turned in the township of Guanajuato, Mexico, mother Nature had a rude surprise when families could no longer afford to pay the rent on a loved one's grave site, the dead were exhumed revealing that due to minerals in the dry soil, they had been mummified.
The disinterred were placed inside a church hallway. Men, women, and children, their faces frozen in a final vision.
For many people, the specter of their eventual demise is unthinkable, so they seek immortality of body as well as soul. To satisfy this demand, cryonic clinics have been established. A body must be prepared within 24 hours after death. For cryonic suspension, first the blood is drained. Then a balanced salt solution is flushed through the circulatory system.
Next, the body is connected to a perfusion apparatus and a glycerol solution is placed into the deceased. This reduces freezing damage that might occur. And prevent cell deterioration By freezing the dead, it is hoped that sometime in the future, the deceased can be brought back to life. Trans time of Berkeley, California are cryonic specialists.
Procedure is quite costly, so the money for it must be provided in a will.
After being placed in a sleeping bag and wrapped in a plastic casing, the body is put in a capsule filled with liquid nitrogen and held at a bone chilling 320 degrees below zero.If Cryonics prove successful, the future will be inhabited by humans from the past.
Bizarre #10
Modern Day Mummies
Jay Robinson: The Egyptians developed the art of mummification, preserving the body of the dead so that its spirit lives on. It is believed that the Egyptians mummified over 730 million people. And although the practice died out long ago, it has recently been resurrected, healthy and alive with Lynn University in the state of Florida.
Professor John Chew: (giving lecture to class) Embalming. Is a temporary process, whereas the ancient art of mummification…
Jay Robinson: Today, these students are being trained to bring a very dead art form back to life once again.
Student #1: Something that I've been very interested in for a long time, I'm extremely excited about it. The more you become involved, the more fascinated you become.
Professor John Chew: (still giving lecture) We're going to remove the stomach, the liver…
Jay Robinson: John Chew is a licensed funeral director and head of the funeral services department at Linn University. It's his dream to be the first mortician to mummify a human being. Since the practice ceased over 1500 years ago, and for anywhere between $20,000 and $150,000, you too can become a mummy. Although a down payment is required.
Professor John Chew: Someone was interested in the mummification process. They developed this concept and I became interested in working with them on this because I had been researching it for many years. And between us, we were able to come up with these concepts of modern mummification. After 1500 years, here we were on the verge of something, bringing something back, something that expressed the dignity of man.
Jay Robinson: The doctor makes it perfectly clear that mummification doesn't have to eliminate the traditional funeral rights we have become accustomed to one simply dies. As the traditional Oakland casket viewing and then is wheeled away behind closed doors where eternal life awaits.
Professor John Chew: After the funeralization took place, the body was taken to the place of mummification, whereas the body had a 10 inch incision made within and underneath the rib cage.
Random Incision Dude: There eviscerate the organs, both the thoracic and the abdominal aorta. Yeah.
Professor John Chew: From that point, the organs were removed from the body.
Random Incision Dude: Reaching in, going all the way through placed in a container and slipped the organs into a bucket…
Professor John Chew: … cleaned, sanitized, and prepared to be placed in the vat with the body.
Jay Robinson: The vat that the body organs are being placed in contained secret solutions of salts and chemicals. The mortician's body suits and masks are worn for protection against the chemicals of the body's natural toxins. The vat is then sealed shut, though every day it is reopened to pour in more solutions. Finally, after 7 to 12 days, the body is removed and placed once again on the operating tape. Where the all too familiar gauze is wrapped meticulously around the body. Later, a polyurethane solution is used to seal in the mummiform. And once you've gone through all this, just what kind of mummiform is available to you?
Professor John Chew: There are many options for the mummiform. You can create any type of mummiform. We use the Egyptian motif because that's probably the most spectacular, but we can place a person in priest garments. It may be of an Oscar motif or, you know, it could be almost anything.
Jay Robinson: For the right price any mummiform you choose is okay with them. Where will they locate you once you are a mummy?
Professor John Chew: These mummiforms can be placed in in family mausoleums. There is right now is the construction in the mountains of Salt Lake City. There is going to be individual spots to place these mummiforms, but these can be relocated all over the world. These can be located in any area, any cemetery. It's just a matter of having them constructed to meet the needs. The average may be a 10 by 10 type of mausoleum in which this mummiform would be placed. And I think this is important to people. This is what people are looking for. Something to say, yes, I have lived a life.
Jay Robinson: What about your pets? Heaven forbid you go to that special place and forget your favorite animal. Well, don't worry. They've thought of everything. Summum and Utah has your critic, companions in mind for the hereafter. Now, when you are finally sealed and resting in your tomb, you don't have to be alone. Fido could be a mummy too.
Corky Ra: (Founder of Summum) Rooster lived here at the Pyramid for a number of years in the house with me, and she belongs to a lady by the name of Kay Henry Rooster passed away about six months ago when she passed away. Her owner had decided that she wanted Rooster mummified and she would like Rooster in her mausoleum space also is Kay Henry's going to be mummified. Though the large mausoleum space have some things in there. And Rooster's one of the most important things in her life because she was so loyal to her.
Jay Robinson: And of course the founder of Summum had his two house pets mummified when they passed away two years ago, Oscar the cat and Butch, the Doberman pitcher. Recently, he had them both x-rayed to determine their condition.
Corky Ra: A number of years have passed by and the vets that X-rayed the cat were amazed at the detail that you could see through the x-rays into Oscar. All of the muscle tissues just perfectly preserved. The lenses on his eyes are still perfectly preserved. Oscar is perfectly mummified. His body's perfectly preserved indefinitely forever, as long as the planet happens to be around.
Jay Robinson: Summum is a company that offers alternatives to mundane forms of burial. Once sealed within the mummiform and placed in the cliff faced mausoleums, you, like the pharaohs, will be preserved forever.
(Segment concluded, outro commenced)
Jay Robinson: In today's fast-paced world of computer printouts, satellite communications and space age wizardry, it's somehow comforting to know that there are still people, places, and things that defy the concept of normality. There are still individuals who refuse to fit mold and global mysteries that still defy scientific explanations. Until we meet again, I'm Jay Robinson. Bringing you back to the everyday world far removed from the realm that is Beyond Bizarre.
(creepy laugh)
(roll credits)
