31 favorite monsters: Mummies

Someone I'm very close to is counting down one of her favorite monsters every day on her tumblr, and I thought I might have fun doing likewise on my blogger. I've got a bunch of catching up to do first, but should be updating once daily from here on out, and if you enjoy reading my tangents about B-movie creatures and toys, you'll undoubtedly find her tumblr at least as interesting - our tastes heavily overlap, anyway!



My first choice for Monster #31 (we're counting up, here) is also the most conventional, yet my appreciation for it is perhaps the most unusual; mummies are one of the primary Halloween monsters alongside Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Wolfmen, Witches, Skeletons and Ghosts, and have always been my favorite of the bunch, not only because I find they look a little weirder than the others, but because they're also funnier.



Mummies as "monsters" are so ingrained in our popular culture that it's easy to forget they're just an exaggeration of dead egyptians, which calls into question why they seem to be lurking in Haunted Houses all around the world and why being wrapped in dusty cloth is supposed to make them distinct from any other walking corpse. They're rarely portrayed with any distinct attributes other than shuffling, moaning and getting dust everywhere, which is really just more pitiful and adorable than anything else.



Real-world mummies, on the other hand, really can have a unique and deadly ability: archaeologists and grave robbers alike have succumbed to the toxic molds breeding in their ancient wrappings. Why don't more pop-culture mummies get any cool fungus powers?