Inside Mystery - Loggers Found A WHAT Mummified In This Tree?

Completely Shocked

These loggers were out on a typical job when their work was brought to a sudden halt when they made a horrifying discovery as they were about to cut into the middle of a chestnut tree trunk...

A Typical Day

This Georgia logging company is responsible for acquiring wood for paper mill distributors. They have to cut down trees to make paper pulp, so they went out to a nearby forest to start off their day...

The Truth Behind the Chestnut Tree

Chestnut trees are more desirable than oak trees because they grow faster, so they have a higher commercial value. Chestnut trees are abundant in Georgia, as well as other states throughout the US, despite a fugal infection that nearly made this species of trees extinct in the early 20th century. They possess a number of interesting characteristics, one o which stunned these loggers...

What's In There?

The grueling task of cutting down all these chestnut trees would likely take all day, but they were determined to power through. However, once their axes started in on one tree, they realized the trunk was hollow, which it shouldn't have been...

Something Wasn't Right

Once the tree trunk came down, the loggers prepared to start cutting it into logs to place on their truck bed. However, as they lifted one of the logs, they noticed that something inside the hollowed-out trunk was preventing any light from passing through...

A Mummified Dog

The mysterious creature that was lodged inside the hollow tree trunk was a mummified dog. It had sharp canine teeth, a long snout, and paws that were near the trunk's top. At first, they assumed the dog was frozen, but it was preserved. How did he get there?

What Should They Do About the Dog?

The loggers knew they'd lose money by not cutting up the tree trunk, but they decided this discovery was too valuable to chop up. They set it aside in the hopes that they could figure this out later and find someone who could tell them where the dog came from...

The Southern Forest World Museum

A year after the loggers discovered the dog, the Southern Forest World Museum opened. It's dedicated to the Southeastern United States' industry of forestry, which included wood production. The loggers from the Georgia Kraft Co. knew where the mummified dog belonged...

The Most Popular Exhibit

Southern Forest World received the tree trunk before it opened its doors. The staff knew it would be a popular exhibit despite the fact that its connection to the forestry industry was only due to the fact that a bunch of loggers had discovered it. But they wanted to learn more about the dog within the trunk, and that's when the truth behind the mysterious chestnut tree was discovered...

The Truth Is Revealed

A biological anthropologist was on the case to determine how the dog came to be mummified without the help of human hands or ancient Egyptian methods. It seemed impossible, but the anthropologist determined that that is actually exactly what happened...

Preservation

Dr. Killgrove analyzes tissue decay and explains how the putrefying process begins when microbes begin to eat the tissue shortly after death. “They grow, they reproduce, and they start taking over the body,” she explained. But a property within the chestnut tree prevented nature from taking its course. Chestnut trees contain tannin, an organic substance that acts as a desiccant and absorbs moisture. It was the lack of moisture that prevented microbes from beginning the decaying process. But what about scavengers living outside the tree?

Why Wasn't It Eaten?

The chestnut tree masked the scent of the decaying dog, so predators who normally would have eaten the carcass had no idea it was there. However, one mystery still remained...

How Did It Get There?

Experts assume that this dog was a hunting dog out on a chase, and he was probably around 4 years old when he got stuck in the tree sometime around 1960. Wow! He likely died of starvation but is now preserved forever thanks to his peculiar circumstances...

An Attraction

People love visiting this museum to see the dog, so the exhibit is front and center in the building's rotunda. He's such a star that his image is even on the promotional materials. However, decades passed before the dog got a name...