Skip to main content

“Chilling Discovery: Smoked Corpses Found in Papua New Guinea Raises Hair”

Home Uncategorized “Chilling Discovery: Smoked Corpses Found in Papua New Guinea Raises Hair”

“Chilling Discovery: Smoked Corpses Found in Papua New Guinea Raises Hair”

Along the cliff leading into the remote village of the Anga tribe on the Morobe Plateau (Papua New Guinea), are hundreds of strange mummies standing and sitting.

The red corpses seemed to be imprisoned in bamboo cages to keep them from jumping at any stranger who dared to approach.

However, in reality, this is just the traditional burial method of the local Anga tribe, and is also the way they used to chase away strangers from the village.

From warriors, the elderly, women to children… all can be buried using this somewhat gruesome traditional ‘smoke embalming’ method.

First, experienced embalmers will cut the flesh from the feet, knees and elbows of the corpse to let the fat and water in the body drain out while the body is smoked.



Next, they sewed the corpse’s eyes, mouth and anus shut to reduce the amount of air entering the body, causing rotting, and then smoked the body in a very large pit.

During the process of smoking the body, they continuously skewered sharp bamboo sticks through the body to let the fat flow out. That horrible liquid was applied to the body by relatives in the belief to transfer the power of the dead to the dead. living people.

Once the corpses are dried, they are also smeared with a layer of clay or loess to prevent harmful environmental agents, which is why the mummy’s skin often becomes red.

The corpses are also often taken home by relatives to carry out “maintenance” care, and then are brought back to the cliff where they live.



Mummies are considered by the Anga tribe to be the protectors of the village. The bodies of warriors are always placed in the most solemn places. However, this custom has been strictly banned by the government since 1975.