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All the United States Vermont Middlebury Grave of Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef
AO Edited

Grave of Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef

The Vermont grave of a 4,000-year-old mummy prince.

Middlebury, Vermont

Added By
J.W. Ocker
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The gravestone of the mummy.   http://www.OddThingsIveSeen.com
The gravestone of the mummy.   http://www.OddThingsIveSeen.com
A close-up look at the symbols on the gravestone.   http://www.OddThingsIveSeen.com
A close-up photograph of the inscription on the gravestone.   http://www.OddThingsIveSeen.com
Tombstone.   Bowiestink / Atlas Obscura User
Headstone is still missing as of April 2024. People still leave offerings.   ickaimp / Atlas Obscura User
  bisquit7 / Atlas Obscura User
New gravestone   smcclime / Atlas Obscura User
New gravestone   smcclime / Atlas Obscura User
The Gravestone & it’s surroundings.   CruFro / Atlas Obscura User
Location of missing headstone as of summer 2023   AtropaNocturna / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Henry Sheldon was a collector in the late 1800s in Middlebury, Vermont. After his death, his collection remained in his house at 1 Park Street and became the Henry Sheldon Museum. One of his most interesting pieces, however—an infant mummy prince—did not end up in the museum, but was instead buried in a cemetery about half a mile away.

As is understandable even to non-collectors, Sheldon wanted to add a bona fide Egyptian mummy to his collection, so he arranged to have the mummy of a two-year-old Egyptian prince shipped to him from across the ocean. But it arrived in such a degraded condition that Sheldon never put it out on display, instead “archiving” it in his attic. Decades after Sheldon’s death, a curator at the Henry Sheldon Museum named George Mead discovered the infant mummy prince and had him cremated and buried in his own family plot in tiny West Cemetery on Route 30, across from the Middlebury College Museum of Art.

The inscription on the simple rectangular stone includes the images of a cross, an ankh, and a bird. It reads: "Ashes of Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef Aged Two Years Son of Sen Woset 3rd King of Egypt and his wife Hathor-Hotpe 1883 BC."

Related Tags

Memento Mori Mummies Catacombs And Crypts Cultures And Civilizations

Know Before You Go

The West Cemetery is on Route 30 across from the Middlebury College Museum of Art. The grave is located about halfway into the cemetery on the left.

Community Contributors

Added By

JWOcker

Edited By

asuozzo, hollylyny, smcclime, AtropaNocturna...

  • asuozzo
  • hollylyny
  • smcclime
  • AtropaNocturna
  • ickaimp
  • CruFro
  • bisquit7
  • Bowiestink

Published

August 3, 2010

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Sources
  • The Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History: "A Walking History of Middlebury:" http://midddigital.middlebury.edu/walking_history/village_continued/page_3.html
  • WCAX: Meet Middlebury's Mummy: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7261068
  • Roadside America: Sheldon Museum: Petrified Boy, Stuffed Cat, Mummy Grave: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8547
  • Strange USA: Grave of Prince Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef: http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewLocation.aspx?locationid=56712
  • The New England Grimpendium: http://www.amazon.com/New-England-Grimpendium-J-Ocker/dp/0881509191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279457058&sr=8-1
Grave of Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef
200 Hepburn Rd
Route 30
Middlebury, Vermont, 05753
United States
44.00654, -73.178052
Get Directions

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Vermont

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