Missing mummy mailed from Michigan to Maryland

A young child mummified approximately 200 years ago has returned to its rightful resting place at the University of Maryland's medical school, and apparently the specimen wasn't even missed until it turned up on eBay, CBS affiliate WJZ reported.

WJZ says police found the mummy in Michigan where a woman had put it up for auction online, and it was returned to the U. of Md. in the mail.

Ronn Wade, the school's director of anatomical services (how's that for a job description?), said the remains are likely those of a child, sex unknown.

"Maybe eight years old. Seven or eight," he said.

It's not exactly a brand new case. Wade says the mummy went missing "probably somewhere between the 1870s and the 1950s."

Here's the back story.

Scottish anatomist Allen Burns mummified parts and whole bodies 200 years ago. In 1820, a colleague brought Burns' collection to the University of Maryland.

"It was very rare to have a collection, his own specimens like that. No one else had that so there was a big interest to have it," Wade said.

Now medical students can study cyber cadavers, as well as real ones. Two centuries ago, it meant robbing graves.

"It was students. They got kind of a better deal if they came up with their own teaching specimens," he said.

Cool.

State-of-the-art mummification meant curing with salt and sugar, while internal organs and arteries were cast in place. The only ID in the school's collection was a 200-year-old tattoo.

Who the child was will never be known but the return to Maryland, improbable as it is, is a kind of homecoming - sort of a mummy dearest.

"He's back with his family. He's not going to wander away anymore," Wade said.

The mummy was found when an old building was demolished in Detroit. Police have not filed any charges.