CT scan of a mummified monk

Rare Discoveries That Show A Different Side To History Than We Already Know

Written by Jacob Shelton

Forget what you learned in the history books. More often than not they only tell one side of a story filled with nuance. The rare discoveries that have been collected here show a side of history that we rarely get to see. They peel back the layers of stories that we think we know to expose little known facts that make history all the more fascinating.  If you are ready to see a different side to history than you already know, then click ahead...the truth awaits!

A CT scan of a 1,000 year old Buddha statue reveals the remains of a mummified monk

Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 2015, researchers in the Netherlands performing a CT scan on a statue of a sitting Buddha found the last thing they were expecting once they got a look inside. The statue contained a monk that had been mummified for 1,000 years. Rather than simply placing the monk inside the statue, researchers discovered that the monk was filled with scraps of paper covered in Chinese characters. In order to mummify oneself a monk would take on a special diet of poisonous tea in order to ensure that the body would be too toxic to be consumed by maggots. It’s rare that a monk could accomplish such a feat, but the few who pulled it off were revered within the community.