Bodies That Have Barely Decayed At All

1.

La Doncella: A 15-year-old girl Incan girl was killed nearly 500 years ago as a religious sacrifice on the sides of a mountain in present-day Argentina. When researchers found her body in 1999, it was determined she died from a single, hard blow to the head. The cold temperatures and dry, oxygen-deficient air of the Andes helped persevere her body. While her name is lost to the ages, her nickname is "La Doncella," which means "The Maiden."

2.

Saint Betina Zita: Zita was renowned for being a kind and caring person. People thought so much of her, that a small religious cult grew around her. She died in 1272. 300 years later, when her body was exhumed, it was found preserved. It was said she looked alive. Since then, the body was on display and mummified quite a bit in the Basilica of San Frediano in Lucca, Italy.

3.

Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov: Itigilov was a Buddhist lama from Russia who died in 1927. The circumstances of his death are pretty remarkable. He asked his fellow lamas to begin the funeral procedures for him while he was alive, and also to meditate. He died while meditating in the lotus position as he colleagues prepare him for burial.

4.

He also asked that his body be exhumed after several years. As of 2002, his body is still well preserved, if a bit distorted because of the salt it was packed in.

5.

Saint Catherine Laboure: Saint Catherine Laboure was allegedly visited many times by the Virgin Mary. According to the stories she told, Catherine placed her hands on Mary's lap as she spoke to her in an empty chapel. When Catherine died in 1876, she received typical funeral rites, and remained buried until 1933. In 1933, she was exhumed as part of the process of sainthood. What they found was Catherine's perfectly persevered body. Her body is now on display in Paris.

6.

Lady Xin Zhui: Xin Zhui was the wife of a Chinese nobleman during that Han dynasty. She lived a life of excessive luxury, which caught up to her in 163 BCE. She was morbidly obese and died of a heart attack. Those tragic circumstances are matched by the uncanny preservation of her body. Researchers unearthed her in 1971, and found her skin was soft and her joints could still move. Creepy.