March 26, 2008
Termite inspectors find mummies
I’ve inspected thousands of buildings for termites in the last thirty years. Sometimes I find interesting things that I wasn’t expecting to find. Twice I’ve found large sums of money that had been misplaced. A few years ago I found a valuable collection of heirloom jewelry. Most of the really interesting stuff I’ve found has been in crawl spaces beneath buildings: old tools, handblown bottles, a perfect china teacup. I find a lot of guns in attics of vacant houses. People store them out of reach when their kids come along, then forget that about them when they move. My most interesting find to date was a horseshoe. It was nailed to a beam beneath a Garden District home in New Orleans. The beam had originally been directly beneath the front door of the house, but the home had been expanded over the years, so I was about twenty feet into the crawl space when I found it. The horseshoe and the single nail that held it in place were both handmade and badly corroded. They broke off in my hand when I touched them. I could see the nibs of two other nails in the beam, indicating that the horseshoe had originally been placed with the ends pointing up, to catch luck. It used to be common practice to do that above doors, but I’d never heard of anyone doing it in the nether regions below them. I gave the horseshoe and nail to the homewowner and she had then framed as a part of the home’s history.
It feels pretty good to return something that was lost, even when it wasn’t even known to exist. The things that I’ve found, though, are nothing compared to a recent discovery by termite inspectors in Sao Paulo, Brazil. While tying to track down an infestation in an old mosastery they found two mummies which are believed to be two hundred years old. I found a soundless video , but haven’t been abe to get it to post, so you’ll have to follow the link to see it. Somehow my horseshoe and heirloom jewelry don’t seem quite so special anymore.
Technorati Tags: mummies, odd news, termite inspections
Posted by skeet @ 4:32 pm • Termites, current events
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March 27th, 2008 at 1:12 am, Jennifer Says:
I think I would pee myself if I stumbled across a couple of mummies!
March 27th, 2008 at 6:48 am, Katy Castro Says:
That’s seriously crazy and would freak me out if it was my house!!
March 27th, 2008 at 7:50 am, skeet Says:
Don’t you think they totally freaked out when they saw what they’d found, Jennifer? I’m sure I would have!
March 27th, 2008 at 7:51 am, skeet Says:
Isn’t it, Katy? I’ve found mummified cats in crawl spaces. That was wierd enough for me, lol!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:28 am, Mrs. Mecomber Says:
Yowsa!!!!!!!! And I was entertaining thoughts of being a home inspector when I grow up…