While repairing the church of Saint Andrew (in Venzone, Udine, Italy) in 1647, workers accidentally broke a tomb and discovered an intact body.This tomb is located on the grounds of Saint Andrew’s church. In the following years, experts discovered all 42 bodies with no signs of decomposition in the grounds of Saint Andrew’s church.Before this discovery, scientists set out to find out why these bodies did not decompose after hundreds of years.
According to the research results of experts, the skin of the above corpses is yellow-brown. Some of the internal organs of the deceased were almost intact. However, the kidneys and pancreas of all the bodies were missing.

The brain is only about 1/3 of its weight. Most of the weight of the bodies found at Saint Andrew’s church weighed about 10 – 20 kg. Many experts believe that these bodies were mummified naturally.


Experts and scientists also found the parasitic fungus Hypha tombicina on a number of bodies discovered at Saint Andrew’s church. This parasitic fungus is also found in wooden coffins.

However, some experts believe that the parasitic fungus Hypha tombicina is not the only factor that helps dozens of corpses not decompose for hundreds of years. Until now, the reason for these bodies to be preserved so intact is still a great mystery.
