| Allamistakeo | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Illustrated by Scott McKowen. | |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | Count Allamistakeo | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Human | ||
| Gender | Male | ||
| Place of origin | Egypt | ||
| Age | Circa 5750 | ||
| Affiliation | House of the Scarabaeus | ||
| Current status | Alive | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Human | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | Some Words with a Mummy | ||
| Created by | Edgar Allan Poe | ||
Count Allamistakeo is an Egyptian nobleman who was mistakenly embalmed alive and remained in suspended animation inside a sarcophagus for over five thousand years before being accidentally awakened by Dr. Ponnonner and his academic associates as they intended to perform experiments on the alleged mummy.
Biography[]
The Count claims that he was already 700 years old at the time of his unintended embalming. According to him, this lifespan of people in his era averaged at around 800 and many would live up to a thousand.
His tomb was found in the vicinity of Eleithias, in the Lybian mountains. The scientists decided to attempt several experiments, including the application of electricity, which ended up reviving Allamistakeo, much to the surprise of the party. In the following conversation, carried over in the Egyptian language, the Count revealed that he had fallen into a state of catalepsy and was mistaken for dead by his comrades, who promptly preserved his body in a mercuric solution, unknowingly putting him in a state of suspended animation since the embalming process works by, in the Count's words: "the immediately arresting, and holding in perpetual abeyance, all the animal functions subjected to the process".
Being a member of the House of the Scarabaeus, who, unlike most families, didn't perform the ritual removal of internal organs of their mummies, Allamistakeo was henceforth kept alive inside his sarcophagus for millennia, to be awakened only in 1845.
Appearances[]
- "Some Words with a Mummy", by Edgar Allan Poe (1845)
Notes[]
- Allamistakeo's name might refer to the fact that his premature burial was a mistake and/or to the erroneous notions that the scientists had about life in ancient Egypt, which were all debunked by the Count.
- The circumstances of the Count's "death" and subsequent burial can be seen as a satirical counterpart to Poe's recurring theme of characters being buried alive.