Dominic Castagna – living mummy (4 photos)

I wish I could lose a little weight, tighten my figure, and get rid of the excess. Without sports and diets. This is what many people think when they look at the folds at the waist and passionately want to get rid of fat deposits by the New Year or the beach season. This man had absolutely no problems with excess weight. Quite the contrary.





The living skeleton was a fairly common act at exhibitions and traveling shows during the heyday of freak circuses. Living skeletons, sometimes called shadows, were usually adult men suffering from diseases ranging from indigestion to tuberculosis. They were extremely emaciated, many of them weighing less than 35 kilograms.



For contrast, the living skeleton was often exhibited in a duet with a fat lady in order to better compare the physical parameters of both human wonders. There was even a fashionable trend among showmen to arrange a wedding ceremony between the Fat Lady and the Living Skeleton in order to get free publicity and attract a crowd.

The list is long, but few have been as unlucky as Dominic Castagna. He's the Mummy.



Dominique Castagna was born in Saligny, France in 1869. It would not be possible to call the baby attractive even if I wanted to. The child's face was deformed, his eyes were bulging, and his nose was almost smeared.

But it's not so scary yet. The main tests were ahead. At the age of two years, the boy stopped developing normally and remained skinny, small and frail. By the age of twelve, Dominic had fully grown, and as an adult his height was only 60 centimeters and his weight was no more than 25 kilograms.

Because of his appearance, no one wanted to be friends with Castagna: those around him considered him sick and dangerous to others.

At first, Dominic Castagna tried to live a normal life, but his fragile body and appearance did not allow him to realize his profession. While working as an assistant to an architect in Monaco, a colleague named Kruzel convinced him to expose himself to the public: he could earn much more this way.



Dominic Castagna decided that since people were constantly staring at him anyway, why not take money for it. Filled with anxiety and doubt, he nevertheless decided to take this path.

Castagna first exhibited in Marseille in 1896. Kruzel acted as his agent during this and all subsequent performances. It was Kruzel who dubbed his friend the Mummy, inspired by the sunken features and bony body. The nickname stuck.

Castanya was very pleased that he was accepted by someone who, over time, stopped noticing his deformities and physical features. Cruzel accepted Castagne for who he was, and thanks to his friendship, Dominic was able to ignore the looks of regret. Castagna hated exhibitions and these constant glances. He was torn apart by loneliness and the lack of love in his life.

When his friend Kruzel got married and left show business, Dominic went up to his hotel room in Liege (Belgium) and committed suicide. The unique man, who could not endure loneliness and difference from others, was only 36 years old.