Mummies Alive airs April 19, 2015

The Mummies Alive Team examines McGinty-Sylvester

(Click image to enlarge)

 

ummies Alive will air April 19, 2015!

      In the second week of August 2014 I was hired to talk about McGinty, Soapy Smith's petrified man (mummy), for a new Canadian TV show, Mummies Alive. It was filmed in Scottsdale, Arizona for a one day shoot. I flew in from California and flew back the following day. It was a fun and educational experience, and I'm looking forward to seeing out it turns out.


THE DEAD COME BACK TO LIFE IN MUMMIES ALIVE
New Six-Part Series Narrated by Jason Priestley
Premieres Sunday, April 19th at 10pm ET on HISTORY

McGinty (Sylvester)

      When most people think of mummies, they think of Ancient Egypt. In fact, mummies have been found all over the world, from different cultures and time periods. They represent our most precious human link to our distant ancestors and are now the focus of a new, groundbreaking series, Mummies Alive, premiering Sunday April 19th at 10 pm ET on HISTORY.
     The series kicks off with an episode about ‘The Gunslinger Mummy,’ a mummy that has been on display at a Seattle curiosity shop since the 1950s. According to legend, he was an American Wild West cowboy, killed 120 years ago in a saloon shootout. He’s got what appears to be a bullet hole in his stomach, but using CT imaging technology and state-of-the-art, virtual autopsy techniques, investigators discover his story may have involved much more than initially thought. A notorious con man, the sideshow circuit, and a lesson on how to turn a buck using the myth of the Old West, all become part of the investigation.
     “We like to look at each episode like a classic detective story,” says Saloon Media’s series producer Steve Gamester. “It starts with a dead body and a lot of questions that need to be answered. Some mummies show signs of violence while others are found in spectacular places and linked to iconic events in history. Mummies Alive takes a close look what clues were left behind and pieces together a compelling story.”
     Every episode of Mummies Alive starts out like an ancient cold case, where there is a search for clues and new leads. As the investigation unfolds, the mummies come to life in exquisite animation, using the latest motion capture technology to achieve a hyper-real look. Colour returns to sunken cheeks, lungs fill with fresh air, and ancient eyes open to stare into the camera.
     Mummies Alive is produced by Canada’s Saloon Media and the UK’s Impossible Factual in association with Shaw Media, and is narrated by Canadian actor Jason Priestley.
     Mummies Alive main broadcasters are HISTORY Canada and Smithsonian Channel US. Additional international broadcasters include Yesterday (UK), ZDF (Germany), and SBS (Australia).

Saloon Media video
Sylvester from Mummies Alive is

seen at minute 0:50

Links
Mummies Alive broadcast release
Mummies Alive (Saloon Media)


 

McGinty: pages 82, 235, 237-45, 395-96, 407, 517, 520, 594.

There is not a man on the Denver police force who did not breath a sigh of relief when he read that “Soapy” was dead. It was bound to come, and all realized that, but the question bothering the police officials was how long “Soapy” was to go about killing other men.

— Rocky Mountain News
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 584

APRIL 8

1513: Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claims Florida for Spain.

1789: The U.S. House of Representatives holds its first meeting.

1832: About 300 soldiers of the 6th Infantry leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, to confront the Sauk Indians in the Black Hawk War.

1883: A footrace in Trinidad, Colorado between men named Maxwell and Corteze D. “Cort” Thompson. Thompson, the husband of Denver brothel madame Martha A. “Mattie” Silks, wins the race. Bad man Soapy Smith would be mixed up with Thompson in the 1892 shooting death of gambler Cliff Sparks and then Silks accused Soapy of trying to have her murdered for money in 1898.

1834: Cornelius Lawrence becomes the first mayor to be elected by popular vote in a New York City election.

1839: The first Intercollegiate Rodeo is held at the Godshall Ranch, Apple Valley, California.

1862: Confederate troops abandon the town of Sante Fe, New Mexico Territory during the Civil War.

1873: Alfred Paraf patents the first successful oleomargarine.

1891: Soapy Smith shoots and wounds Jack Devine in the Turf Exchange saloon in Denver, Colorado.