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Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

“MELLIFICATION: THE SWEET TASTING SIDE OF CORPSE MEDICINE” (PLUS BLOOPERS!) #WeirdDarkness

Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

Darren Marlar

True Crime, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.64.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE LINK in your social media so others who loves strange and macabre stories can listen too: https://weirddarkness.com/archives/17586
IN THIS EPISODE: Of all the instances of cannibalism found in human history, no one quite practiced it like some in China used to. In these cases, cannibalism came in the form of eating mellified flesh for medicinal purposes. In 16th century China, mellification was a way for elderly people nearing the end of their lives to donate their body to science. The idea, originally derived from an Arabic recipe, was that they could turn their bodies into medicine that would be ingested by their descendants to alleviate ailments like broken bones. The process of mellification was a gruesome one. In short, it consisted of very slowly turning one’s body into a mummified human candy bar. And that’s not even the worst part — for mellification to be the most effective, the process started while the person was still alive.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…
“And Mellified Man for Dessert” by Katie Serena: https://tinyurl.com/rjwv5cw
“Honey, I’m Dead” by Paul Salopek: https://tinyurl.com/wz23h9d
“Sugar-Glazed Grandpa” by Brent Swancer: https://tinyurl.com/w2mqzyp
“Self-Mummification” from Stranger Remains: https://tinyurl.com/w795gxp
“Better Health Through Cannibalism” by Natalie Zarrelli: https://tinyurl.com/tsqhqbl
“Corpse Medicine” by Maria Dolan: https://tinyurl.com/y6spcbcb
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Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music Library, EpidemicSound and/or StoryBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ) Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7), and Nicolas Gasparini (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8) is used with permission of the artists.
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OTHER PODCASTS I HOST…
Paranormality Magazine: (COMING SEPT. 30, 2023) https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag
Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors
Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio
Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead
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(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)

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"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46

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WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2023, Weird Darkness.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by

0:02.0

by Lanova Yoga. Inspiration is all around us,

0:06.0

and with the Lanova Yoga laptop,

0:08.0

you'll be ready when it strikes.

0:10.0

The Lanova Yoga series is designed to create, edit, draw, render and more.

0:15.3

Powering your passion and supercharging your creativity.

0:18.7

Discover more at Curries or see Lanova.com slash yoga. Engineer to do it all. L'Ova.

0:23.0

Engineer to do it all.

0:24.0

That's a laptop evolved with Intel Evo Platform.

0:27.0

Book your ticket to happiness with Sun Express Airlines. Stories and is content in weird darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only.

0:55.0

Parental discretion is strongly advised.

0:57.0

Of all the instances of cannibalism found in human history, no one quite practiced it like some in China used to.

1:12.0

In these cases, cannibalism came in the form of eating mellified

1:16.6

flesh for medicinal purposes. In the 16th century China,

1:21.9

mellification was a way for elderly people nearing the end of their lives

1:26.0

to donate their body to science.

1:28.7

The idea originally derived from an Arabic recipe

1:32.3

was that they could turn their bodies into medicine

1:35.0

that would be ingested by their descendants to alleviate ailments like broken bones.

1:41.0

The process of malification was a gruesome one.

1:45.0

In short, it consisted of very slowly turning one's body into a mummified human candy bar. And that's not even the worst part. For malification to be the most

1:56.9

effective, the process started while the person was still alive.

...

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