Culture and society

Red Franz

DEUTSCHKURSE | Harry-Folge-085-Landeskunde-Bild
Bogs can hide some big secrets.null DW

What a run of bad luck! Harry is trapped in the bog. Let's hope he doesn't sink any deeper! Without outside assistance, the wetland would swallow him whole. However, if his body were discovered after years or millennia, it would be remarkably well preserved. Furthermore, he would have a new hair color: red! The moor causes this shift in color.

When a driver discovered an irregularity in the peat soil on the Uchter Moor in the state of Lower Saxony, he had to stop his peat-cutting machine: He then noticed one of the parts of a corpse ... with reddish hair! The police investigated the tragic discovery and suspected murder. Despite extensive efforts, however, the deceased woman could not be identified.

Archaeologists were consulted only after her hand was found five years later did they discover that, lo and behold, the girl had been lying in the bog for over 2,500 years! She was laid to rest next to Red Franz in the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover. The corpse known as Red Franz was discovered in the bog in 1900 and is just under 2,000 years old, making it one of the most intriguing mummies in the world. Red Franz has even been on a world tour through various museums. Now he is "at home" again in the Landesmuseum and a real crowd-puller there.