The Mummy That Opens & Closes Her Eyes

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Have you heard about the mummy on display in Sicily who appears to open and close her eyes?

Rosalia Lombardo was a two-year-old girl who died of pneumonia in 1920.  Her grieving father had her embalmed and placed in the catacombs beneath the Capuchin convent in Palermo, Sicily.

So how/why do her eyes open?

They don’t.  According to Dario Piombino-Mascali, curator of the Capuchin Catacombs  “It’s an optical illusion produced by the light that filters through the side windows, which during the day is subject to change,”

io9 posted Why Does This Mummy Appear to Open and Close Her Eyes?  and there you can see a video of the optical illusion and more.