"With Exhumed, Aaron Mahnke masterfully lays a foundation of bizarre folklore and unusual context, then builds it into a journey of discovery that both frightens and entertains. This is a great one."
--Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of The JFK Conspiracy

"A macabre marvel. Exhumed is a narrative act of alchemy blending folklore, fear, and forgotten science into an intoxicating elixir. Mahnke guides us on a mesmerizing tour from the sands of ancient Egypt to the frost-bitten graveyards of New England. Part history, part horror, and entirely mesmerizing. Read it with the lights low and the doors locked."--Josh Gates, explorer and host of Expedition Unknown

"What possessed a group of 19th-century New Englanders to dig up a young woman's remains, remove her heart and liver, and incinerate them so that their ashes could be fed to her sickly brother?

Rhode Island farmer George Brown's family was plagued by tuberculosis: His wife died in 1883, followed by his oldest child and then his father. Years later, his 19-year-old daughter Mercy succumbed to the illness; his son Edwin was on the verge of death, too, which led Brown to sanction what to modern readers will seem like a horrifying act. The incident was part of a larger hysteria that took hold first in Eastern Europe, then made its way to the United States: the New England Vampire Panic. But, to make sense of what happened, Mahnke--host of the podcast Lore devoted to urban legends and folklore--embarks on a journey through history as he explores our evolving understanding of the human body. The author takes the scenic route, with frequent detours and witty asides as he covers medical cannibalism, the death of George Washington (attempts to revive the deceased Founding Father serve as a jumping-off point for an examination of early blood transfusions), fears of being buried alive, and much more. With an eye for relevant and enjoyably macabre detail--all of which eventually coalesces into a rich whole--Mahnke deftly channels Mary Roach; her fans will appreciate Mahnke's fresh observations and gift for metaphor. Lest readers dismiss our forebears as laughably ignorant, however, the author points out, 'They were simply doing the best they could with the limited information they had at the time....They weren't distant, superstitious barbarians; they were normal people just like you and me.'" Indeed, though many will be expecting a bookish cabinet of curiosities, they'll find instead a work that balances out the grotesque with real empathy. Above all, they'll see how seemingly disparate events are often linked in surprising ways; as Mahnke notes, Mercy's exhumation wasn't 'a single piece of rope anchored to one specific spot. It was a massive braided rope, with many smaller strands joined together into something bigger.'"

Come for the morbid tidbits; stay for the sharply honed insights into both history and the human psyche."