Exhumed by Aaron Mahnke

What would drive a man to exhume the body of his daughter and remove her heart?

That single, chilling question sits at the heart of this engrossing new release from Aaron Mahnke, the critically acclaimed, bestselling creator of the award-winning podcast Lore. Fueled by a decade of research, Mahnke excavates the past to understand the hysteria behind the ghastly 1892 exhumation of Mercy Brown, who, like her mother and sister before her, succumbed to “consumption” at just nineteen.

Here in our little cove, we’re no strangers to good New England folklore. And this one runs deep in our salty soil.

Exhumed is a fascinating collision of folklore and science, tracing how genuine medical breakthroughs and outright pseudoscience shaped the beliefs of 19th-century America. From the death of George Washington to Mary Shelley penning Frankenstein, Mahnke guides readers through a strange and captivating history—methods of mummification, the many roles of the executioner, medicine made from corpses, and the European superstitions that crossed the Atlantic to take root right here in New England.

What he reveals is quietly startling: that Brown’s exhumation wasn’t an aberration, but a reflection of surprisingly common attitudes about the dead, the living, and the fate of the human soul—beliefs that echo into our own time.

Perfect for fans of Mary Roach’s Stiff or Brad Meltzer’s The First Conspiracy, this is a macabre delight for the curious reader.

A wonderful book to linger over on a foggy afternoon. Come browse the shelf and take one home.

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