Visiting the Crypts of Venezuela's Doctor Death

Today we bring you another blast from the past. The narrative below was written in the evening after our November 5, 2006 pilgrimage to the hacienda ruins of prominent German-born Dr. Gottfried Knoch. It continues the strangeness theme of this wacky, weird, and wonderful country that was also exploited in the post on Maria Leonza, the nude tapir rider.

Our adventure de la dia was a bush-whacking hike through steep mountainous jungles to the overgrown ruins of Dr. Gottfried Knoch. His hacienda, crypts, and laboratory date back to 1886. They are the legacy of this man, an apparent necrophiliac 19^th century doctor. Besides nice humanitarian stuff like offering free services to the poor, he also appears to have been a scientist in quest of a method of mummification to embalm bodies in a humid, tropical environment. Apparently that task is difficult in climates that are not extremely dry or perpetually below freezing.

The story of doctor Knoch appears to be in the genre of Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde…except it's true! Dr. Knoch's great scientific work began with experiments on dogs and other small animals. After refining his methods, his work spread to humans. One of the complications of the process was the need to anticipate the onset of death and inject special mummification chemicals just before his patient's heart stopped beating. Apparently Dr. Knoch always timed it just right. After administration of the chemicals, his patients always passed away right on schedule.

Dr. Knoch's experiments may have met with some skepticism in the coastal community, causing him to move his work place. He built a home and laboratory several thousand vertical feet up a steep mountainside with a spectacular jungle overview of the Caribbean. Deprived of a willing population of patients, he was forced to develop his technique on his own family members. Among the beneficiaries were his daughter, his wife, and his nurse/mistress.

Our hike this morning started with an ascent in five, 10-passenger 4X4 vehicles up a treacherously narrow and twisting (but actually paved) road over the Avila Mountains that separate Caracas from the sea. After descending to 2 or 3 thousand feet altitude on the sea side of the mountain ridge, we reached the trailhead. There were lots of us: students, teachers, and family members. The trek in on foot was not long horizontally but was steep and overgrown with banana trees, briars, and every other kind of tree, grass, and brush known to thrive in the tropics. Mud, slippery rocks and insects added to the challenge. Well acquainted with the threat of chiggers, we hosed ourselves down with insect repellant. Some of the other's neglected to do the same. Our hearts go out to them.

Needless to say, there were many falls, skinned knees, and bruised buttocks. Catherine slipped on a rock and slid off the trail, but thanks to the entangling vegetation, did not take a long plummet.

After a sweltering hot ascent, we arrived at the remains of Dr. Knoch's mausoleum, just as a chilling mist blew in around us. (Why didn't we do this adventure on Halloween?) The mausoleum was a moss and fern covered tower reminiscent of some South and Central American Indian pyramids. It containing six open crypts, long since emptied by either souvenir hunters or a failure in the mummification process. Steep stone stairs led to the flat roof of the building which provided a splendid viewing platform over the mist covered jungle and distant Caribbean. There we ate our cheese, crackers and chocolate before bushwhacking our way down to the overgrown ruins of his hacienda and laboratory - a dark cellar-like place of stone or concrete. Returning the way we came, we arrived at our vehicles just as the mists turned to rain causing Catherine to turn a big banana leaf into an umbrella.

Perhaps this place and its history will inspire a really great movie some day – something in the style of an Indiana Jones thriller. Under my direction, it would probably turn out more like a 50's horror movie for the drive-in movie theater market. Uh…do they still have drive-in movies?

You may click the pictures to enlarge. In order they are, the mausoleum, the empty crypts, the one remaining wall of the hacienda with the doctors spiral symbol at the top, and a slightly "creeped out" visitor exiting the doctor's dank laboratory.

Current Granddaughter Pictures

After a steady string of Venezuela posts I'm going home to family now. Here are some new pictures of the foremost thing on my mind, our new granddaughter Ayla. Click to enlarge. For any visitors who don't know me, the handsome gentleman with white hair is not me. He's Aimo, Ayla's other Grandpa from Finland and Israel. I'm the ugly guy at the top left margin of the web page with a brazen parrot trying to steal his gold tooth.

Buff Nude Woman Rides Tapir

There she is, right in the middle of the urban Caracas arterial, a gigantic statue of a buff nude woman riding a tapir. Well, why not?! This is Venezuela after all. First (for those of you who didn't have Mrs. Mulligan for 9^th grade biology) a tapir is a big animal that looks like a giant pig with rhinoceros toes and a little elephant trunk. Tapirs live here in Venezuela along with nearly every other exotic animal that stepped off Jonah's ark. What's weird is that people normally don't ride them – probably for some good reason.

So who is she, this amazing woman in the statue? My detractors will no doubt suggest that I find something perversely erotically tantalizing about buff nude women riding tapirs. That of course is untrue; I am simply intellectually curious about how this seemingly mythic figure fits into history and weaves into the social fabric of Venezuela. After inquiring about her for nearly two years and getting nothing but shrugs from natives as well as expats, I got the brilliant idea to Google her. She is Maria Leonza, the central figure in a very blended Venezuelan religion sometimes referred to as a cult. The woman herself is supposedly a historic figure born of an important native chief in about 1502. According to legend she was a very buff woman and perhaps a goddess or queen. She was particularly noted for reigning over savage beasts and she liked creepy reptiles too.

Getting back to this religion that Ms. Leonza dominates, it combines indigenous Venezuelan, African slave Santeria (supposedly from the Yoruba of Nigeria), a touch of European spiritism, and Catholicism of course. It's got something for everybody, whether you like forest spirits, animal sacrifice, Jesus, or buff nude women who ride tapirs. It's no surprise that it remains popular. Maybe I'll convert. I think the Catholic part was a later add-on. The local priest missionaries here in the 16^th century didn't always follow the "my way or the highway" dictates of their management back in Rome. If they couldn't convert the natives, they'd at least mess with 'em and try to stuff a little Christianity into their native religion and a few genes into their gene pool. Accordingly they managed to give Ms. Leonza her proper Catholic name of Santa María de la Onza Talavera del Prato de Nívar, which means (I think) Saint Mary of the Jaguar Something Something Something.

Well, anyway, I'm just starting to copy stuff from Wikipedia and some other web articles now so I'll quit. If you find this interesting like me and have time to fritter away, Google it yourself. I have to go to the grocery store now.