One of the reasons we chose to do an ancient Egyptian tomb for our first escape room is that the history, the culture, and the lore of that civilization 3,000 years ago is wildly fascinating. One of many examples is the mummification process.

During the ritual of embalming, the ancient Egyptians would remove the internal organs of the deceased, and place them in one of four canopic jars. These jars typically had a different god’s head for each organ, representing different strengths in the afterlife.

The priests would place the stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver in the jars representing Anubis, Ra, Thoth, and Osiris, respectively. The heart was usually left in the body, as it was viewed as the center of a person’s being. The brain? Nobody needs that, so they would slip a hooked instrument up through the nose, stir the brain around, and pull it out through the nostrils.

It’s probably for the best, though. If they had kept the brain and used a fifth jar, it would have really messed with one of our puzzles.