someone's been watching just a little too much Psycho...

The mummy of a 61-year-old woman was found in Madisonville, Ohio, last week.

"Mummy?" you ask.

Yes, Johannas Pope died 2 1/2 years ago on Aug. 29, 2003, during a heat wave when temperatures in greater Cincinnati reached 87 degrees..

Reportedly, she had told her live-in caregiver that she would prefer not to be buried as she was fully intending to come back to life. Well, the caregiver, Pope's 37-year -old daughter, and her 3-year-old granddaughter, who all lived downstairs, took her at her word.

The air conditioner was kept running and delayed decay enough that it allowed the body to slowly mummify. The air conditioner had broken down about a month ago and police said there were able to smell the scent of decay from the front yard.

Police entered the house where they found a staircase behind a door blocked by a laundry basket. They climbed to the second floor, where they found the body.

Mrs. Pope was found dressed in a white night gown and propped up in an easy chair in her converted attic bedroom. Every day, her caregiver would go up and turn on the television for her.

When other family members would visit the house, they would yell greetings upstairs, but weren't too concerned about there being no answer.

The caregiver reported to police that Mrs. Pope's nose and ears had disappeared and then reappeared. She claimed this is one of the reasons she believed her employer was going to return. The coroner said that maggots around the nose and ears may have given the appearance that they were missing.

Mrs. Pope's strange absence was finally reported to police by a sister with whom she hadn't spoken in years. The sister had gone to the house and demanded to be allowed in to see her sister. The caregiver turned her away.

A neighbor had apparently called the police months before, but at that time there wasn't enough evidence to enter the residence.

Hamilton County Coroner O'Dell Owens said that it could take weeks to find out the cause of death as there is little soft tissue left to analyze.

He added that he did not believe, at this time, that foul play was involved.

The coroner's office also reported that Mrs. Pope received no income at the time of her death, she received no state or federal assistance checks, so the motives did not appear to involve financial gain.