Mary Jumbelic, M.D., is an author from Central New York and former chief medical examiner of Onondaga County. A board-certified forensic pathologist, Mary has performed thousands of autopsies during her 25-year career. She has received awards for her work from the National Transportation Safety Board and the New York State Senate, and has been recognized as a trailblazer by the National Organization of Women. As an expert witness, she has appeared on numerous national broadcasts, most recently Dateline and 48 Hours.
In retirement, Mary has published many nonfiction stories, accounts of her life both in and out of the morgue. Using her experiences, she provides a strong voice for the deceased as explores the human imprint made by those departed, demystifying death for herself, and others. Her book Here, Where Death Delights was published in 2023.
I had the great fortune to take an online class with Mary a few years ago, where she taught us how to accurately describe dead bodies in our fiction. It was one of the most fascinating classes I’ve ever taken, and I appreciated Mary’s great care in discussing sensitive, traumatic situations and all the experience she’s had working with the dead and telling their stories. Her book describes a lot of her experiences, and I highly recommend it.
So what scares someone who’s spent her entire career with the dead? Read on, friends, to find out…
What is your earliest childhood memory of fear?
It started during at the Maryland State Fair in Timonium, an event occurring annually since 1878. As a child I loved the state fair with its crowds, hawkers, noise, and excitement. Mom and Dad watched as I rode the kiddie rides and ate cotton candy. We strolled to the edge, where a caravan lined the periphery. Large canvas placards in yellow and red announced the entertainment: The World of Wonders with such intrigues as Rubber Boy, Blockhead, the Mermaid. There were snake charmers, fire eaters, and sword swallowers. For one dollar, you could enter the tent and see the advertised spectacle. We never went in. The posters haunted me.
One image stayed with me––a half-human, half-snake creature with the head of a woman and the body of a python. Her brown hair flowed toward her reptilian body. The blue eyes, human shaped, followed me as I gripped my parents’ hands.
When we got home, I headed upstairs. The snake woman waited for me in the recess of a dark room on the second floor. I closed my eyes and ran past her, jumping into bed and pulling the covers over my head. My heart raced. My head felt hot. It took a long time to fall asleep.
This female reptile lived for a long time at my childhood home. Eventually I made peace with her by forcing myself to keep my eyes open and really see her.
What is your favorite urban legend?
Waking up with a surgical incision on my flank in a bathtub full of ice with my kidney missing creates a chilling picture for me. While trafficking in human organs is an international phenomenon, the victims are not the random tourists of urban legend. People in poverty in third world countries fall prey to this trade to better their economic circumstance. The urban legend twists the reality into a freakish fear. When I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, I had chills with the reveal. He takes this fear and worldwide problem to a frightening, futuristic level.
Do you have a recurring nightmare?
A dream that has repeated itself for me throughout my life is driving off a bridge into water. I am not afraid of heights or traversing water when I’m awake. Curiously, my mother had a longstanding fear of overpasses. When we drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, she would put her head down into her lap. I just shook my head as I drove. Yet perhaps I absorbed this into my subconscious. In my nightmare, I crash through the guardrails and plunge into the icy current. The auto sinks as the river closes over me. Murkiness surrounds, and sound is muted as I struggle with the seatbelt. I wake up gasping before the water rushes in and drowns me. I keep an emergency tool in my car, just in case.
What is your favorite horror movie or television series?
I’m not a big fan of horror, having been scared into holding a crucifix on my chest as I slept after seeing The Exorcist as a kid. My family enjoys the genre, so I’ve seen my fair share––Blair Witch Project, Drag Me to Hell, Midsommar. My favorite is a TV series that falls into the horror-light category––X–Files. I have watched all 11 seasons more than once, the first pass with my oldest son, and other viewings with my other two boys or alone. There are special episodes I love to rewatch. The scientific and law enforcement backdrop combined with the strong female character of the doctor-FBI agent, Dana Scully, and her chemistry with Spooky Mulder made the show a big hit for me.
What’s something that most people are afraid of that you are not?
The obvious answer is death. I have spent my career learning about the end of life and seeing every imaginable way it can happen to people. The dead have spoken to me through their wounds and disease, and I demystify the process for others. It took years of education and exposure before I felt comfortable with it. I am continually grateful for what the dead have taught me––an appreciation of life.
“I have spent my career learning about the end of life and seeing every imaginable way it can happen to people.”
What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read?
I am an avid fan of Stephen King, but it is Clive Barker’s Books of Blood that is the pinnacle of terror for me. The palpable fright lasted long after I’d finished reading. I made the mistake of watching Candyman, a film adaptation of his story, “The Forbidden,” which cemented one scene. If a character looks in the mirror and says a certain name, the evil spirit is conjured. This notion of causing the thing you fear to happen goes against my scientific training. It is not real. Still, I’m careful around mirrors, especially in the dark of night.
What animal scares you the most?
There are many frightening creatures on earth––feline predators, venomous snakes, disease-carrying insects. I am most afraid of bats. They are important in the ecosystem and eat harmful bugs. Their echolocation is a marvel of nature. We have a small bat house nailed in a tree at the far end of our backyard. I once saw a rock temple, Isurumuniya in Sri Lanka, filled with thousands of bats. As I stood in the doorway in the bright of day, I heard their scratching and rustling sounds as they slept. A few flitted around. I could hardly breathe.
They terrify me because of my public health training. They are reservoirs for Ebola, Rabies, and Coronavirus. Long ago, a son showed me a dead bat in the road. Instead of picking it up and disposing of it as I might some other creature, I called animal control to remove it. I didn’t have my personal protective gear!