explain annoying "You have XXX mail messages"

[Fernan Aguero]

Hi!

I'd like to understand why every time I open a new terminal
(or just type 'csh' in a terminal) I get a message similar
to:

You have XXX mail messages.

The default mailbox (/var/mail/fernan) is empty, since I
use procmail to deliver messages to several different
mailboxes under ~/mail.

Still, I keep receving this message all the time. Right now
it says I have 50 messages. What are they? Where are they?

I've already read the man pages for csh(1), looked in 
sourced rc files (~/.cshrc, /etc/csh.cshrc, ~/.login,
/etc/csh.login) and, as far as I can see, there is nothing
that looks like checking on available messages.

It's been also difficult to google a common phrase like 'you
have mail messages' to look for already answered questions.

I apologize is this is a FAQ.

Thanks in advance,

Fernan

-- 
F e r n a n   A g u e r o
http://genoma.unsam.edu.ar/~fernan