The dream for any archaeologist is to find something that will change history forever. Remnants of ancient civilizations can change how we view the past. Relics can open our eyes to the beauty of the world. And while most who do this work are in it for the love of history, and ancient culture, there are some that just want that treasure. In some of those cases, fail-safes have been put in place, such as the mummy’s curse.
London born archaeologist, Howard Carter was in love with Egyptian culture, history, and art. When he received an invitation from Lord Carnarvon, a British aristocrat who was backing an excavation of noble tombs near Deir el-Bahri, he was thrilled. Things only got better in 1914, when Lord Carnarvon was given permission to explore the Valley of the Kings, and while the dig was delayed until 1917, courtesy of World War I, Howard was exhilarated to get started.
They worked hard, but after 5 years, they hadn’t produced nearly as much as Lord Carnarvon had expected. He gave Howard an ultimatum: find something in the next few months, or the project was over. Unwilling to let this opportunity go, Howard circled back, looking in previously searched areas, for anything they may have missed. He got back to the huts they had erected on an area of land that hadn’t turned up anything, and on a hunch, had the huts dismantled and the bedrock beneath them cleared.
November 4, 1922, a day that history will never forget, workers heaved a stone that a water boy had stumbled into, into a rock crevasse. When Howard inspected the area, he discovered that the rock was actual the top step of a flight of stairs that descended down into the earth. At the end, a mud-sealed doorway stamped with the seal of royalty.
Howard had been living alone, and had purchased a yellow canary with the hope that its song would cheer up the lonely house. However, the very day that he had discovered the doorway to the tomb, a servant heard a “faint, almost human cry.” He entered the home and discovered a cobra inside the canary’s gilded cage, the canary in its belly.
Cobra’s are rare in Egypt, and very seldom seen in winter. They were also regarded as the symbol of royalty, and each Pharaoh wore the symbol of the cobra upon his forehead, signifying his power to strike and stink his enemies. Obviously, the servant was scared, and declared the tomb cursed. The pharaoh’s serpent had eaten the bird because it led them to the tomb. If they disturbed the tomb, they would surely die.
Howard disregarded any talk of curses and contacted Lord Carnarvon immediately. On November 25, he, with Carnarvon by his side, carefully eased the doorway open using a chisel. The door was opened just enough to get a candle inside, and they could peek in.
“Can you see anything?” Lord Carnarvon asked.
“Yes, wonderful things!” Howard had found the intact tomb of King Tutankhamun. Little did he know what he had unleashed.
Although they were supposed to wait (and claim they did) for an Egyptian Organization of Antiquities official before entering the tomb, evidence suggests Lady Evelyn, Lord Carnarvon’s daughter, Lord Carnarvon, and Howard Carter entered the tomb and surveyed the treasures before they could be catalogued. Some would even suggest they took a few souvenirs. Regardless, despite their new found riches, just two short months later, Lord Carnarvon died.
The death of Lord Carnarvon was interesting, to say the least. The official cause of death was blood poisoning, related to a mosquito bite that he had accidentally cut while shaving and had become infected. What could not be explained is why, at the exact moment of his death, all the lights in Cairo went out. Even stranger, despite all efforts, no one could restore the lights – and then after 20 minutes, they came back on, by themselves.
As if that wasn’t strange enough, also at the exact moment of Lord Carnarvon’s death, halfway around the world in his home, his beloved fox terrier, Suzie died. It is claimed that she sat up, let out a howl, and fell over dead.
The workers, and newspapers alike took these as a sign of the curse. One paper wrote that the curse read, “I will kill all those who cross this threshold.” Another claimed the curse read, “They who enter this sacred tomb shall be visited by the wings of death.”
Howard shrugged it off, still too excited over their find, and chalked it up to bad luck and coincidence. Excitement didn’t end with Howard though, and soon thousands of tourists were swarming Egypt, anxious to get a peek at the young king’s tomb. Very few were given access. One of the lucky ones was railroad tycoon, George J Gould who led the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, Western Pacific Railroad, and Manhattan Railway. George was led into the tomb by Howard himself, and later that evening, he came down with a fever. George J Gould died on May 16, 1923.
Howard led another private tour, this time for a British Industrialist. He died as well.
Another 3 would die that year, including Becky Calendar, who had helped Howard break into the tomb itself.
Study of the artifacts continued, and progressed on to study of Tut’s mummy itself. Howard found that there were several amulets embedded in the wrappings and layers of the body. Unable to remove them without damaging the mummy, on November 11, 1925, he decided it would be best to cut the boy king strategically, so as to remove the pieces. Within 2 weeks, two more were dead.
Arthur Mace, an Egyptologist, and invaluable aid to Howard Carter died on April 6, 1928. He had been instrumental in removing artifacts from Tut’s tomb.
By 1929, 15 people had lost their lives to the mummy’s curse.
Fear enveloped the nation, and private collectors were getting rid of their Egyptian artifacts, sending them to museums in hopes the curse would leave them alone. One such couple gave the British museum an artifact they believed it was cursed. The museum told them it was not a cursed object, yet just a few months later, the wife was dead, killed by her husband who claimed the curse told him to do it.
Next to be taken was Lady Carnarvan, Lord Carnarvan’s wife, who also died as a result of an insect bite. Carnarvon’s secretary, Richard Bethell died mysteriously in his sleep, leading his father, Lord Westbury, to throw himself from a 7th story window, blaming the death of his son on the mummy’s curse. On the way to his final resting place, Lord Westbury’s hearse struck and killed an eight year old boy. At that same exact moment, an employee of the British Museum, who’s field was Egyptology, also died mysteriously.
The fascination with Egypt, and Tut never fully died, and in the 1970’s, several of Tut’s treasures embarked on a world tour. The Egyptian Director of Antiquities had a dream that he would die if the treasures ever left Egypt. Sure enough, 3 months later he was killed in an auto accident.
Another Egyptian official scoffed at the curse, yet when Tut’s mask was packed for London, he had a heart attack and died.
The curse didn’t keep sightseers away, this included Lady Evelyn, Lord Carnarvon’s daughter who had been first to enter the boy king’s tomb. She visited the museum in London several times – but after her 5th visit, she had a stroke that left her paralyzed from then on.
The curse didn’t stop there though, it continues on into modern times, with the most recently publicized incident being that of Sheryl Munson. Sheryl was an art major from Pennsylvania. She had fought and survived Hodgkin’s disease, and she and her husband celebrated with a trip to Egypt. They went into the tomb, and Sheryl touched the wall. When she was scolded, she replied that her art teacher had told her if she ever had the opportunity to see the tomb, she should touch the paint, as it was a once in a lifetime experience. Unfortunately, the teacher was right.
When they returned to the states, Sheryl became very ill, and refused to see a doctor, having seen too many when she had Hodgkins. But the sickness got worse and worse until she was hospitalized, and finally died. The cause – respiratory failure due to Aspergillus Niger, a toxic fungus/mold that had taken hold in her lungs and grew out of control.
It’s possible Aspergillus Niger could be the culprit in many of the deaths associated with Tut’s curse. But even so – wouldn’t you consider that the Egyptian’s way of cursing those who disturb the final rest of their king?
The mummy’s curse lives on, but these days it’s mostly in movies and books. While there hasn’t been a true-life case of a mummy walking the earth, it’s still a scary notion to consider.
Up Next: The Cursed Ring of Rudolph Valentino
