According to legend, anybody who disturbs the mummies of an Ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh, will suffer from the “curse of the pharaohs.” This curse can bring about misfortune, disease, or even death and does not distinguish between thieves and archaeologists.
Since 1923, when Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter uncovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt, the most brilliant scientists have been perplexed by the infamous Mummy’s Curse.
The King Tutankhamun Curse
Although no curse had been discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb, a number of Carter’s team members and actual or fictitious site visitors passed away over the years, keeping the legend alive, especially in situations of violent death or unusual circumstances:
Canary
When the tomb was uncovered, Carter was collaborating with renowned Egyptologist James Henry Breasted. The Egyptian laborers were certain that Breasted’s pet Canary, which was killed when a cobra slithered into its cage, was to blame for the finding of the tomb. The pharaoh’s might was represented by the cobra.
Carnarvon, Lord
When 53-year-old Lord Carnarvon accidently tore open a mosquito bite while shaving, he became the second victim of the Mummy’s Curse and passed dead shortly after from blood poisoning. A few months after the tomb’s opening, something happened. He passed away on April 5, 1923, around 2:00 AM. All the lights in Cairo unexpectedly turned out at the precise moment of his death. The instant Carnarvon’s dog died, it was howling in England, two thousand miles distant.
Ingham, Sir Bruce
Sir Bruce Ingham received a paperweight as a present from Howard Carter. The paperweight was suitably a mummified hand holding a bracelet with the inscription, “Cursed be he who moves my body,” on it. Soon after receiving the gift, Ingham’s home burned down, and when he sought to restore it, a flood struck.
Gould, George Jay
Rich American investor and railroad tycoon George Jay Gould visited Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1923, but soon after, he became ill. A few months later, he passed away from pneumonia after never quite recovering.
Adam White
British archaeologist Evelyn-White may have assisted with site excavation while visiting Tut’s tomb. Evelyn-White hanged himself in 1924 after seeing the deaths of roughly two dozen of his fellow digger, but not before writing, supposedly in blood, “I have succumbed to a curse which drives me to disappear.”
David Herbert
Aubrey Herbert, Lord Carnarvon’s half-brother, allegedly received King Tut’s curse by virtue of their shared ancestor. Herbert was born with a progressive eye disease and was blind in his latter years. Herbert had every tooth removed from his head to restore his vision after a specialist claimed that his decaying, diseased teeth may be causing him some sort of visual impairment. It was a failure. However, only five months after the purported death of his cursed brother, he did pass away from sepsis as a result of the procedure.
A. E. Ember
Many of the persons present when the tomb was uncovered, including Lord Carnarvon, knew American Egyptologist Aaron Ember. Less than an hour after he and his wife had a dinner party, Ember’s Baltimore home caught fire, and he passed away in 1926. He might have left without incident, but his wife pushed him to finish the paper he was working on while she went to retrieve their son. Sadly, they all perished in the disaster, along with the family’s maid. What is the title of Ember’s book? The Book of the Dead in Egypt.
Douglas Sir Archibald Reid
Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, a radiologist, simply X-Rayed Tut before the Mummy was transferred to museum officials, demonstrating that you didn’t have to be one of the excavators or expedition backers to fall prey to the curse. The next day he fell ill, and three days later he passed away.
Ahmed Mohammed
43 years later, the curse claimed the life of Mohammed Ibrahim, who had given his official approval for the shipment of Tutankhamun’s artifacts to Paris for an exhibition. Ibrahim attempted to halt the shipment of the riches after his daughter suffered terrible injuries in a vehicle accident and he had a premonition that he would also perish. He failed, and a vehicle ran over him. Two days later, he passed away.
Was the curse of the Mummy to blame for these strange deaths? Or did everything just happen by chance? What do you think?
source:theancientzen.com
