King Tut's Curse

King Tut’s Curse

Death Shall Come on Swift Wings To Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King...

http://www.unmuseum.org/mummy.htm

This ancient curse that was recorded on King Tut’s tomb and is the stuff that movies are made of, in fact we mummy aficionados have seen just about all the Hollywood movies, but is there any truth to this ancient curse or not?

What have we got from history to support or deny this mummy curse?

We know that the ancient Egyptians thought of their Pharaohs as gods, namely Horus (see my article The Great Pyramids of the World for more info). After their death the Ancients prepared the Pharaohs by embalming them through a process called mummification to preserve the bodies and prepare them for the afterworld. See my article, The Amazing Mummification Process of Egyptian Mummies and beliefs about the Afterworld for a more detailed account of this process, after which they were sealed in the pyramids, which were their tombs to make way for their journey to the great beyond.

Safeguards against thieves

These pyramids did not only house the bodies of the pharaohs, their entire household and top officials they also contained treasures of the royal household as well. These treasures were believed to be essential for the journey to the afterlife. Of course these treasures would be a thief’s delight and worship the pharaoh or not, these treasures proved to be too great a temptation to resist.

The ancient architects carefully sealed the tombs sometimes barricading the doors and passageways with big boulders with heavy granite plugs, and hiding the treasures within false passageways, and hidden chambers, all in the attempt to fool the thieves and preserve the sacred resting place of the Pharaoh’s and their belongings.

In some cases curses were placed on the entrance of the tombs to keep the robbers away. Whether the warnings of curses worked or not, archeologists and historians have not been able to ascertain, because the crooks still pillaged the tombs, found the riches and ignored the curses.

European archeologists became fascinated with the Egyptian tombs in the 19^th century. They excavated the sites hoping to find undiscovered treasures that would advance the knowledge of art, history, and science concerning the pharaohs of antiquity and the culture; of course these finds would yield some pretty good sums of money as well. Unfortunately they were not able to find any treasures left behind. The tomb robbers were quite adept at career choice.

The Search for King Tut’s Tomb

Howard Carter, an Englishman, was convinced that there was a missing tomb yet to be discovered. He got the backing from another Englishman by the name of Lord Carnarvon to fund his excavation in Egypt in 1891.

King Tutankhamen was virtually unknown at this point in time. He was a young Pharaoh of 19 years old who was probably murdered. The attempt to find his unmarked grave was difficult, after his death all inference about him had been erased from public places, records, and engraving on stones. The ancients were determined to quash his memory and for five years Carter dug but found nothing.

Lord Carnarvon was ready to call the digging off and summoned Carter back home but Carter managed to get him to find one more dig. Carter brought a yellow canary with him, and Reis Ahmed who was Carter’s foreman exclaimed that the golden bird would bring them luck. It would find the King’s tomb.

Whether it did or not, they found the site. A rock left from the debris surrounding the tomb of Ramses IV had obscured the view of a step edged in rock. From that one step the team found 15 more leading to King Tut’s tomb, complete with his name left in tact on the entrance.

However, when Carter returned to his quarters that evening he was met with news that his canary had died, a cobra ate it. The servants showed him a handful of feathers. Carter did not think much about it and said to make sure the house did not have any more cobras lurking around but the servant was convinced it was King Tut’s curse. The servant clutched his arm and said,

"The pharaoh's serpent ate the bird because it led us to the hidden tomb! You must not disturb the tomb!"

Carter dismissed this crazy thought and sent the servant home. He main concern was to notify Lord Carnarvon with the exciting news of their find. Lord Carnarvon came to Egypt on November 26 to see the progress with the excavation. When Carter first peaked his head into the tomb Lord Carnavon asked him what he saw, to which Carter responded,

“ I see wonderful things.”

The tomb did have treasures of great value including a sarcophagus made of stone. Inside it were three coffins nestled together, the last one contained the remains of King Tutankhamen.

Rumours surfaced that Carter had found a tablet bearing King Tut’s curse but he denied it. He did not want to alarm the workers.

Was there really a curse and did it strike the excavation team?

A few months after the opening of the tomb, 57-year-old Lord Carnarvon became ill and was rushed to Cairo where he died a few days later. The exact cause of death was not determined but it seemed to have to do with an infection brought about by an insect bite. According to legend, the lights went out in all of Cairo at the time of his death and his own son reported that back home in England, Carnarvon’s favorite dog howled at the precise moment of his death and dropped dead on the spot.

The intrigue does not end here. It is said that when the Pharaoh’s corpse was unwrapped in 1925, they found a wound on the king’s left cheek, which was the same location as the insect bite, which killed Lord Carnarvon.

From that point up until 1929, eleven people associated somehow with the archeologists and excavators died of unnatural deaths, among these people were Carter’s personal secretary (Richard Bethell and his father) and two of Lord Carnarvon’s relatives.

Lord Westbury was Bethell’s father. He killed himself by jumping off a building. What was very disquieting was the message he left before committing suicide. He said,

"I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit."

Of course the press got wind of these strange happenings and had a field day with them. By 1935 they had attributed 21 deaths in total to the mummy’s curse. It certainly did sell papers!

The director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Herbert E. Winlock was one of the greatest Egyptologists of the 20^th century. He did his own research about the curse. According to his findings, of the 22 people who worked at the site only 6 of them had died by 1934, which was 12 years later. There were 22 people present when the sarcophagus was opened two years later in 1924 and only two of those people were died 10 years later in 1934. Ten people saw the mummy unwrapped in 1925 and they were all still alive in 1934.

Still the mystery around the curse and its effectiveness persisted through the years. After all just about everyone like me, enjoys a good scary story. Mark Nelson, and Australian medical authority from Monash University in Melbourne decided to conduct his own investigation in 2002. He concluded that of the 44 westerners present at the time the seal of the tomb was broken, the sarcophagus opened, the tombs opened, and the unwrapping of the mummies, none of these people showed evidence that the length of their exposure and survival rate had anything to do with the mummy’s curse when compared with other people who were not present at any of these happenings at the time.

He concluded the curse was not lethal. The findings lead to some Egyptologists suggesting that curse was only potent for those who believed. It was more or less the power of the mind. Howard Carter never once believed the curse and he died of natural causes at the age of 66!

Theories about what might have happened to cause these strange deaths

There are some biological explanations that have been suggested.

Dr. Ezzeddin Taha, of Cairo University, maintains according to the health records many of the workers suffered from Aspergillus niger, which is a fungus that causes rashes, fatigue and fever. According to Dr. Taha, this fungus may have been present in the tomb, surviving centuries and released when the archeologists entered the tomb.

Dr. Nicola Di Paolo, an Italian doctor suggests that another fungus, Aspergillus ochraceus may be the culprit, and this fungus would be spread to any people handling the artifacts including visitors to the site. However, this fungus though contagious, does not cause death.

Gotthard Kramer, a German physicist from the University of Leipzig examined 40 mummies and found mole spores that could have survived thousands of years in those dark damp tomb conditions. However, most of spores are harmless and few are toxic. Kramer maintains that when the tombs were opened these spores escaped to the air outside and people ingested them through the body cavities such as the nose and mouth and eye mucous membranes. Once inside the body he believes that the spores affected individuals with weakened immune systems, causing organ failure and even death.

Modern archeologists now wear protective gear when entering sites or examining mummies as necessary precautions, this was never done or even thought of in the days of Howard Carter and his excavation team.

As fascinating as the mummy curse is, is it really a curse or just biological misfortune caused by century old spores? You decide.

Some actual mummy curses as quoted from the UnMuseum site: http://www.unmuseum.org/mummy.htm

A Few Authentic Curses from Mummy Tombs

As for anybody who shall enter this tomb in his impurity: I shall ring his neck as a bird's.

As for any man who shall destroy these, it is the god Thoth who shall destroy him.

As for him who shall destroy this inscription: He shall not reach his home. He shall not embrace his children. He shall not see success.

Sources:

http://www.unmuseum.org/mummy.htm

http://www.themysterious.co.uk/Mummy_Curse.html