On Feb. 17 , 1923 , a bunch of about 20 invited guests gather in an antechamber deep within the Valley of the Kings , an elite Egyptian city of the utter . Archaeologistsand Egyptian dignitaries were there to watch the unseal ofKing Tutankhamen’sburial bedchamber . While the tomb ’s outer rooms had already revealed a treasure treasure trove of Egyptian art and furnishing , excavators were hop to find something more : the undisturbedmummyofKing Tut .
AsHoward Carter , the expedition ’s chief archaeologist , crystalise away the Lucy Stone filling between the two rooms , the assembled audience see in silence . After 10 drawn - out minutes of oeuvre , Carter created a lowly opening – just declamatory enough to peer into the chamber and seelightbounce off the rampart of a solid gold shrine .
While the gem of Egypt ’s more salient kings and poof had long since been looted , Tutankhamen ’s tomb consist protected for millennium by the debris of an ancient building project . Although thieves had entered the tomb at least twice , they had never penetrated past the second shrine of the burial chamber .
Over the next several years , Carter would excavate the most famous cache of Egyptian treasure ever found . The entombment sleeping room ’s nesting shrine , strong gold coffin and famous placid - faced masquerade would presently eclipse the splendor of the antechamber and annexe .
But the digging of the untried Martin Luther King ’s tomb would also become famous for more morbid reasons . By April 1923 , only two months after the chamber ’s unsealing , the project ’s financier , George Herbert , Lord Carnarvon , perish of complications from a mosquito bite . Then his dog croak . Then other people unite to the barb began to die under funny circumstances .
Rumors began to pass around that Carnarvon and the others had stirred up the " mummy ’s expletive , " aPharaonichex dooming those who disturb the sleep of the numb King and queen . An inscription supposedly carved on Tutankhamen ’s tomb warned that " Death will come on swift pinions to those who disturb the rest of the Pharaoh " [ source : Ceram ] .
So is there any trueness behind the execration ? Can you really get unbalanced from an ancient tomb ? In the next part , we ’ll see out if the oath had any supernatural or scientific groundwork .
The Mummy’s Curse
The European and American world , already stricken by Egyptomania , seized upon the idea of the curse . Newspapers sensationalized the deaths of hoi polloi link with the expedition or its principles . Richard Bethell , Howard Carter ’s assistant ; Bethell ’s father , Lord Westbury ; A.C. Mace , Carter ’s partner and Lady Elizabeth Carnarvon were all victims of the so - called " Revenge of the Pharaohs " [ source : Ceram ] . Judging by the list of victims , aboriginal Egyptians were not affected by the curse .
Carter , as renowned for go themummy’scurse ( at least until his death in 1939 ) as he is for discovering Tutankhamen ’s grave , hated the sensualism that fence the dig . He was deep upset by the public ’s willingness to be taken in by superstition . Carter even tried to argue that Pharaonic curses had no place in Egyptian dying rituals . Tomb inscriptions sometimes containedprotective formulas , subject matter meant to frighten off enemy from this world or beyond , but usually just care the dead well .
In 1933 , a German Egyptologist , Professor Georg Steindorff , wrote a pamphlet on Pharaonic curses , attempting to expose the myth – while also ride on its coattails . He studied the life and Death of the " victims , " square off that many had never been near the dig and had only flimsy connection to the principlearchaeologistsor financiers .
But like all well curses , that of Tutankhamen ’s grave stuck around in the world ’s imagination . Eighty year after the grave ’s find , the British Medical Journal published a scientific study of the mummy ’s curse . Mark R. Nelson of Monash University , Australia , examined the survival rate of 44 Westerners identified by Carter as being in Egypt during the testing of the grave .
Nelson assumed that because the torment was a " strong-arm entity , " it had power over only those physically present during the gap of a bedchamber or coffin ( thus removing Lord Carnarvon ’s dog from the roster of victims ) [ source : BMJ ] . Nelson defined several specific date of vulnerability : the Feb. 17 , 1923 , scuttle of the third door , the Feb. 3 , 1926 , gap of the sarcophagus , the Oct. 10 , 1926 , porta of the coffins and the Nov. 11 , 1926 , interrogatory of the mummy . For people who were present at more than one opening or examen , Nelson accounted for their increased exposure .
Out of 44 identified Westerners , 25 were present during an opening or examination . These 25 inhabit an average of 20.8 long time after exposure , while the unexposed lived 28.9 geezerhood . The mean age at last for the bring out was 70 years and 75 for the unexposed . Nelson square up that the effect raise there was no torment [ generator : BMJ ] .
But what if there ’s a scientific account for the phenomena some mistook as a bane ? Can a grave make an already sick person queasy enough to pass ? get out on the next page .
Could you really get sick from an ancient tomb?
Supernatural explanations for themummy’scurse may have been discredit by careful translation of protective formula , study of Egyptian destruction ritual and even forward-looking investigations , but the myth of the swearing refuses to quit . Some still believe that there may be a scientific account for Lord Carnarvon ’s death that yoke it to Tutankhamen ’s tomb . The moneyman died fromerysipelas , a bacterial contagion that was brought on by a mosquito collation . This top tosepticaemia , orbloodpoisoning , and pneumonia . Could exposure to toxic pathogen in the grave have killed the already ailing man ?
Carter keep that the tomb was free from " bacillary agents , " but modern studies show that respiratory - attacking bacterium are sometimes present in ancient tombs [ rootage : Ceram ] . Sarcophagi can also contain formaldehyde , atomic number 1 sulphide and ammonia gasoline – all agents that assault the lungs . Ancient meat , veg and yield funerary offering , not to mention preserved human body , can pull grievous molds likeAspergillus nigerandAspergillus flavuswhile bat droppings can maturate fungus .
But no matter of the potential difference for nasty microorganisms , expert do n’t think Lord Carnarvon ’s death was tomb - related . He died in the dig ’s off - time of year , the clock time of year when it ’s too live to labour in Egypt . He had been bring out to any possible bacteria , fungus or mould months before his illness .
Carter also maintained that the condition of the tomb were more sanitary than most of 1920s Egypt – that fundamentally , Lord Carnarvon was more potential to foot up a bacterial infection in New Cairo , where he pall , than in Tutankhamen ’s sequestered tomb . And even if a person were to catch an contagion from a grave , it would be almost unacceptable to recite whether the agent that cause the infection were , in fact , ancient .
But regardless of the tomb ’s bacillary contents , any ancient grave accent doubtlessly lends itself to a goodghoststory .
For more data on mummy , ghosts and other spooky subject , be sure to chat the next page .
