The curse of the mummy began when many terrible events
occurred after the discovery of King Tut's tomb. Legend has it that
anyone who dared to open the tomb would suffer the wrath of the
mummy. Because mummies have been associated with many magical powers
throughout history, some of the mummies found from Egypt were ground
into a fine powder and sold as mystical mummy powder. It's believed
the powder had magical healing powers and it wasn't until the
discovery of King Tut and the hype of the media that things would
change forever.
The hype began when Lord Carnarvon, the person who funded the dig of
King Tut’s Tomb, died shortly after the discovery. The path to his
death began in the spring of 1923 when he was bitten on the cheek by
a mosquito. During his morning shaving routines, he further
aggravated the mosquito bite. It soon became infected and Lord
Carnarvon found himself ill. He suffered a high fever and chills. A
doctor was sent to examine him but medical attention arrived too
late and Lord Carnarvon died. At that exact moment the lights in
Cairo mysteriously went out.
Once Carnarvon died the media went wild with stories of his
death. They claimed King Tut wanted vengeance and announced a
mummy's curse, which targeted those who had entered the tomb. Not
only did the death of Carnarvon get all the people in an uproar but
other stories began to surface as well. Of the stories that
surfaced, two remain prominent. One of the prominent stories is that
a cobra killed Howard Carter's (explorer who discovered King Tut’s
burial place) pet canary after the discovery of King Tut's tomb. The
other story is that Lord Carnarvon's dog howled and dropped dead at
two in the morning when Carnarvon died.
What is interesting is that Howard Carter lived a decade after this
major discovery. So what happened to Howard Carter during all this
hype? Howard Carter spent his last years logging and recording every
artifact found in the tomb. Why didn't he suffer the curse of the
mummy? He was, after all, the first to enter the tomb.
Did King Tut's Tomb really unleash a curse? New findings are showing
that bacteria on the wall of the tomb might have been the cause of
the curse. The bacteria would release spores into the air allowing
it to be breathed. This in turn caused people who came into contact
with these spores to become ill. Could this be what killed Lord
Carnarvon? It appears that this could have contributed to his
demise, as well as the fact that he was not in the best of health.
Whether the mummy’s curse is fact or fiction, this story seems to
interest people even today. The myth of the curse has remained with
King Tut and continues to make people question as to whether the
curse was really unleashed. What is known is that when you mix
propaganda, facts, and hype you get a story that can be exciting. It
all really comes down to one question. Do you believe in the curse
of the mummy? We will leave that for you to decide.
Whether the mummy’s curse is fact or fiction, this story seems to
interest people even today. The myth of the curse has remained with
King Tut and continues to make people question as to whether the
curse was really unleashed. What is known is that when you mix.
What is known is that when you mix propaganda, facts, and hype you get a story that can be exciting. It all really comes down to one question. Do you believe in the curse of the mummy? We will leave that for you to decide.
