The Curse of King Tut

           A popular belief held throughout history is that if you disturb a mummy’s final resting place, you will be cursed to die. Many thought that this may be a ploy by the Egyptian government to stop grave robberies. It was really just created to preserve the Valley of the Kings. However, in 1923 some strange things started happening after the monumental discovery of King Tut’s tomb. First, Howard Carter’s (the archaeologist who discovered the tomb) beloved pet canary died by a cobra bite. Many people felt that the cobra was personally sent by King Tut because they were often symbolic of the power of Egyptian rulers. It was predicted that this would be the first of many deaths and indeed, this was the case. Next to die was Lord Carnarvon. He was the current Earl of Highclere Castle (fictionally known as Downton Abbey) and fully funded Howard Carter’s expedition. Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito, and then he nipped his neck while shaving. He then tragically died of blood poisoning. One of Howard Carter’s best friends, Sir Bruce Ingham had his house burn down twice. It was said that he received the gift of a mummy’s hand that had a bracelet which contained a warning that anyone who possessed it would be doomed. In the years following the opening of the tomb, nine more individuals who were closely associated with the tomb died horrible deaths.

           Even though it may seem logical for some people to point toward the curse as an explanation to the mysterious deaths, they should not. According to The Elements of Thought, these individuals have assumed that the deaths were solely caused by the curse. However, scientists have proved otherwise. It has recently been discovered that the tomb contained a deadly bacteria. They feel that this could account for many of the untimely deaths that followed in the wake of one of the greatest archaeological finds in human history. It was also said that the newspapers of the time were to blame for the rise of the curse because as soon as the tomb was opened, they wanted the opportunity to make as much money off of the discovery and the supposed curse that went along with it.    

Curse of the Mummy

The "mummy's curse" is most known for the death of several people following the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb. The curse declares that if anyone dares to open a tomb will suffer the wrath of the mummy, so states KingTutOne.com. Lord Carnarvon funded an expedition of King Tut's tomb in 1922 and when Howard Carter opened up a small hole to view hidden treasures 3,000 years old, the world became enamored with ancient Egypt (National Geographic). Soon, the world will also be introduced to the "mummy's curse" concept after Lord Carnarvon died four months later (New York Times).

Dominic Montserrat, an Egyptologist, researched the origins of the "mummy's curse" and discovered it was first conceived from a London and not Egypt. In London there was a stage show where they brought real mummies on stage and unwrapped them. This led to inspiration of other writers to write tales of mummy revenge (National Geographic).

Lord Carnarvon's death sparked the interest of the mummy curses, but was his death really the result of the wrath of King Tut? Turns out Carnarvon died of a mosquito bite on his cheek that got infected from cutting it while shaving. Of the 26 people present when the King's tomb was opened, 6 died within a decade. Howard Carter, the first person to enter the tomb, would be expected to have been the prime victim, but lived in till 1939 spending his last years cataloging every item found in King Tut's tomb (KingTutOne). Some explain the mysterious deaths to be caused by bacteria and molds from the human, animal and food remains found in the tomb that could be dangerous if a person already has a weakened immune system. On the other hand F. Dewolfe Miller a professor of epidemiology, thinks it is unlikely.(National Geographic).

I think it is important to ask if 6 deaths out of a total of 26 explorers over ten years is really that significant? That's approximately one death every other year, and considering these are mature men (Carnarvon died at the age of 56) during a time when the average life expectancy of a man was 53.6. Other ages of those 6 who died range from 45-70 of those I was able to find both birth and death dates of. So considering the life expectancy, and small portion of actual deaths, I would not find there to be anything remarkable about the deaths of those explorers.