Megalithic Marvels - The Curse of Tutankhamun

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

On November 26, 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his financier Lord Carnarvon, after years of searching, finally discovered the burial chamber of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun who ruled 1332 – 1323 B.C. during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Unearthing the most well-preserved tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became instant world-wide celebrities overnight, but all would not be well for long... Soon after opening Tutankhamun's tomb, several people who either entered his tomb, handled his artifacts or who were involved with the excavation of his tomb, began to die of rather strange circumstances... Were these unfortunate deaths the result of circumstantial coincidences or that of an ancient deadly curse? Watch this insightful new episode to learn more and share it with your friends who enjoy ancient history.

Stargate Voyager. The curse of Tutankhamen. This is the topic we're going to dive into in this episode. But before we do, just a quick reminder, if you like this podcast, to subscribe to it from wherever you are watching. And don't forget if you're able to, give me a five-star review if you can,

especially on Spotify. I believe you can on Apple Podcasts. Wherever they allow you to, give me a five-star rating that helps me me to get through the algorithms and climb the charts. I just want to thank you guys so much for your support here with the Stargate Voyager podcast. Okay, let's jump right into this, the curse of Tutankhamun. To set this up, first let's take a step back and talk about the curse of the pharaohs

or the mummy's curse, as it's been called, which is a curse alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially if it's a pharaoh. Now, this curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is claimed to cause stuff like bad luck, illness, or even death. Since the mid-20th century, many authors, documentaries have argued that the curse is a real thing, that it's legitimate. it. And they use the notion that there's scientifically explicable causes such as bacteria or fungus or even radiation from artifacts or the mummies that these explorers and archaeologists were

touching in the tombs. And we'll get into more of that in a bit. Now there's a woman named Louisa May Alcott. She is thought to have been the first person to ever mention pretty much in modern times, this thing of a mummy's curse. And she did this in her 1869 story, lost in a pyramid. I actually just bought it on Amazon. I've been reading through it. Pretty fascinating. It's fiction, but something like this from the 1869 era with a little bit different language.

Really, really cool to do this. These supposed ancient curses seem to most frequently occur in tombs around the time of the old kingdom era. These are the pharaohs that reigned roughly between 2,575 and 2150 BC. For example, there is a tomb attributed to a ruler known as Cantica Ikechekhi of the 9th or 10th dynasty, which contains an inscription, and it states this, quote, As for all men who shall enter this, my tomb, impure, there will be judgment, and end shall be made for him. I shall seize his neck like a bird.

I shall cast the fear of myself into him. That is quite the warning. Now curses after the old kingdom era seem to be less common, though more severe in expression, sometimes invoking even the ire of Thoth or the destruction of Sechmet. Now back around September of 2020, archaeologists unearthed like 160 sarcophagi from an ancient Egyptian necropolis near the area of Sakara. And some of the tombs were inscribed with these mummy curses. Now Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo,

stated that the inscribed warnings in these human tombs mostly served to deter trespassers intent on desecrating the mummies. Now, one specific tomb that was found amongst these at Sakara is attributed to a pharaoh's official who lived more than 4,000 years ago. And when roughly translated, it warns any trespassers that the counsel of the gods would punish the trespassers and ring his or her neck like that of a goose. It also warns of the mummy's knowledge of secret spells and magic

and threatens to fill impure intruders with a fear of seeing ghosts. Now, way back in 1699, there is an account by an author named Luis Penetcher who records this story, a supposed true account, of a Polish explorer who traveled to the Egyptian city of Alexandria, where he purchased two ancient mummies, and then loaded them on a ship and embarked on a long journey across the sea back to his home in Poland. Well, according to this supposedly true account that Pentiture wrote about the story, this Polish man on the journey across the sea was,

freaked out and alarmed by reoccurring visions he had and dreams of these mummies. And the seas apparently grew stormy and more and more dangerous until this Polish explorer who bought the mummies in Alexandria threw them overboard in the sea. And then apparently things went back to normal and grew calm. Now in his book, Valley of the Golden Mammies, infamous Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass recalls that as a young archaeologist himself, he was excavating at this specific site. I believe it's pronounced Kam Abu Bello. He was in charge and was supposed to transport a number of ancient artifacts from that site to somewhere else. And apparently on the day that he transported these artifacts, his cousin dies yet on the anniversary of that day a year later his uncle dies now if that's not weird enough on the third anniversary of him moving these artifacts from this one site to another his aunt dies so that's three relatives according to dr zahi hawas who three relatives he had that all died

on the same day on the anniversary of him moving these ancient artifacts at this specific site. Now, years later, when he was excavating some tombs on the Giza Plateau, he came across a supposed curse that read, quote, all people who enter this tomb, who will make evil against this tomb and destroy it, may the crocodile be against them in the water and snakes against them on land. May the hippopotamus be against them in the water, the scorpion against them on the land, end quote. Though not superstitious, Zahi decided not to disturb the mummies. And apparently this is after, again, that first crazy circumstances he had where his relatives died.

However, he was later involved in the removal of two child mummies from this other area in Egypt to a museum. And he subsequently reported how Zahi was basically haunted by the children in his dreams. And this phenomenon did not stop until the mummy of the father was reunited with the children in the museum. And therefore Zahi came to the conclusion that mummies should not be displayed, though it was a lesser evil than allowing the museum. general public into their tombs. Again, so I share all that to kind of lay a foundation to set the scene as we talk about the curse of Tuchin Common. So I'm now going to share and read some excerpts

from a fascinating book I stumbled upon from 1961 from an author named Rupert for No, I believe his name's titled. It sounds like a French gentleman. And the book is called the World's Strangest Mysteries. and he really documents well the curse of Tutankhamun and some very unusual circumstances that occurred in this whole account. So as many know, the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, almost intact and filled with wonderful and rich exotic artifacts and furniture and objects. It has been described as the world's most exciting archaeological find. For the first time it brought man in the street in direct contact with the past and excited his interest in the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

Now, at the time of the discovery, many Egyptologists had believed that there was nothing more to be found in the fabled valley of the kings. And let me just stop there and give a shameless plug. to a previous episode I did last month about the Valley of the Kings. Now, I believe unequivocally that the dynastic Egyptian pharaohs, many of them were buried in the Valley of the Kings, as we're discussing here in this episode with Tutankhamun. Yet I went down a rabbit trail based on some previous research I did in Egypt

a couple months back, and in talking with Egyptologist, Muhammad Ibrahim, who's also our Egyptian tour guide. And I ask a question, is the Valley of the Kings much older than we've been led to believe? And were some of the massive tunnels in the Valley of the Kings actually created for a different purpose? And then were they later, in the time of the Dynasty Egyptians, retrofitted and repurposed as exotic tombs? So you might go back and check out that episode about the Valley of the Kings being older than we might know. Okay, so again, back to King Tet.

At the time of the discovery, many Egyptologists believed that, again, there was nothing more to be found at the Valley of the Kings. But both British archaeologist Howard Carter and his financier Lord Carnarvon, I believe it's pronounced, were convinced that the tomb of Tutankhamun who reigned about 1350 BC must lie somewhere in the valley of the kings. And they believe that it was probably under the piles of debris left by previous excavators. So they started working just before the First World War and recommenced in the 1990 and 1920 season. Now the first hint that the tomb really did lie in the vicinity did not come until 1922 when the remains of some workmen's huts, which had often before indicated the set of a royal tomb were exposed. So think about that. They started in 1919, but it wasn't until 1922 that they really started to get some evidence that there was really something here. here. When they cleared this debris on November 3rd, 1922, a stone step was exposed, and a further

digging and disclosed a flight of 16 steps. And at the bottom was the entrance to a tomb, which was sealed with the seal of the royal necropolis. Inside the door, an impression of the seal of Tutankhamun was seen, but the condition of the door indicated that soon after burial, the tomb had been entered by plunders. So Howard Carter made a small hole in it, and his Lord Carnarvon, his daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, and Professor Callender waited anxiously, Carter peered in with the aid of a candle. Again, picture this epic scene. This is 1922. They've got a candle, and they're finally inside this tomb after all the money they've spent, after all the anticipation, after all the hard work and excavations, and there's this tiny hole that Carter's looking through and the others, I can just imagine,

are crowded around him, desperate to look through this hole. So after some moments of intense anxiety, Lord Carnarvon could bear the suspense no longer, and he states, quote, can you see anything? And to which Howard Carter whispers the famous line quote, yes, wonderful things, end quote.

Yet despite getting this far and actually seeing some of the artifacts through the hole, entry into the tomb of Tutankhamun's chamber was delayed until February 17th of 1923. So they had to wait a couple months

and 20 Egyptology. assembled for this supreme moment. Then as Howard Carter slowly began to open this ancient door, they began to make out the dimensions of this ancient chamber. It was like 21 feet by 13 feet by 11 feet. And it was completely filled with these funeral objects. And of course, all these archaeologists' minds are just blown away as they see gold artifacts.

The sarcophagus was intact. The tomb itself had not been destroyed or messed with, and there was every reason to expect that the body of the boy, Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, buried over 3,000 years before that remained intact inside. So ever so slowly and carefully, the sarcophagus was opened, and it was found to contain three or three, other are basically coffins inside it, each nesting within the other. It was like a triple shrine, the outer coffin bearing the effigy of the dead king. And on top of the coffin was a bunch of

withered flowers. Theorized maybe that was the last offering of the widowed queen. And when the body was finally drawn from its last resting place, it was found to be that of a young man, face and head well preserved. So that was a brief, quick overview of the fascinating, amazing, incredible discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. So immediately Howard Carter, the archaeologist and his financier, Lord Carnarvon, became instant celebrities. And I'm sure it was just an incredible time to be alive. but all was not well for long. So now we're going to get into the crazy part of all this.

Or should I say the weird part, the curse of Tutankhammen. So just six weeks after the opening of the tomb, a shadow falls across the scene, one which was to lengthen and deepen as the years progressed. Now again, just six weeks after opening this tomb, the financier of this whole expedition, Lord Carnarvon, dies. Now, all over the world, it was said that his death resulted from the desecration and the despoiling of the tomb of the ancient Pharaoh, a sacrilege which had called down upon his head the ancient curse of the pharaohs, the revenge of the spirit of the dead Pharaoh or his Ka, who was not dead but still alive in his tomb.

This was what many people believed happened to Lord Carnarvon. Yet as time passed, others in the know said that he actually died from being bit on the face from a mosquito, which is still kind of a strange and weird way to die, bit on the face from a mosquito. The guy was only 63 years old. It was also said that Lord Carnarvon, when he was inside the tomb of King Tutankhamun,

that he put his finger inside a vase, that he found in the tomb on which was inscribed, quote, death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of the great Pharaoh, end quote. And that when he withdrew his hand after reading this, there was a tiny drop of blood on his finger. I do not know if this is a true part of the story, but it is fascinating to consider. It was also noted that on the day that the tomb was entered, the atmosphere was absolutely still. There was not being a breath of wind, but as the party descended, the stairs,

A miniature sandstorm suddenly swept across the desert and circled over the tomb. As the sudden gust of wind died away a hawk, which is often the emblem of ancient Egyptian royalty, came from the east and hovered over the tomb and then flew away westward in the direction of the other world of Egyptian belief. Therefore, many apparently began to ask had the opening, of the tomb, released the spirit of the dead Pharaoh to pass his last judgment. But the curse of the pharaohs was not satisfied by the death of Lord Carnarvon. Within five months, his half-brother, Aubrey Herbert, who had visited the tomb also died. And in popular fancy, his death also was attributed to mysterious causes.

Now, six years later, in February of 1929, Lord Carnarvon's stepmother died, her death being attributed to an insect bite. So as time continued to move on, the deaths of a number of well-known people who had either visited the tomb or who had something important to do with its discovery or its excavations who died, their deaths were also attributed to the curse of Tutankhamen. One of these people was Wolf Joel, a South African millionaire who had been yachting on the Nile. He fell down stairs and died from a stroke. George J. Gold, the American Railroad King, died on May 16, 1923. His death being attributed to pneumonia. Following a cold, he apparently caught in the tomb itself. Others who had been even more directly connected or concerned with the violation of the tomb or desecrating the tomb, again, by either going inside it or helping with the excavations, died from supposedly mysterious causes.

There was a professor at LaFleur of McGill University in Canada. He died on February 9, 1924. A few months later, a young English Egyptologist, H. E. Evelyn White committed suicide, leaving a letter which contained the words, quote, I knew there was a curse on me, end quote. His death was followed by that of a signwriter at the British Museum, who had handled many of the relics from the tomb. Then on January 18, 1924, a Sir Archibald Douglas Reed, a radiologist who had been specially selected, the X-ray, the body of the dead Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. He died in Switzerland at the age of 53.

And another photographer who came to Egypt to photograph the Sargophagus, a guy named Frank Raleigh, went blind and died. Two years later, two French Egyptologists who were present at the entry to the tomb, A Dr. George Benedite and Dr. Pasanova died suddenly. Yet the revenge of the pharaohs was not yet complete. The Honorable Richard Bethel, who had acted as Howard Carter's assistant, died in London on November 15, 1929. And guess what? Some of the treasures from the tomb had been stored at his house, and there had been a mysterious fire also in the building.

Within a few months, his father, 78-year-old Lord Westbury, threw himself from the window of his London flat. And guess what? In his bedroom was found, the alabaster vase bearing the inscription that I already quoted, that was brought from the tomb by his son. You can't make this stuff up. Now, this is crazy. Five days after Lord Westbury throws himself out of this window,

a little boy, eight years old, named Joseph Greer, was killed by the hearse that was transporting the body of Lord Westbury. Other strange deaths followed. Arthur Weigal, the inspector of the Egyptian antiquities at the time of the opening of the tomb, died from what was stated to be an unknown fever. Then Professor James Brested of the University of Chicago, who had taken an active part in the excavation of the tomb, died at the age of 70 on December 3, 1935. His death back then was attributed to what was known as severe streptococcal infection, I believe, which was a name given to a variety of microorganisms responsible

for inflammation. And Professor Brested had said, quote, I defy the curse. If anyone was exposed to what I was, I slept in the tomb for two weeks and even had my meals there. I never felt better in my life, end quote. So he said that before getting this infection. However, the greatest defiler of the tomb of all these people

was obviously archaeologist Howard Carter. who lived for 17 years after opening the tomb. He ends up dying on March 2nd, 1939, at the age of 67. Skeptics will also point out that many others who visited the tomb or helped to discover it seemed to live long, healthy, and happy lives after the tomb's discovery in opening. Now, British archaeologist Howard Carter was entirely skeptical of such cursing. whether it was the curse of Tutankhamun or these curses of the pharaohs. However, I came across two accounts that I thought were interesting enough to include in this discussion.

Although Carter was entirely skeptical of the curses, he did report in his diary a strange account that took place May of 1926, so four years after he went into the tomb. And in this account in his diary, he mentions how for the first time he saw jackals that looked just like anubis, the guardian of the dead, in Egyptian mythology. He saw jackals that look just like anubis for the first time in over 35 years of working in the desert. He saw them after going in the tomb. And then Egyptologist James Brested that I mentioned who died. He worked with Carter. He had reported in one of his diaries or books how Carter had sent a messenger on an errand to his house one day.

And on approaching his home, this messenger thought he heard a faint, almost human cry. And when this messenger gets to Carter's house and opens the door, there is the bird cage. Carter had apparently gotten a bird to kind of keep him company and help him with his loneliness. And so when he opens the door, guess what is inside the bird cage? There is a cobra, a snake inside. Cobra is, you know, one of the symbols of Egyptian monarchy. And Carter's canary was dead in the mouth. of this this cobra, this snake. And so locals begin to interpret this as Carter's house being broken into by the royal cobra, you know, the same symbol worn on the king's head to strike his enemies.

So fascinating stuff. So what do you think? Did these people die from the curse of Tutankhamun or the curse of the pharaohs? or were these deaths of all these people who are in somewhat connected with the opening of Tutankham's tomb? Was it just purely coincidental? If you're watching this on YouTube, leave me a comment below. Let me know what you think if this was just purely coincidental or if there is something to this curse. If you're listening or watching on Spotify, I'm going to have a poll up there.

And make sure and answer the poll. I want to know what you think. And I hope you enjoyed this episode. And until next time, keep exploring.