Curse of the Pharaohs
- Egypt, 1923, 24 April. At 1:55 a.m., all the lights in Cairo went out. At that moment Lord Carnarvon died of lung disease. At the same time in London, Carnarvon’s dog fell to the ground. Carnarvon was the main economic promoter of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. With his death began the curse of the pharaohs.
Howard Carter spent fifteen years searching for the tomb of the young pharaoh and finally, with the help of Lord Carnarvon among others, opened the tomb on February 17, 1923, a moment witnessed by some twenty people. A few weeks later Carnarvon was the first to fall. A dozen more people died before the end of the year out of those twenty. Carnarvon’s friend, George Jay Gould, also visited the tomb and died within twenty-four hours. In 1929, in one way or another, sixteen other people related to the mummy died.No
one paid attention to the hieroglyph at the entrance to the tomb: “Everyone who interrupts the dream of Pharaoh will be struck by the wings of
death.” This is, in short, C. Berlitz and P. What the “experts” Vandenberg say about Pharaoh’s curse. These are the two who have written the most (and sold the most) on the subject. But investigate, they don't seem to have done much research. Skeptics have easily dismantled the “tests” of
curse lovers. First of all, Carnarvon's death was not at all mysterious. He went to Egypt to cure a lung disease, thinking that the climate there would benefit him. Besides, he had a serious infection before he died. It is also not surprising that the city lights were turned off at the same time of death, as electricity problems were very common in Cairo in the 1920s. The dog of the deceased (one of the dogs) died four or five hours later.
As for the list of the dead, here are just a few examples: George Jay Gould died in France, not in Cairo. Assisted by Arthur C. The Egyptologist Mace died five years after the tomb was opened; he was 69 years old. Douglas Derry, who performed all the analyses on the mummy, died not in 1929, but in 1939, when he was over 80 years old. Alfed Lucas, a chemist, died at the age of 79, 27 years after the tomb was opened. Howard Carter died in 1939. Philologist Alan Gardiner was still alive 42 years after his discovery; and he never found a hieroglyph of the curse.
As if the discovery itself were not spectacular enough, the legend of the curse quickly spread, fattened by literature and cinema; the mummies of the pharaohs are said to be terrifying. Archeologist Arthur Weigall wrote that “the presence of so many tourists and collectors who believe in the curse of the pharaohs irritates me, because among the ancient peoples, the most Egyptian was the sweetest, the most pleasant.”
one paid attention to the hieroglyph at the entrance to the tomb: “Everyone who interrupts the dream of Pharaoh will be struck by the wings of
death.” This is, in short, C. Berlitz and P. What the “experts” Vandenberg say about Pharaoh’s curse. These are the two who have written the most (and sold the most) on the subject. But investigate, they don't seem to have done much research. Skeptics have easily dismantled the “tests” of
curse lovers. First of all, Carnarvon's death was not at all mysterious. He went to Egypt to cure a lung disease, thinking that the climate there would benefit him. Besides, he had a serious infection before he died. It is also not surprising that the city lights were turned off at the same time of death, as electricity problems were very common in Cairo in the 1920s. The dog of the deceased (one of the dogs) died four or five hours later.
As for the list of the dead, here are just a few examples: George Jay Gould died in France, not in Cairo. Assisted by Arthur C. The Egyptologist Mace died five years after the tomb was opened; he was 69 years old. Douglas Derry, who performed all the analyses on the mummy, died not in 1929, but in 1939, when he was over 80 years old. Alfed Lucas, a chemist, died at the age of 79, 27 years after the tomb was opened. Howard Carter died in 1939. Philologist Alan Gardiner was still alive 42 years after his discovery; and he never found a hieroglyph of the curse.
As if the discovery itself were not spectacular enough, the legend of the curse quickly spread, fattened by literature and cinema; the mummies of the pharaohs are said to be terrifying. Archeologist Arthur Weigall wrote that “the presence of so many tourists and collectors who believe in the curse of the pharaohs irritates me, because among the ancient peoples, the most Egyptian was the sweetest, the most pleasant.”