Curse of Tutankhamun – ugly deaths of those that opened the tomb
The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was unsealed over 100 years ago, and since then many who disturbed the ancient burial chamber have met mysterious and gruesome ends
Lord Carnarvon sr’s ancestor stands at the tomb of Tutankhamun(Image: -)
Those who have disturbed the final resting place of Pharaoh Tutankhamun have carried his curse to their graves – with death often coming quickly after encountering the boy king. Today marks the anniversary of the tomb’s unsealing on February 16, when archaeologist Howard Carter lifted the sarcophagus in a secluded Egyptian burial chamber and revealed Tutankhamun’s mummy.
Since that ominous day in 1923 – whilst Carter’s find has deepened our knowledge of Egyptian burial practices – it has also spawned killings, a poisoning, a suicide, deceased creatures and even a lethal mosquito bite that claimed the life of Downton Abbey’s owner.
The 3,300 year old mummified corpse of Tutankhamun remains both captivating and terrifying to audiences worldwide.
Yet when the researchers involved in the expedition started suffering misfortune and dying in droves, attention shifted from the historical significance to become fixated on the notorious “curse of the pharaohs” – a supposed hex thought by some to strike anyone who disturbs an Ancient Egyptian mummy, according to History Today, reports the Express.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the mastermind behind Sherlock Holmes, claimed the bizarre incidents had been unleashed by “elementals” summoned by Tutankhamun’s priests to guard the Royal burial site, which only heightened public intrigue.
Critics have pointed out that countless others who entered the tomb or participated in its excavation went on to live lengthy and robust lives, and that of the 58 people present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, eight died. Yet whether you believe in the links or not, there’s undoubtedly a remarkable amount of death tied to Tutankhamun.
The first incident occurred shortly after the tomb’s original discovery, when Carter allegedly sent a messenger to his residence.
Approaching the property, the courier heard a “faint, almost human cry” and found a cobra snake inside a birdcage, clutching a pet canary in its jaws.
This was seen as the Royal Cobra, similar to the one decorating the Pharaoh King’s crown. Many believed the curse had reached Carter’s dwelling on the exact day the King’s burial chamber was unsealed.
The initial fatality involved Lord Carnarvon, who bankrolled the excavation that revealed the tomb. His ancestral home, Highclere Castle, serves as the real-world location for the manor house recognised by ITV audiences as Downton Abbey.
He died on 5 April 1923, four months and seven days after the tomb’s opening, falling victim to an infection from a mosquito bite that became septic following shaving.
American railroad magnate George Jay Gould toured the tomb in May 1923, soon after its discovery. Within weeks, he died on the French Riviera after developing a fever.
Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey of Egypt was gunned down by his spouse on 10 July 1923, not long after posing for photographs at the Pharaoh’s burial site.
Lord Carnarvon’s half-brother also met a tragic fate. Colonel The Hon. Aubrey Herbert, MP, battled severe vision problems and sadly died on 26 September 1923 from blood poisoning after a dental operation aimed at improving his sight.
Lord Carnarvon’s other half-brother, The Hon. Mervyn Herbert, died in 1929 from what was termed “malarial pneumonia”.
In a bizarre twist of fate, Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, the radiologist who X-rayed Tutankhamun’s mummy, fell victim to a mysterious illness in 1924.
Anthropologist Henry Field, who entered the tomb in 1925, has a spine-tingling account from his encounter with the burial chamber.
A paperweight gifted to Carter’s friend Sir Bruce Ingham was crafted from a mummified hand sporting a scarab bracelet bearing a curse: “Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water and pestilence.”
Not long after receiving this sinister present, Ingram’s home was ravaged by flames, and then deluged when it was reconstructed.
Sir Lee Stack, Governor General of Sudan, amongst the earliest visitors to the tomb, met his demise on 19 November 1924 when he was gunned down whilst motoring through Cairo.
A. C. Mace, a member of Carter’s dig team whose documentation of the tomb’s discovery has been extensively examined, died in 1928 from arsenic poisoning.
Captain The Hon. Richard Bethell, Howard Carter’s personal secretary, was discovered suffocated in his bed on 15 November 1929.
His father, Richard Luttrell Pilkington Bethell, 3rd Baron Westbury, tragically died three months later, reportedly plunging from his seventh-floor apartment where the tomb’s artefacts were housed. He departed, leaving a note that read: “I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit.”
Eventually, Carter himself passed away on 2 March 1939. Despite his death at the age of 64 from natural causes, some still link it to the notorious “curse”.
