The Curse of the Pharaohs

  • Background Information

    • Tutankhamen

    • Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon

    • The Excavations

    • The Curse and its Victims

  • Muggle Side of the Story

    • Pyramidal Form

    • Radioactivity

    • Lethal Gas

    • Dust

  • Wizarding Explanation

In the New Kingdom, Tutankhamen was crowned at the young age of 9, becoming the youngest pharaoh of Egypt. But he wasn't meant to rule Egypt for very long. At the age of 18, Tutankhamen died. When his remains were originally examined, his skull had traces of a hit, which could have been the result of a fall or a blow to the head intended to kill. But with new technology, in 2005 a CT scan of his remains was done and it was shown that he had broken his thigh bone shortly before death. It's been hypothesized that when he broke his leg, it was left untreated, infection set in, and it led to gangrene, which ultimately caused his death.

Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon

Image shows Tutankhamen.
Image shows Howard Carter

n 1890, a young Howard Carter moved to Egypt to become an archaeologist. He became an assistant to Egyptologist Sir William Petrie. He was noted for finding the remains of Queen Hatshepsut's tomb in Deir el-Bahri. Moving onwards and upwards, at age 28, Carter began excavating in the Valley of the Kings for a rich American, Lord Carnarvon.

Lord Carnarvon was a rich English lord, and after a car accident nearly killed him, his doctor advised him to go to Egypt for awhile where the climate was supposed to improve his fragile health. While he was there, he fell in love with old Egypt and its pyramids, and began some archaeological research. But because he didn't know enough about Egypt, he hired Carter to lead the digs.

The Excavations


From 1907-1912, Carter and Carnarvon excavated in the west, near old Thebes, on the left bank of the Nile. Afterwards, they moved to an area of the Delta, but in 1914 were forced to return to the left bank, as there was an invasion of cobras in the Delta. After years of no significant discoveries, Carter and Carnarvon moved onto ground that hadn't been touched yet, but was covered by the thick ruined huts from the 20th dynasty. It didn't take too long until a step was found on November 4th, 1922. A large wall was discovered at the bottom of the 15 steps. On the 25th of November, they entered the tomb of Tutankhamen and found his sarcophagus.

Image shows Howard Carnarvan

The Curse and its Victims


"Death will touch of its wings those who will disturb the Pharaoh." This inscription was found inside the tomb of Tutankhamen. The "Curse of the Pharaohs" would strike those who opened the tombs of the ancient kings.


In 1923, Lord Carnarvon fell ill. He'd been bitten on the neck by a mosquito. The wound was opened from shaving and scratching, and quickly became infected. As Carnarvon's health was already bad, pneumonia quickly set in, and on April 4th, Carnarvon died in his hotel room - 4 months after entering Tutankhamen's tomb.


After Carnarvon, other deaths also followed. In some cases, up to 34 deaths were reported. There were many people who succumbed to an asphyxiating (suffocating) pneumonia, soon after their visit to the tombs. But these weren't the only deaths. There were also strange deaths with suspicious events: people were hung to death, burnt alive, stabbed, cerebral hemorrhages, embolisms, unexplained brutal deaths, diseases, and even systemic infections.

Image shows excavation of Tut's tomb.

Richard Bethell, Carter's secretary, died very suddenly at the age of 48. "Bethell was found dead in his bed with a terrorized face. When Lord Wesbury learned of the death of his only son, he threw himself through the window. At the time of his burial, the hearse crushed a little boy on the road to the cemetery." George Jay Gould died May 16, 1923, when he developed a fever after a visit to Tutankhamen's tomb.


Howard Carter died of cancer, but not until March 2, 1939, which is one of the reasons skeptics refuse to accept the "curse".


Muggle Side of the Story

Muggles are funny creatures aren't they? They've come up with some pretty crazy explanations for many mysteries, but some of these are just odd. To explain the Curse of the Pharaohs, Muggles have come up with the following:

Pyramidal Form

Because of the shape of the pyramid it would cause an accumulation of energy, and consequently it would cause visions of horror among those who entered the tombs, and their death would soon follow.


Image shows Egyptian pyramid.

Radioactivity

Radioactivity was a brief theory. It's obvious that knowledge was important to the Egyptians, but nothing has since proven that they even knew about radioactivity. After examination of the victim's bodies, it was concluded that they showed no signs of radio dermatitis (death by radiation).


Lethal Gas


The Egyptians were embalmed when they died, and strips of bandages that were used were soaked with a sweet almond oil which was made into hydrocyanic acid. It's believed that if this acid was preserved for more than 3000 years, it would kill instantly. However this can't be the case as none of the mysterious deaths happened in the tomb.


Air samples were taken from freshly opened tombs, and there were high levels of ammonia, formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide detected. Each of these gases are toxic, but when they reach dangerous and fatal levels, they can be detected by a strong odour. So it is likely that archaeologists would've left the tombs before breathing in a toxic amount.


Dust/Fungus

Image shows carvings inside tomb.

One of the most realistic explanations Muggles have thought of, was the dust. Dust irritates skin and throats and can cause difficulties breathing. So it is particularly dangerous for people such as Lord Carnarvon, who already had fragile respiratory tracts. Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes), believed that is was plausible for the Egyptians to have left mould in the tombs to cause breathing problems, and punish those people who open the tomb.

Wizarding Explanation


You may be wondering whether Tutankhamen was a wizard - but alas, he was not. However, the Egyptian priests were. They placed curses on the pharaoh's tombs. Not just Tutankhamen's, but the curse on his tomb was the strongest, and, therefore, the most well known. This is why some of the tombs were broken into, and no "curse" was recorded by Muggles.


The priests would leave a curse, similar to an intruder charm, but stronger, on the walls of the tomb. As soon as a door was opened, or a wall cracked, the spell would initiate. The curse would cause those who entered the tomb, and people connected to them, to die over a period of time from "natural causes" such as dust inhalation.

Image shows candle.

Occasionally it was impossible for the priests to be at the tomb when it was being sealed. In which case they had candles that they could use to "give off" the curse. The candles were coated with a poison known as arsenic. They were then put all around the mummy and inside the tomb and lit. The tomb was closed and the candles burned off, slowly emitting the arsenic all around the tomb, waiting for a person to open the door and inhale the poison.



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