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With a legacy of hundreds of years of discovering mummies in their tombs and risking the curse placed upon the burial site, an extensive lore regarding grave robbers having activated spells that brought about their deaths had been built up throughout many generations. Several alleged supernatural occurrences associated with the discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tut-Ankh-Amon in 1922 launched the story of an ancient curse that could and would kill those who disturbed a royal mummy’s resting place. The English archeological expedition led by Howard Carter came on the famous tomb by accident on November 4, 1922. What they had discovered was the ancient pyramid of a not-so-famous king of ancient Egypt named Tut-Ankh-Amon, who died at the age of about 18 from a blow to the head more than 3,300 years ago.

Although Tutankhamon had done nothing to distinguish himself in his brief life, the religious practices of Ancient Egypt made the pharaoh at once king and god. Believing in immortality of the body and the soul, these ancient kings had to prepare for death almost from birth to assure the existence of the ka (soul) throughout eternity. Though the embalming art was lost with the death of the ancient Egyptian culture, the tombs themselves show the craftsmanship of the Egyptian artisans. The ka of the dead king was provided with much gold and silver and many fine gems, so it could spend eternity in luxury. Thus the rich tombs of the ancient pharaohs became the targets of grave robbers, who relieved the dead kings of their riches.

Great precautions were taken to ensure that the tombs would not be pilfered. Slaves, who bent their backs building the royal sepulchers, were put to death. Priests, who held the funeral services, were sworn to secrecy; and the artisans, who had worked so diligently decorating the tombs, had their eyes put out as reward. The final protection placed on many tombs was a curse.

Several alleged supernatural occurrences were associated with the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Tut-Ankh-Amon in 1922 (art by Ricardo Pustanio).

Some have argued that the tomb of King Tut did not have a curse placed on it at all, but Professor J.C. Mardrus, a French Egyptologist, not only declared that there was a curse, but maintained that he translated it from a tablet found at the entrance of the tomb. The “Stela of Malediction” read: “Let the hand raised against my form be withered! Let them be destroyed who attack my name, my foundations, my effigies, the images like unto me.”

If there were an ancient curse condemning all those who defiled King Tut’s tomb, what is the evidence of its effectiveness?

Howard Carter’s canary was said to have been eaten by a cobra a few days after the opening of the tomb, a sign which the native Egyptian workers interpreted as the ancient power symbol of the pharaohs avenging itself on the golden bird of the Englishman.

Lord Carnarvon, the sponsor of the expedition, was bitten on the face by an insect shortly after the opening of the tomb and was dead within three weeks of pneumonia, which had complicated an infection.

An Egyptian present at the opening of the tomb, Sheik Abdul Haman, was dead within a few days after he had left the excavation site. Jay Gould, a tourist and friend of Lord Carnarvon, who had visited the tomb, died shortly after the Egyptian.

Woolf Joel, who kept a yacht on the river Nile and had become a friend of some of the men of the British expedition, died six months after visiting the tomb.

Sir Archibald Douglas Reid did not visit the tomb, but he died in February 1924 as he was about to X-ray the mummy.

Six years after the tomb was opened, Lady Carnarvon died of an insect bite in the same manner as her husband.

When the rumor of the curse began to spread, it was immediately communicated around the world. People in England, who had kept Egyptian artifacts in their families for centuries, readily turned them over to the British Museum. The ship on which the body of Lord Carnarvon was to be transported back to England with his wife had an almost complete cancellation of its passenger list.

The tally of King Tut’s curse did not end with the deaths of the several people mentioned above. The grim record continued.

Professor Cisanova, of the College of France, and Georges Benedite of the Louvre in Paris, both died in Egypt and were associated with the excavations.

Albert M. Lythgoe, present at the opening of the tomb, died of a stroke on January 25, 1934, at the age of 66.

Sir William Garstin, also present at the opening, died in 1926.

An American, A. Lucas from the Museum of Natural History, died in 1929 at the age of 77. He was to have begun his retirement after assisting Carter in the field.

A tourist, Arthur E.P. Weigal, died of an unknown fever in 1934 at age 53.

The Hon. Mervyn Herbert, half-brother of Lord Carnarvon, who was present at the opening, died at age 48.

Richard Bethel, who assisted in opening the tomb, was 48 when he died in 1931. He had been in perfect health but died in his sleep during the month of November.

It is impossible to follow all of the tourists and journalists who visited the tomb, so an accurate tally of all those who violated of King Tut’s privacy and paid for the intrusion with their lives cannot be considered final. Most accounts, however, place the score for the curse at 22 deaths.

Are these deaths the result of a series of strange coincidences? It must be observed that a number of those who died were somewhat advanced in age and would have passed on whether they had visited a pharaoh’s tomb or a rose garden. The death of infection caused by insect bites is not terribly common, but it has been known to happen and may be completely unpleasant but natural, rather than supernatural. A number of contemporary researchers have also suggested that long dormant bacteria from the tomb could have taken up new residence in the lungs and other organs of those who opened or visited the ancient burial site.

There is little reason to doubt that the ancient pharaohs placed curses on their tombs to frighten away grave robbers from the fabulously wealthy treasures buried with them. And there are those who believe that the curses of the pharaohs somehow retain the power to project the icy fingers of death on those who dared to enter their sanctuary. Some scholars of the occult believe that the ancient Egyptian priests knew how to concentrate in and around a mummy certain magical energies of which we moderns possess little knowledge.

Were the deaths of those who entered King Tut’s tomb the result of a curse or of a number of natural causes that, when they are presented collectively, only appear to have been the result of supernatural powers?

Did those who died after enterting King Tut’ tomb suffer from an ancient curse? (Art by Wm. Michael Mott)

In 1932, 10 years after Tut-Ankh-Amon’s tomb had been opened, Jack Pierce, Universal Studios’ master movie monster maker, designed make-up for Boris Karloff, who played the reanimated mummy Im-Ho-Tep in The Mummy. The film became an instant classic horror film. One can only wonder, however, if the mummies would ever have invaded Hollywood without the legend of the Curse of King Tut.