King Tutankhamen's Curse
True, or scam?
History of the Curse
In about 1332 B.C. a young boy, Tutankhamen, more commonly known as King Tut, became the pharoah of Egypt when he was about 9 to 10 years old. Then in 1322 B.C. the king died of unknown causes at about 18 to 20 years old, he was buried with all his riches that came with being a pharoah, and was buried in a tomb after having all record of him erased. Then tens of thousands of years later in 1922, Howard Carter and his team of archeologist finally found the kings tomb after years of searching Egypt's Valley of the Kings. The team found the tomb with all the riches inside just as they had hoped. One thing that they wern't expecting was written on a tablet in the tomb, a curse. The curse threatened anyone who attempted to disturb the peace of the king. This curse was a harmless idea for a month or so, but later is became a feared reality to the people inside Egypt. Throught 1922 to 1932, strange, and horrible things were hapining to many of the people involved with the tomb opening. The most relevant to this was the death of Lord Carnarvon the fifth, who just so happened to be the financer of the tomb exhibition. The question rattling around the world was, is the curse really real?
Evidence to Suport the Curse's Existance
- The day of the Carnarvon's death, his son's best hound howled and dropped dead, the cause of death is unknown (Krystek, 2012).
- Howard Carter's pet canary was suposedly eaten by a snake. The snake was the same animal statue that guarded King Tut's tomb (Latson, 2014).
- Over 7 years after the tomb opening, 11 people had died (Latson, 2014).
Evidence to Deny the Curse
- Lord Carnarvon's death was proven to be because of previous health issues he had been struggling with for past years before his death (Latson, 2014).
- Mold spores and respiratory-attacking bacterias have been known to exist in tomb walls. This could easily be the reason for the deaths within the staff (Handwerk, 2005).
- The average age of death between the people exposed to the curse and the people who had not been exposed to the curse was not significantly different (Krystek, 2012).
Existing Theories
- The curse was merely suspicions which had connected each bad thing that happened related to the tomb opening to the curse.
- Howard Carter had invented to idea of the curse to attract the attention of the press (Radford, 2014).
- The curse really was the reason for all of the strange and horrible happenings related to the tomb opening.
What's the Answer?
In my opinion, I believe that the evidence against the curse outwiegh the evidence suporting the curse. I think that a combination of suspicion of the curse from the beginning, and what seemed like connections between the curse and tomb opening created fear and a belief in which people couldn't let go of which led the to believe that the curse was actually the cause of the strange hapinings when they actually could easily be scientifically explained.
Bibliography
Brian Handwerk. "Egypt's "King Tut Curse" Caused by Tomb Toxins?" National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0506_050506_mummycurse.html>.
Krystek. "Carter and the Curse of King Tut's Mummy." Carter and the Curse of King Tut's Mummy. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://www.unmuseum.org/mob/mummy.htm>.
Latson, Jennifer. "The Origins of the 'Pharaoh's Curse' Legend." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://time.com/3594676/king-tut/>.
Radford, By Benjamin. "The Curse of King Tut: Facts & Fable." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://www.livescience.com/44297-king-tut-curse.html>.
Enterance to the Tomb
This is Howard Carter (right) and the Carnarvon (left) at the enterance to King Tutankhamen's tomb.
Grave
This is Lord Carnarvon's grave.
Death Mask
This is the death mask that Howard Carter and a select group of archeologists removed from King Tutankhamen's mummy.