King Tut's Curse: Real or Not Real?
By: Luke Lanigan Book: King Tut's Curse by William W.Lace
The Start of the Strange Events
It all started when Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon found King Tutankhamun's tomb. After they discovered the tomb, many strange things happened. The first happened in Howard Carter's house. A cobra, who somehow got into the house and into the bird's cage, swallowed up Howard Carter's golden bird. Many other strange deaths and events followed after that.
Unusual Deaths
Carnarvon's Death
After the death death of Golden Bird, many other strange deaths followed. The first was Lord Carnarvon. He died when he came back to Egypt with his daughter in 1923. The pressure of all the journalists and tourists was too much so he became irritable. He had many fierce arguments with Howard Carter, and then he died in April of that year because of a fateful mosquito bite. It was right away connected to the curse and had many stories. It is said that right when he died, all the lights went out in the hospital and affected the entire city. It is also said that his housekeeper was at home at the time of the death. When he died she said that his dog stood up, howled like a wolf, and then fell back dead.
The founding of King Tut's Tomb
King Tut's Tomb was discovered by Howard Carter on November 4, 1922 in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
The Death of Golden Bird
It is believed that that the start of all these unusual events was started when a cobra got into Howard Carter's house and swallowed his Golden Bird.
The Death of Lord Carnarvon
Lord Carnarvon's death was in April of 1923 from a fatal mosquito bite. His death was immediately connected to the curse.
More Strange Deaths
After Lord Carnarvon's death, many other followed. One was Woolf Joel, who went on a yacht trip up the Nile River to visit the tomb. When he went back, he disappeared and was found drowned. After that was Hugh Evelyn-White, a British archeologist who visited the tomb in 1924. Shortly after, he hanged himself and left a note saying: "I have succumbed to a curse which forces me to disappear." Another victim was Georgos Benedite. He died shortly after inspecting the tomb and is said that he either died from a heat stroke or a fatal fall.
Findings of Poisons
A New Discovery
After all of the deaths had happened and all of the curse news had gone, an new discovery came. In 1962 an Egyptian biologist disproved the curse when he found potentially deadly fungus on objects in King Tut's tomb that may have caused some of the deaths.
Mixed Opinions
Some people do not believe in the curse at all because of many things. They don't believe because of the discovery of poisons, and they think the curse is fake because why would King Tut strike an eight year old boy in England, but spare Dougless Dairy who dissected his mummy, who also lived to be 87 years old. Also, why would Howard Carter, the person who actually found the tomb, live to be 66, when the average life span at the time was 62. The curse lives on though for many reason also. It lives on because right after the biologist announced the fungus in the tomb, he died in a car crash shortly after. Also in 2005, Ashraf Salim was making the first documentary on King Tut's tomb. The electricity suddenly went out, the CT scanner wouldn't turn on, and a team member became ill. There is still some belief in the curse, not a lot, but some.