Episode 53: Curse of the Pharaohs: The Tomb of Tutankhamen and Other Deadly Digs

Today we are heading to Egypt to an excavation site where we’ve uncovered not only the dearly departed and mummified but also their tombs full of riches, wonders and more than a few possible curses. Today on The Odder we are tapping into every rerun of The Mummy you have ever seen in order to find out if the mummy’s curse is fact, fiction, or a little something in between. Cover yourself in Khaki and check yourself for scarabs and Let’s go!

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Music Credit
"Curse of the Scarab" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Desert City" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Return of the Mummy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Main Theme:
"Dream Catcher" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hello and welcome to The Odder Podcast. I’m your host Madison Paige and today we are heading to Egypt to an excavation site where we’ve uncovered not only the dearly departed and mummified but also their tombs full of riches, wonders and more than a few possible curses. Today on The Odder we are tapping into every rerun of The Mummy you have ever seen in order to find out if the mummy’s curse is fact, fiction, or a little something in between. Cover yourself in Khaki and check yourself for scarabs and Let’s go!
Hey there My Odders, how is everyone doing today? Did we all enjoy the last episode on the murder of Marlene Warren? I mean, if the clown shoe fits, it's probably the husband's eclectic mistress. if you really enjoyed it or if you didn’t, please leave a rating and review, they really do help! For the returning listeners, welcome back, for the new listeners, welcome welcome to The Odder podcast where we are a trail mix of all things unknown, unsolved, and just plain odd. If you have an idea for an episode you think would be fun, good news! I do listener requests so if you want your own personalized episode, you can send me an email at theodderpod@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you and know what you want to hear from me! Let me tell you what, trying to get this masters degree while keeping my job and this podcast is really teaching me the meaning of wearing multiple hats. And among those hats is one of those sick egyptology ones that explorers always wear in the movies. Think Jack Black from Jumaniji. Did you know that those types of headwear are actually called Pith Helmets. The more you know. Anyone, it is time to pull on our pith helmets to head out to Egypt and other burial sites where daring to break the seal of someones forever resting spot may land you with a horrific curse to speak about for years to come.
In 1932, movie goers flooded the theaters to see the hot new horror movie from Universal Studios. Audience members had previously been frightened by both Dracula and Frankenstein and were looking for the next big movie monster to stagger into their nightmares and haunt their hallways. Although the film was released a few days before Christmas, that didn’t stop anyone from filling the seats of Boris Karloff’s newest film, The Mummy. Featuring a beautiful damsel and haunting shots of the monster up close, the movie was a big success. The studio would later invest in several other films following the bandaged, wrapped, stumbling monster movie with The Mummy’s Hand, The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost, and The Mummy’s curse. This way of interest in the curse of the pharaohs continued on through the years inspiring other productions like the well received and successful The Mummy franchise in 1999 starring a hunky Brenden Fraiser that was a remake of the 1932 film with some reworked material. The public rallied around their love of an ancient mummy coming back to life to steal the girl, the protagonist's organs, or to settle a curse upon the land and people.
Now this was not the first introduction the public had to mummies and their cursed tombs. The phenomena, called Mummymania, actually dates back to Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt which brought the tales of the pharaohs, tombs, and treasure to the forefront. This Egyptology craze continued into the nineteenth century where Europeans were kind of on a grave robbing frenzy for Egyptian antiques and even the mummies. These artifacts were placed on display for traveling entertainment, unwrapped at elite people's parties for shits and giggles, and even ground up to be made into paint, consumed as medicine or to fuel steam engines. The victorians had an especially intimate hunger for mummies and their tales. Romance novels where men fell in love with the spirits of female mummies were especially popular and decorative brass sarcophagus statues that opened to reveal a nude female figure were available to decorate the home. Not everyone was on board with the idea of a dead woman's spirit thirsting over a man who just cracked open the lid of her eternal resting spot. These stories would later be looked at with a critical eye and the seductive mummified priestess would be taken from siren to victim as comparisons between the the unwrapping and exposing of mummies were paralleled to rape and sexual assault. While this illumination would catch the eye of many members of the public, it also led to an explosive reaction in certain circles who, faced with the possibility of feeling shame or guilt, chose instead to make the mummy narrative one of anger, violence, and vengeance on the part of the evil mummy against innocent people. It wasn’t that they were grave robbers pulling apart a corpse for fun, it was that the mummies were monsters and sought righteous anger upon good christian people. A mummy housed at the British museum became an angry priestess who caused the sinking of the titanic. Brahm Stoker, the author of Dracula, even wrote a novel called The Jewel of Seven Stars in which a mummy kills those who unearthed and unwrapped her with her evil pagan powers before being smited by the good christian god. Mummies are one of the most public examples we have of Victim Shaming.
However, the most famous example of the evil mummy trope to abound amongst the public was the Curse of King Tutankhamun.
Tutankhamun was born in 1341 BC and ascended the throne at the young age of nine in 1332 BC.
Side note, another the more you know moment, BC counting goes backwards because we don’t know the date the earth was created but we can work backwards from a standard place in the common era. Ergo, that's how he was born in 1341 and ascended the throne 1332.
Anyway, Tutankhamun was one of the few kings worshiped as deity during his lifetime and was overall well liked as he also restored the traditional polythetic form of ancient Egyptian religion where his father had changed the religion from worship of multiple gods to the worship of one called Aten. He was married to his half-sister, as was the usual for Egyptian royalty, and had two daughters who both died in infancy and would be buried alongside him in his tomb. Tutankhamun died suddenly at the young age of 18. The cause behind his death has been hotly debated but the most commonly held belief around his death is that it was the result of a bout of malaria and an infected leg fracture which he may have gotten from falling off his horse. Tutankhamun was not the healthiest of pharaohs and scientists debate whether he suffered from bone necrosis and a club foot in his lifetime as well as scoliosis. Friendly reminder that nobody wins when your family tree looks more like a wreath.
While King Tut had begun construction of a royal tomb in the valley of kings as well as an accompanying mortuary temple, neither of these were finished at the time of his unexpected death. As such, he was buried inside a small non-royal tomb. His tomb was robbed at least twice shortly after his internment and the thieves stole items such as perishable oils and perfumes. There is evidence that the tomb was restored after these break ends meaning it likely took place within a couple months of his death. The location of the tomb was eventually lost because it had been buried by debris from subsequent tombs, and workers' houses that were built over the entrance. This allowed the tomb to remain undisturbed for hundreds of years.
Or at least until November of 1922, when British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter uncovered the small burial site after a workman dug out the steps while excavating beneath the remains of the workers' huts. Carter was in the Valley of the Kings after being invited by William Garstain and Gaston Maspero, two Egyptologists, to excavate for George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon in 1907. Can you imagine being so wealthy you can afford to pay people to look for mummies for you?
This was actually an attempt by the Earl to gain the concession rights to the valley of the kings from American businessman Theodore Davis. A concession right is an action by an administration that basically grants individuals or companies the right to use goods, services, or land for a specified period of time. Basically, the government had given Davis control of the Valley of Kings in order to unearth tombs from 1905 to 1914. During Davis’ tenure, he unearthed a total of ten tombs before stating “I fear the Valley of the Tombs is exhausted”. The Earl hoped to take over the concession from Davis after he gave it up. In the meantime, he bided his time by having his men dig around the Theban Necropolis.
And it seems that he was successful as Carter started the search for Tutankhamun in 1915 in the valley of the kings. After the first step to the tomb was discovered in November 1922, it took Carter until February 1923 to clear down to the antechamber and the locked tomb door. This was a spectacle of an event and the day and time for the unsealing of the tomb and the witnesses present were all a carefully arranged affair. On February 17th, 1923, Carter, The Earl, and several Egyptian officials, museum representatives, and staff of the government press bureau all gathered around for the breaking of the seal.
The seal on Tutankhamun's tomb was made of intricate weaved rope and I will post a picture of it on social media. At the time of its breach, the seal had held for 3,245 years.
Inside the tomb, they found a treasure trove of items. 5,398 in total including the solid gold coffin and facemask of King Tut himself. Among the spoils of the tomb were things like thrones, gold toe and finger caps, trumpets, linen underwear, food wine, and even a dagger made from a meteorite.
However, as spectacular as the find was, this is now what most people think of when King Tut comes to mind. While priceless artifacts are one thing, the tomb is better known for the famous curse that was rumored to fall upon those that broke the seal and entered its depths and was credited with taking some of their lives.
The curse was first said to fall upon Carter's home. James Henry Breasted, an American archaeologist, recalled that soon after the first opening of the tomb, Carter sent a messenger with an errand to his home. On arriving, the messenger reported hearing a faint and almost human cry. Searching the house for the cause, he discovered a birdcage which usually housed a canary owned by Carter. However inside the cage was not a little yellow bird but a large Cobra, which is considered the symbol of the Egyptian monarchy. Arthur Weigall, an inspector-General of Antiquities to the Egyptian government, interpreted this as Carter's home being invaded by the same type of snake work on the crown of the King's head. A fair turn of play for the invading of the Tomb of the King perpetrated by Carter.
However, the curse was not satisfied with the death of a Canary and the first of the attributed deaths occured on April 5th, 1923, 4 months and 7 days after the opening of the tomb when George Herbert, The Earl who both finance the dig and entered the tomb, died after accidentally cutting open a mosquito bite while shaving which then became infected and resulted in blood poisoning. The death whipped up a media frenzy when it came to light that Marie Corelli, an english novelist, had written a letter to the New York World magazine two weeks prior to the Earls death in which she quotes an obscure unnamed book that stated that a dire punishment would follow any of those that intruded into a sealed tomb. This quickly set jaws wagging about how the Earl had obviously been killed as a result of a curse upon the tomb of King Tut and a fictitious account of a curse being found within the tomb itself also began circulating. This story gained so much traction that it caused Mussolini, the dictator, who had accepted an Egyptian mummy as a gift to order it immediately removed from its position at the palace and disposed of. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes, even weighed in to state that Tutankhamun’s priest must have created elements which are supernatural creatures to protect the tomb and these beings are what killed the Earl.
Even more startling, six months after the burial of the Earl, a forensic autopsy carried out on the body of King Tut found a lesion on the left cheek. They were unable to confirm if it was in exactly the same location as the Earl mosquito bite but the possibility was enough to send shivers down the spines of all that heard it.
Carter himself was skeptical of all claims surrounding the curse of the tomb and openly called it Tommy-rot. He remained around the dig site and was noted to be kind and friendly even with things he maybe shouldn't have been. He reportedly gave a friend of his a paperweight composed of a mummified hang with a scarab bracelet on its write that was inscribed with "Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water, and pestilence." in 1925. I’m sure he found this to be quite worth the chuckle until that friend's home burned down and when he rebuilt it, it was suddenly destroyed by a flood. In May of 1926, Carter wrote in his diary that one night while working he spotted a jackal for the first time in over thirty-five years of working in the desert. The jackal was the same type used in representation of the Egyptian god Anubis, guardian of the dead. The next death attributed to the tomb was that of George Jay Gould, a railroad executive that explored the tomb and subsequently died in the French Riviera after contracting a fever following his visit. In April 1928, A.C. Mace, an egyptologist and member of Carter's original team died following a bout of pleurisy and pneumonia. His death was also attributed to the king's curse. Carter's secretary during the expedition, a man named Captain the Honorable Richard Bethell, was another suspected victim after his death in a bed at the Mayfair club on November, 15, 1929. He was an apparent victim of smothering. The last death attributed to the tomb was that of Howard Carter himself, the naysayer and nonbeliever, who died sixteen years later on March 2nd, 1939 at the age of 64 from Hodgkin’s disease at his home in London. On his grave he had an epitaph found on a ceremonial chalice called the Wishing Cup that was found in Tut’s tomb which stated “"May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness".
The public ran with the idea that pharaohs' tombs were cursed and that those who opened them were afflicted with horrific death. These curses were said to be put in place by high priests in order to prevent thieves from robbing the tomb but couldn’t tell the difference from archaeologists and caused bad luck, illness, or death. The scene from The Mummy of the scarab beetle burrowing under the skin of the explorer still left me gagging.
However, there is one big issue with all of this.
The Curse of Tutankhamun does not exist. Nowhere in the tomb was a curse laid down. In fact, in the majority of tombs and sarcophagus and even pyramids, there are not any curses destined to fall upon those who enter. In fact, you were supposed to enter some sections of the tomb, that was the whole idea.
Let’s look at some logistical things.
Building a tomb as an ancient Egyptian was a massive task. It was incredibly expensive, took loads of time, and required ungodly amounts of manpower. If you could afford a Tomb, you started building it right away. Take Tut for example, he died at 18 but his grand tomb was already underway at that point. That’s how important this building was. This boils down to the way the Egyptians viewed death, not as a tragedy but as a chance to live again in their version of paradise called the Field of Reeds. The tomb was an essential tool in this. The Egyptians believed that a person was made up of multiple parts including the ka or the life force which would reside in the tomb after death and needed to receive offerings there to survive. The ba, which was represented by a human headed bird, was another part of the person that would fly around during the day but had to return to the tomb at night. Now the tomb would also feature a chapel which was a public space so that the family of the deceased could visit during festivals, make offerings, and remember their loved ones as this was an essential part of not only the grieving process but also to ease the after life of the dead. The Tombs were very personal and very important, however sometimes they would get reused or repurposed so you couldn’t really smack a few curses on there because you might come back. Hell, it might be your tomb next time. This is not to say that they didn’t exist, historians have found proof of curses on the tomb of egyptians but they aren't all hollywood has them cracked up to be. These curses actually seem to be in place in order to urge the priests to follow the rituals correctly and also to offer protection for the tomb, not at the risk of locust and boils but more at the risk of legal trouble. A lot of the ones that have been found basically boil down to the ancient egyptian version of “fuck around and find out”. They state if you do something negative, you will be punished but not by the ghosts of long dead pharaohs but by the presumed governmental system. These were “No Trespassing” and “No Solicitation” and “Beware of Dog'' signs written in hieroglyphics. One warning found on a tomb in Aniba warns that “Negative behavior will result in the person being miserable”, other examples include suggestions that the trespasser will not achieve their desired afterlife or that one bad action will lead to another. This sort of vague but punitive threat is actually very common in old Egyptian legal documents and wills. Among them you will find things phrased as warnings such as “the children who have given me nothing, I will not give them any of my property” which was found in a will.
There is one well preserved limestone tablet which bears an inscription warning against the desecration of a tomb. Dated from between 1295 and 1069 BC, this article rests at the National Museum of Scotland and includes fifteen lines warning visitors to behave respectfully and also to leave an offering. It has been translated as follows.
“It is to you that I speak; all people who will find this tomb passage!”
“Watch out not to take (even) a pebble from within it outside. If you find this stone you shall <not> transgress against it.”
“Indeed, the gods since (the time of) Pre, those who rest in [the midst] of the mountains gain strength every day (even though) their pebbles are dragged away.”
“Look for a place worthy of yourselves and rest in it, and do not constrict gods in their own houses, as every man is happy in his place and every man is glad in his house.”
“As for he who will be sound, beware of forcefully removing this stone from its place.
As for he who covers it in its place, great lords of the west will reproach him very very very very very very very very much”
Kind of anticlimactic isn’t it? No threats of disembowelment or cursed bloodlines. I honestly feels as threatening as a doormat that stated “Please Wipe Your Paws”
Basically, an egyptian tomb curse boiled down to “This isn’t your house, don’t be an ass”
Those more likely to leave a threat actually came from the Age of the Pyramids which occured from 2700-2200 BC . The tomb of Ankhtifi, a governor, contained the warning “any ruler who... shall do evil or wickedness to this coffin... may Hemen (a falcon god) not accept any goods he offers, and may his heir not inherit" which has a little more punch. Another tomb from the 6th dynasty contained the inscription "As for all men who shall enter this my tomb... impure... there will be judgment... an end shall be made for him... I shall seize his neck like a bird... I shall cast the fear of myself into him". Now these both occured during what is known as the Old Kingdom era. After this time, curses lost their luster and were not common inclusions. It should be noted that Hieroglyphs were not able to be declared as clearly until the early 19th century meaning that before then, there was just a perceived bad luck in handling and robbing from tombs. And the occasional ghost did not go amiss. In 1699, a supposedly true account of a Polish traveler was written. This traveler bought two mummies in Alexandria and decided to transport them by sea back to his home. However, the travelers were soon plagued by recurring visions of two specters and could not take it anymore, so he grabbed the mummies from the cargo hold and tossed them overboard into the sea. This reminded his supposed haunting and he returned to Poland, sans two mummies. Another story claimed that a young archaeologist had to transport several artifacts from an excitation at Kom Abu Billo. It seems that something didn’t like this perceived theft as his cousin died that day, his uncle died on the first anniversary, and on the third, his aunt died as well. It is said that years later while excavating at the pyramids of Giza, he found a curse written on a tomb that stated “All people who enter this tomb who will make evil against this tomb and destroy it may the crocodile be against them in water, and snakes against them on land. May the hippopotamus be against them in water, the scorpion on land.". Given his past experience with the artifacts, the archeologist decides to leave the tomb alone. Zahi Hawass, an archaeologist who is credited with relaying that story. Claimed his own haunting after removing two child mummies from Bahariya Oasis. The spirits of the children plagued him until the father of the children was found and placed in the same museum with the children.
Regarding the deaths surrounding the supposed Curse of King Tuts, it's important to point out that of the 58 people present when the tomb was unsealed, only eight of those people have died within a dozen years and the majority of those deaths happened later and were attributed to a natural and expected cause. Some suggest that toxic spores within the tomb may have contributed to the deaths as they did in a 1973 tomb opening in Poland; this has since been disputed.
On November 4th, 2007, 85 years after he was discovered, Tutankhamun was placed on display in his underground tomb in Luxor. The mummy was wrapped in linens and placed in a climate controlled glass box. He remains there to this day, resting in his tomb.
Well, that’s all for this episode. So what do you think? Do you believe in the mummy's curse? Would you break the seal on the tomb? What would your tomb’s curse say? Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and leave a review. The Odder Pod is also on TikTok. Come follow us there! Have a suggestion for a show? Send me an email at theodderpod@gmail.com with your request and whether you’d like me to mention your name, your alias, or nothing at all. Remember this is The Odder Side so give me something cool, creepy, or confusing to deep dive for you. If you liked the show, leave us a review! They really help! Just stay out of peoples graves for goodness sake. The Odder Podcast posts every other Thursday. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time on The Odder side.

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Episode 53: Curse of the Pharaohs: The Tomb of Tutankhamen and Other Deadly Digs

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