What’s Behind the Myth of Tutankhamun’s Curse

Victim of the curse?

Carter’s pet canary is said to have been eaten by a cobra, a symbol of pharaoh’s power, on the same day the underground staircase leading to the tomb was completed. Just two months after the Chamber of Secrets opened, the project’s patron, George Herbert, Lord Carnarvon, died of complications from mosquito bites. Not long after, his dog Suzie died.

When American financier George Jay Gould reportedly died of pneumonia in May 1923, just months after his grave, rumors of the curse continued. JSTOR . In 1923, Philip Livingston Poe also contracted pneumonia a few months after visiting the grave, but he did not die. When Howard Carter’s secretary, Richard Bethell, died in 1929, various reports say he was the ninth, tenth or thirteenth person to die in connection with the excavation .

debunk the curse

Overall, the newspaper believes the curse has killed anywhere from nine to more than 20 people, depending on whether grave visitors and digger relatives were targeted.

Rumors of a “Pharaoh’s Curse” began to circulate, suggesting that those who disturbed the rest of ancient kings and queens were doomed. An inscription carved on Tutankhamun’s tomb is said to have warned that “death will swiftly come to those who disturb the rest of the pharaoh”.

However, this myth is beginning to falter as scientists look at these events from a more objective perspective. While deaths may appear suspicious or at least surprising, many of these deaths may be attributed to natural causes or arbitrary circumstances. Science began to discard the idea of ​​supernatural curses, pointing instead to more mundane curses.

Fungi and Pneumonia: A Scientific Explanation

The most popular theory is that fungus may have been the cause of death. Aspergillus can cause coughing and difficulty breathing In 2003, two doctors published a letter in The Lancet claiming that Aspergillus, a common mould, could have made Lord Carnarvon sick, when Lord Carnarvon Already in poor health, a car accident damaged his lungs.

Subsequent investigations, however, found that signs of the fungi and bacteria found were no longer active and therefore posed no threat to visitors or the painting.

It is impossible for us to know whether Aspergillus or another fungus actually caused the deaths of Lord Carnarvon or Gould. Today, archaeologists use gloves, masks, and sometimes disposable clothing to protect themselves from mold, reports Dangerous Places: Health, Safety, and Archeology. Indeed, many people go to the grave, so relatively few people die.

Frank McClanahan, a doctor who treated Lord Carnarvon during his illness in Luxor, said in a report 1972 interview . “If you examine any large group of people, you’ll find a certain percentage of them die.”

Edited by Isabella Escobedo

Author: DW