Assignment 1: Essay “The Mummy’s Curse”
HUM 111 – World Cultures I Mini Session
August 24, 2014

When it comes to curses and mummies, it almost seems like they go hand in hand, like PB&J. Whenever we see a mummy in movies or any type of storytelling there has to be a curse, it just wouldn’t seem right without it. Legends about the "Curse of the Pharaoh's" first was first stated by the Arabs sometime in the 7th Century when they stumbled on to their first tomb. Because they could not read the hieroglyphics and, everything was so strange things became more mysterious and magical to them. There was also the fact that the Pharaoh’s were so well preserved and looked like they could and would rise at any moment, and so began the legends of mummies. The Arab’s believed that if they entered the tomb and uttered an incantation, they would be able to make treasures appear that had been hidden by the ancient Egyptians. But if they entered the wrong spell or incantation than the pharaohs or kings would come to life once more. The Arabs also believed in curses and saw them as a way that the Egyptians protected their tombs. One of the greatest curses that are known is the “Mummy’s Curse”; this curse occurred in 1923 when King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered by Howard Carter. A Lord Carnarvon from England was Carter's patron and sponsor of the excavation, and was one of the first to enter the tomb. The tomb was virtually intact and had never been broken into. But even before anyone went into the tomb the curse was already at work, on the day Howard Carter opened the tomb, a cobra swallowed his pet canary. Cobras, who were servants to the goddess Wadjet, were considered the protectors of the Pharaoh. After that the curse was seemingly inactive for several weeks until a mosquito bit Lord Carnarvon. His bite (that was on his check) became infected, and he later died, at the moment of his death Cairo suffered a blackout and the lord’s dog back in England let out a baleful howl and died as well. What made the curse even more believable was the fact that when they later unwrapped the mummy of Tutankhamun in 1925 it was discovered that the bug bite on Lord Carnarvon correlated to a wound found in the same spot as on the mummy. Also during this time there was no T.V.s or internet so all information was provided by the newspaper and information traveled very slowly, and was unreliable. It was a very superstitious time, and the media took full advantage of this, they used people’s gullibility to sell their newspapers. During this time reporters more often than not simply made up facts in order to dramatize their stories. In the case of King Tut’s tomb opening it was easier to make up a curse at the entrance than to report the very boring removal of a stone door, so a reporter wrote: "Death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of a pharaoh." This story was spread all over the world and an interest in the "Curse of the Pharaohs" was kindled. Many theories have come about to explain those deaths that everyone was attributing to the opening of King Tut’s tomb. Over the last decade or so many doctors and scientist have gotten together to come up with a more scientific theory to Lord Carnarvon's death. Many people have come up with the explanation that there were microorganisms that could have killed him that had been sealed with the Ancient Egyptian tombs. In many of the other tombs with ancient mummies bacteria and other molds have been found that can be deadly, many of these molds and bacteria are known to attack the respiratory system. In laboratory studies it has been discovered that many ancient mummies carry two potentially dangerous species of mold known as, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus. These molds can cause reactions ranging from congestion to bleeding in the lungs. Lord Carnarvon, who was known to be a sickly man, would have almost been a kiss of death the moment he breathed them in. One doctor of the Cairo University in Egypt did a study and examined the health records of some museum workers and noticed that many of them had been exposed to Aspergillus Niger. It was suggested that the fungus can survive in the tombs for thousands of years and then when an archaeologist team goes into the tomb they pick up the fungus. Several other doctors from all over the world have all done the same study and come to the same conclusion that it is highly likely that what killed the English lord was not a curse but rather his weak immune system and the toxins he inhaled inside the tomb. Another part of the curse was the results of the media, the newspapers appear to have randomly killed off many of the workers on Carter’s team. According to one paper over 26 people who had worked on the dig, died within a decade of find the tomb. In fact, only six people died within the first decade, and many lived to be old men. For example, the very one that led the dig and was the first to enter the tomb, Howard Carter, lived to the ripe old age of 65 years old. He worked on and in the tomb for over ten years before his death along with many others.

References:
Is the curse of King Tut real? History. November. 2012. http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/is-the-curse-of-king-tut-real
Egypt's "King Tut Curse" Caused by Tomb Toxins? National Geographic News. May. 2005. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0506_050506_mummycurse.html
The UnMuseum - Howard Carter and the Curse of King Tut's Mummy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unmuseum.org/mummy.htm