#1 - The year was 1910. Egyptologist Douglas Murray was sought out by a diseased and ragged looking American. He told Murray he had an offer that would most likely be the most priceless and important find of his whole career, a mummy case, complete with mummy, of an ancient Egyptian high priestess of the temple of Ammon-Ra who supposedly lived in Thebes around 1600 BC.
Murray was quick to write the American a check, drawn from the Bank of London, but the check was never cashed. The American died that night.
A colleague of Murray's told him the legend behind his new purchase. The ancient high priestess had held high office in the then feared Cult of the Dead, helping to turn the once rich and fertile land in the Valley of the Nile into a bare wasteland, a truely desolate place. Inscribed on the walls of her tomb were warnings of death and terror for anyone disturbing her resting place. Believing it was a load of poppycock, Murray laughed at the warning. 3 days later, while on a hunting trip. his gun exploded in his hand, causing him months of almost constant pain spent in hospital. The wound eventually became infected, and fearing the gangrene would spread, his arm was amputated
at the elbow.
When his health returned he set sail for England, mummy case and all. During the trip, 2 Egyptian servants who had handled the mummy case were found dead. They were considered to be young, strong, healthy men, so their deeaths came very unexpectedly. Upon arriving in London, Murray
took a good long look at his acquisition, and while examining the carved gold and painted image of the priestess, he later told friends that "the face seemed to come alive with a stare that chilled to the bone."
Murray decided t was time to get rid of the mummy case. A lady friend of his persuaded him to sell it to her, and within weeks her mother died, her lover left her, and she herself was diagnosed with what could only be called a 'wasting' disease. Was it perhaps the same disease to plague the American? Whatever it was, she insisted that Murray take it back. He then gave it to a British museum, and it seemed that the 'curse' was no less effective there, either. A photographer dropped stone cold dead
while photographing the mummy case, and the man in charge of the cases exhibit was soon found dead in his own bed. In light of these events, the museums head honcho's met privately and unanimously decided to give it to a prestigious New York museum. The case was sent with no fanfare, but the case never reached it's destination, for it sunk to the bottom of the sea along with the Titanic and almost 1500 souls in April of 1912.
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# 2: - In 1357 BC, King Akhnaton of Egypt, ( the tyrnnical father-in-law of Tutankhamen) had his own daughter raped and murdered by his temple priests. To add eternal insult to injury, they cut off her right hand and buried it in a secret location in the Valley of the Kings. According to the beliefs of ancient Egyptians, anyone who was not buried whole would forever be barred from entering paradise in the afterlife.
Centuries later in 1890, Count Louis Hamon cured a well-to-do sheik of malaria. The sheik insisted that he accept a gift as a token of his thanks, the mummified right hand of an Egyptian princess! Despite its gruesome nature, Hamon accepted the gift, though reluctanly, and brought it home to England. His wife was instantly horrified by the dry, shrivelled hand. Hamon tried to give it to an England museum, but they would not accept it. His wife then insisted they keep it locked up in a
safe at their home.
32 years later, in October of 1922,, the safe was opened and to their horror the hand was plump with new tissue! Hamons wife demanded the hand be disposed of, and Hamon agreed, however, it was to have the best funeral he could give it. So on Halloween night, Hamon read aloud a passge from the Egyptian book of the dead. He later wrote to his longtime friend, Lord Carnarvon, that while he read from the ancient book he placed the hand into a blazing fire in the fireplace and then shut the book. As soon as he closed the book thunder rocked the house and all the lights went out, The door was then flung open accompanied by a blast of freezing cold air. In Hamon's own words, "the figure of a
woman entered wearing the royal apparel of ancient Egypt, her headdress bore the image of the Serpent of the House of Pharoahs." The womans right arm ended in a stump. The apparition went to the fireplace where the hand was burning, bent over, and then diappeared, along with the hand.
4 days later, Hamon learned that the party his old friend Lord Carnarvon had been funding had finally found the tomb of King Tutankhamen after what had seemed like endless, fruitless searching and that they, despite the curse written at the entrance of the tomb, planned to enter it. Count Hamon and his wife were in hospital being treated for severe shock. It was from there that he wrote his friend, Lord Carnarvon, begging him to reconsider opening the tomb. He wrote, "I know now that the ancient Egyptians had knowledge and power of which today we have no comprehension. In the name of God, I beg you, take care!"
The letters warning went unheeded and Lord Carnarvon told his party to go ahead and enter the tomb. Soon afterwards, Lord Carnarvon was dead of an infected mosquito bite. But that was only the beginning, more deaths were to follow, giving rise to what could most probably be the worlds
most infamous curse, the Curse of the Pharoahs.
