Lung-assaulting bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus may also grow on tomb walls. Lab studies have shown some ancient mummies carried mold, including Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus, which can cause congestion or bleeding in the lungs. The mausoleums house not only the dead bodies of humans and animals but foods to provision them for the afterlife. In recent years, some have suggested that the pharaoh's curse was biological in nature.Ĭould sealed tombs house pathogens that can be dangerous or even deadly to those who open them after thousands of years-especially people like Lord Carnarvon with weakened immune systems? "Or a death by crocodiles, or lions, or scorpions, or snakes." Tomb Toxin Threat? "They tend to threaten desecrators with divine retribution by the council of the gods," Ikram said. She notes that some mastaba (early non-pyramid tomb) walls in Giza and Saqqara were actually inscribed with "curses" meant to terrify those who would desecrate or rob the royal resting place. "My research has not only confirmed that there is, of course, no ancient Egyptian origin of the mummy's curse concept, but, more importantly, it also reveals that it didn't originate in the 1923 press publicity about the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb either," Montserrat stressed to the Independent.īut Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo and a National Geographic Society grantee, believes the curse concept did exist in ancient Egypt as part of a primitive security system. The thread was even picked up by Little Women author Louisa May Alcott in her nearly unknown volume Lost in a Pyramid or, The Mummy's Curse. Montserrat believed that a lively stage show in which real Egyptian mummies were unwrapped inspired first one writer, and subsequently several others, to pen tales of mummy revenge. "My work shows quite clearly that the mummy's curse concept predates Carnarvon's Tutankhamen discovery and his death by a hundred years," Montserrat told the Independent (U.K.) in an interview some years before his own death. The late Egyptologist Dominic Montserrat conducted a comprehensive search and concluded that the concept began with a strange "striptease" in 19th-century London. Carter, surely any curse's prime target, lived until 1939, almost 20 years after the tomb's opening.īut while the pharaoh's curse may lack bite, it hasn't lost the ability to fascinate audiences-which may be how it originated in the first place.
In reality, Carnarvon died of blood poisoning, and only six of the 26 people present when the tomb was opened died within a decade.
Tut's glittering treasures made great headlines-especially following the opening of the burial chamber on February 16, 1923-and so did sensationalistic accounts of the subsequent death of expedition sponsor Lord Carnarvon. When Howard Carter opened a small hole to peer inside the tomb at treasures hidden for 3,000 years, he also unleashed a global passion for ancient Egypt. The "mummy's curse" first enjoyed worldwide acclaim after the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt. But Hollywood didn't invent the curse concept. Summing up: Easy enough to watch but you have to be patient to get past the slow start.Movie mummies are known for two things: fabulous riches and a nasty curse that brings treasure hunters to a bad end. I missed hearing James Bernard's background music, usually a strong point in any Hammer horror film. DICKIE OWEN makes a formidable mummy with the help of some fine make-up effects but it is really the convincing performances of the three principals that makes the story credible. High among his priorities is the fast-talking, rather obnoxious American showman (FRED CLARK) who is anxious to make a profit on exhibiting the mummy in show biz style. Again, the mummy has come to life to kill the people who've exploited him. The tale is not exactly original in concept. The story requires a lot of exposition at the start which means a lot of talky and static scenes before the real suspense starts. The less you know about the Terence Morgan character (Adam), the more you'll enjoy the plot. This may not be the best of The Mummy films from Hammer, but it is handsomely filmed and well acted by a fine British cast-especially TERENCE MORGAN, RONALD HOWARD and YVONNE ROLAND as the charming feminine lead.