We shall go far away to a special place to visit an old king. Egypt is awaiting us, so let’s visit the ancient kingdom. While we walk in the old kingdom, I shall tell you a story. Let’s feel the wind gently blowing the sand, feel the sun burning us gently for now.

We shall go into the tomb, and I shall tell you the story of the tomb and the curse. Grab my hand, and let’s get in.

Long ago, there was a king who ruled Egypt. He was just a boy when he became a king. He was the son of a controversial king, Akhenaten, who changed the religion and adopted the cult of the only God, the Sun God.

Tutankhamun came to rule after a period of turmoil as not many accepted his father’s religion. He became king when he was just a boy for us, but almost a man for the Egypt of that time. Tutankhamun ruled for 9 years. Most probably, he died with honor in a fight.

This brave pharaoh was forgotten with time. Nobody knew much about him until a stubborn man went to Egypt on an adventure. This man was Howard Carter, an archaeologist who was convinced that he would find a treasure in a tomb long forgotten if he dug more. 

Carter has dug for more than 5 years. His money came from Lord Carnarvon, who was just about to stop throwing money on digging, but Carter begged for more time.

Carter got more time and money, finally discovering a new tomb in 1922. He wired Lord Carnarvon to come to Egypt to see what he found.

Lord Carnarvon came to Egypt, and together with his daughter and Carter, they entered the tomb without waiting for the Egyptian authorities. They got in and saw marvelous things, a tomb full of treasures and a pharaoh long forgotten. But like any tomb, it had a curse for those who would step in… 

Who would be bothered about a curse when you see so many marvelous things? I would say not many will be bothered about a curse. Who would believe that death might spread her wings and take you? 

They didn’t believe in the curse. They were exploring the beauty of what they found. They found more than 5000 objects in the tomb, some of them made of gold. The pharaoh was buried with many amulets, and he also had a beautiful dagger. Its blade wasn’t from earth. The dagger’s blade material seems to have been made from a meteorite. A lot of beautiful things to see and catalog. 

On one of the days, Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito. While shaving, he accidentally cut himself where he was bitten. He started to have a fever, and a few days later, he died. Some say that when he died, all the light in Egypt broke. His death came indeed with wings, the wings of a mosquito. He wasn’t the only one that died after visiting the tomb. It seems two other wealthy men that came to visit the tomb died from fever just a few days after they entered the tomb.

Do you believe that there can be such things as cursed places? I would instead think that any tomb should not be bothered. Not because there are curses, even if we can never know, but mostly because there can be indeed things that can kill you in an unopen tomb. Like old bacteria that didn’t die along with the dead one. In their case, things were even worse as they got the mummy out to get the amulets. In those times, they didn’t wear any kind of protection or other clothes other than what they wore usually. So I guess in that way, the curse messed up with those that didn’t have excellent health. Probably today, curses can mess with those that are going in tombs. So we should be careful. You shouldn’t touch things inside here.

Another reason for the curse to be so popular at that time was that Lord Carnarvon sold the story rights for finding the treasure just to one newspaper, so the press of that time tried to get revenge on the Lord, making a real big fuss about the curse. 

It seems out of 58 people that entered the tomb at the time, just eight died. Not always a curse can come in the form of death, sometimes it can be the fact that you find something, but you can not enjoy or take it to you as it belongs to others. This was the situation of Carter, who found the treasure, but the treasure belonged to Egyptians, so he could just catalog it, and that’s all.

The pharaoh got to be famous again, maybe more than he was in his times. Fame was also brought by treasures found in his tomb, one of the most beautiful mortuary masks made out of gold and beautiful stones.

Not many can get almost all their fortune with them when they die, as the kings of old Egypt did. Fortunately, because of this, we can get a glimpse of how they were living in those times. 

I hope after this little walk in the tomb, we shall not get cursed and get the death brought by wings or other kinds of things, at least not too soon, I hope… You enjoyed the walk, and you shall come again with me…