Disease, pestilence and death: Has unsealing King Tut's tomb unleashed an ancient curse?
Fox Nation's 'Tales of Terror: The Curse of King Tut' unravels the media frenzy that treaded on the heels of uncovering the Egyptian pharaoh's ancient tomb and the devastation that followed.
Discovering a young pharaoh's ancient, long-dormant tomb sent the media into a frenzy in the 1920s – but uncovering one mystery invited another when the financier of the expedition died a sudden, painful death and a string of other deaths for those tied to the historic expedition followed.
It invited the question – had an ancient curse been unleashed?
The latest Fox Nation series, "Tales of Terror: The Curse of King Tut" sets out on its own expedition of sorts to answer that question, all with the intent of also answering, if a curse isn't the culprit, then what is?
"The story of King Tut has everything… the boy king who is mummified, whose remains are surrounded by gold, elaborate jewelry, and all of that is protected by a curse," said Dr. Phil Stevens, anthropologist emeritus at SUNY at Buffalo.
If anyone could find the tomb, long undiscovered, a coveted spot in history awaited them.
Money and time were running out for archaeologist Howard Carter, who had suffered failure after failure in his hunt for the king's tomb.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNEARTH WELL-PRESERVED 4,000-YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN TOMB
The Curse of King Tut follows the mysterious string of misfortune that followed the discovery of the "boy king's" tomb. (Fox Nation)
Believing he was on the cusp of discovery, he made a final plea to his financier to let his discovery resume one last time.
Working with Egyptian locals, the site teemed with people determined to make a discovery. Ironically, one misstep in November 1922 changed history and our understanding of one of the most intricate civilizations of the ancient world forever, when a 12-year-old transporting water on a donkey's back became stuck in the ground.
As workers rushed to dig a hole to free the donkey's hoof, they made an unexpected but welcome discovery. After years of deliberately searching, the first step to Tutankhamun's tomb had been uncovered by accident.
Legend had it – the king's illustrious resting place was sacred, and misfortune would follow anyone who dared desecrate the site.
But the threat didn't deter the tomb's excavators, who had just become firsthand witnesses to the illustrious riches and elaborate adornments that had been undiscovered for thousands of years.
ANCIENT SWORD FROM THE ERA OF MOSES, BOOK OF EXODUS UNCOVERED IN EGYPT
Ancient Egyptian relics adorned the long-dormant interior of King Tut's tomb (Fox Nation)
"In some of those older tombs, there would be inscribed a warning that the gods would not look favorably upon you if you desecrated this tomb," Anthony Browder, an independent Egyptologist explained in the series.
Stevens offered his own explanation: "We have to recognize that people universally, in all cultures of the world, and in all periods of recorded history, people believed that words have power to make things happen.
"The curse needn't be specific. It can simply say, in translation, ‘You may be cursed, or your family may be cursed.’ The curse of King Tut – it was logical and easily believed because curses were common in the time of the pharaohs," he said.
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When Carter returned home to the West Bank, his inexplicable string of misfortune began. His beloved pet canary had been eaten by a cobra, a royal symbol of power, and the news wildly swirled in the press – was this the first sign that King Tut's curse had been set into motion?
King Tut's mummified corpse has been a source of intrigue since his tomb's discovery in 1922. Those who desecrated his tomb, however, were said to be followed by "disease, pestilence and death." (Fox Nation)
To pour gasoline on the media's fire, Lord George Carnarvon, who had financed the discovery, died from a mosquito-borne illness.
"The curse said, if you disturb the body of the king, you will be visited by disease, pestilence and death," said Dr. Melinda Hartwig, a museum curator at Emory University.
And death came to many – one murdered by his wife; another suffered a death by sepsis; a third through a radiation-borne illness and one by suicide with a mysterious note.
"Tales of Terror: The Curse of King Tut" is available to stream now on Fox Nation, with episodes exploring the mysteries and historical contexts surrounding King Tut's tomb.
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