The first time the tomb was ever seen was in 1923 on February 17th. The archaelogist was Howard Carter, who on peering through the gap told of the beautiful things he could see inside. Lord Carnavon who was also in the team also took a look at the treasures. What the team failed to do was take note of the warning above the tombs entrance, the hieroglyphics translated to
'DEATH WILL COME TO THOSE THAT DISTURB THE SLEEP OF THE PHAROAHS'
But the pick had already opened the tomb and freed the curse. Lord Carnavon did not usually take the threat of the pharoahs lightly, and had even consulted a mystic before his journey, the mystic had warned him, ' not to enter the tomb, disobey at peril, if ignored Lord Carnavon will suffer illness and will not recover, death will come to him in Egypt'.
But Carnavon along with Carter ignored the warnings and continued the dig which ended in historys greatest archaelogical find, as most other tombs had suffered at the hands of grave robbers. It brought them fame and many people heaped praise on them.
But just 47 days after the dig Carnavan died in agony, at the hotel he was staying in at Cairo, he was 57 years old. It was said he was the victim of a mosquito bite. When he died it is said that all the lights in the city went out and did not come back on for a few minutes. Back at his home in England during the middle of the night his dog, began to howl which sounded quite unnatural and alarmed the staff, the dog then died.
The newspaper were quick to speculate that it was due to the curse and this was fuelled even further, when the mummified pharoah was examined and it was found that it had a blemish on its face in exactly the same position Carnavan had due to the mosquito bite.
Some may say that this was mere coincidence, but this seemed to become more unlikely, as more deaths followed.
Arthur Mace another archaelogist on the dig, fell into an unexplained coma, and died shortly afterwards. A friend of Carnavon, George Gould, who took a look at the tomb , collapsed the following day with high fever and died 12 hours later. Radiologist Archibald Reid was sent back to England as he was suffering from exhaustion, not long after the plane landed he died. Four months after the dig Carnavon's personal secretary Richard Bethell was found dead in bed from heart failure. Joel Wool who had visited the site died from high fever.
As well as these unfortunate people, Carnavon's half brother commited suicide whilst temporarily insane and 21 other people who were in some way connected to the dig died prematuraly within 12 years of the opening of the tomb. The only person who died from natural causes was Howard Carter who lived to a ripe old age.
This though was not the end of deaths, Mohammed Ibraham director of antiquities in 1966, argued that the relics should not be taken out of Eqypt for a exhibition in Paris, has he had terrible nightmares about what would happen to him. One day after a meeting he stepped out on to what seemed a clear road and was knocked down and killed instantly.
In 1969 Richard Amison who was the last survivor of the dig, continued to not believe in the curse, but after he first spoke out it his wife died, after the second time his son broke his back in a aircraft accident. After giving a third interview at a televisin studios, as he left in a taxi, he was involved in a crash and thrown from the vehicle, he survived but suffered many cuts, fractures and bruises. It was only then that he started to believe that there was some truth in the curse.
In 1972 the relics were sent to London for an exhibition, Dr Gamel Mehrez, Ibrahims successor, who scoffed at the curse saying it was just coincidence. Died the night after he had supervised the relics as they were packaged.
The crew members of the plane that flew the relics to London continued to suffer from bad luck, inury and death.
Flight engineer Ken Parkinson had a heart attack the same time each year until a final fatal one in 1978. Technical Officer Ian Lansdown had kicked the death mask, he later badly broke the same foot he had kicked the mask with, Flight Leutenant Jim Webb lost everything he owned in a house fire, Brian Rounsfall a steward suffered 2 heart attacks, and a women officer at tho leave the RAF due to a serious operation.
So was this all down to coincidence or are the treasures of the pharoahs really cursed and the cause of all this death and misfortune.
