For only the second time since their discovery, some of the treasures of Tutankhamen are visiting United States Soil. Wherever they go, the treasures of Tutankhamen inspire wonder. But when they were first discovered in 1922 they also inspired a little bit of fear – fear of a pharaoh’s curse.
The idea of a pharaoh’s curse didn’t originate with King Tut. The tombs of many pharaohs have carried warnings against thieves who would steal – a common and significant problem in Egypt, where ancient Egyptians buried their royalty with treasures in the belief that the wealth could be taken into the afterlife.
But as the discovery of the undisturbed tomb of “the boy king” created mummy mania around the world, a kind of morbid fascination with curses fueled rumors that the archeologists who opened King Tut’s tomb would soon meet with mysterious fates.
Journalists reporting on the find weren’t above embellishing the truth in an effort to tell a good story. Before the tomb was formally opened, reporters were filling their dispatches with accounts that the pharaoh’s seal contained warnings of death coming on swift wings.
But the morbid fascination with the mummy’s curse really took off several months later with the death of Lord Carnarvon, the expedition’s chief financier.
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