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The Mummy Pharaoh's Curse

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Any movie associated with mummies usually involves some nasty curse that brings treasure hunters to a bad end. But what if this whole “mummy curse” concept isn’t just some Hollywood speculation? What if it were really true? Well as a matter of fact, in the early 1920’s such a curse, called the “Pharaoh’s Curse”, fascinated audiences worldwide. Like any other myth, the pharaoh’s curse has a backstory to how this curse originated, why it’s claimed to be a curse, and what other theories there were to explain the odd events that occurred. The curse of the pharaohs refers to an alleged curse believed by some to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian person, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which concerns not only thieves …show more content…

It was believed that the priests of the pharaohs had put a very strange poison in their tombs that might have caused the illnesses of some of the archaeologists. After everything was set up in the tomb and all the workmen went away, the priests would sprinkle the poison all over everything in the tomb. But we know that small doses of a poison can result in immunization. Howard Carter, who spent half his life shut up in the tombs of various pharaohs must have built up, some bodily resistance against these poisons. However, he did suffer his share of pain, hallucinations, dizziness, headaches etc. Besides, archaeologists don’t need to have oral contact with poison. Some poisons simply need to brush or penetrate the skin in order to be effective. Poisonous gases and vapours, in precipitated form, were most likely present in the pharaohs ' tombs. The precipitation technique was common as a means of eradicating “unwanted” people. One of the easiest methods in fact was soaking a candle wick in arsenic. When the candle was lit, the vapours would be deadly. None of the poisons lost their potency especially in airtight chambers of the tomb where they can’t even

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“The first incident supposedly occurred when a pet canary kept by Carter was found dead in its cage, attacked and killed by a cobra. A cobra was often a symbol for the rulers of Egypt.” Would Carter or some other people who helped discover the tomb get the curse too?While Carter discovered the tomb he never believed in the curse. Carter died more than ten years after discovering the tomb.

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