Over the next several years, a series of people
associated with the Tut excavation died unexpectedly, often under mysterious
circumstances. The dead in 1923 alone included Lord Carnarvon's brother, Col.
Aubrey Herbert; Cairo archaeologist Achmed Kamal, and American Egyptologist
William Henry Goodyear.
Lord Carnarvon himself headed the tragic list. On his
deathbed he was heard to pronounce several times over the name of Tut Ankh
Amon. Hid last words were: "It is over, I have heard the call, I am
ready." At that moment, coincidentally, of course, the lights went out
throughout the house. No name has ever been given to the disease from which.
Lord Carnarvon died; doctors have gone so far as to say he died from a
mosquito bite.
Oxford archeologist Hugh Evelyn-White, who had dug in the
necropolis at Thebes, also died in 1924. His end was even more tragic. He
was after Carter one of the first to enter the mortuary chamber, where the
mummy of the pharaoh was found. He hung himself. In order to explain this
desperate act, he wrote in a letter: "I have succumbed to a curse which
forces me to disappear.
The private secretary of Howard Carter, Richard Bethell,
was one of the first to enter the tomb: he was also one of the first to die.
Another English scientist, employed of the Egyptian
government, Archibald Douglas Reed, was in charge taking x-rays of the mummy
before it was removed to the Museum of Cairo. The day after he took the
x-rays, Reed became ill, three days later he was dead. Here was a healthy
man, of robust constitution; no one knows the name of the malady, which
swept him away.
Edouard Neville, Carter's teacher, as well as George
Jay-Gould, Carnarvon's friend, papyrus expert Bernard Greenfell, American
Egyptologist Aaron Ember, and the nurse who attended to Lord Carnarvon all
died in 1926. Ember's death was particularly spooky—he was attempting to
rescue from his burning house a manuscript he had worked on for years: The
Egyptian Book of the Dead.
In 1929 Lord Carnarvon's wife, Lady Almina, died, as did
John Maxwell, the Earl's friend and executor, and Carter's secretary,
Richard Bethell, who was found dead in bed, apparently from circulatory
failure, at the age of 35.
Six months later, his younger brother, Colonel Aubrey
Herbert, died, once again from an unexplained sickness, then the nurse who
had taken care of him succumbed....
A close friend of Carter, professor La Fleur, pushed by
scientific curiosity, went to Luxor to help in the work. Two weeks after his
arrival he too came down with the mysterious sickness and died. Arthur Mace,
who, after having entered the secret chambers, felt himself grow weak; he
was confined to bed,
and soon died in his turn.
These mysterious deaths intrigue public opinion. A high
government employee in Egypt wanted to clear up matters and decided to
personally undertake an investigation. He came to the tomb and started his
investigations. After a few days he fell ill, and had to return to Cairo for
treatment; a few hours later,he
was dead.
Lord Carnarvon himself headed the tragic list. On his
deathbed he was heard to pronounce several times over the name of Tut Ankh
Amon. Hid last words were: "It is over, I have heard the call, I am
ready." At that moment, coincidentally, of course, the lights went out
throughout the house. No name has ever been given to the disease from which.
Lord Carnarvon died; doctors have gone so far as to say he died from a
mosquito bite.