Object No. 22542: The Unlucky Mummy

Almost thirty years before the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun and the fabled “curse of the pharaohs” was unleashed upon an excitable population, rumours and stories of another curse, attached to an ancient object, had been weaving its way into myth and legend as a complicated tangle of truth and fabrication. The “Anger of the Priestess of Amen-Ra” has links to several high profile deaths and even the sinking of the Titanic. It was potentially responsible for thousands of deaths in the few decades since its discovery, far overshadowing the famous curse of the boy king in scope, even if it would never quite match it in fame.

SOURCES

Luckhurst, Roger (2012) The Mummy’s Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy. Oxford University Press, UK.

 

Breckin, Edmun (2020) The Unlucky Mummy: A Concise History of the Legend. Independently Published.

 

Alcott, Louisa May (2019) Curse of the Mummy: Victorian Tales of Ancient Egyptian Terror. Fox Editing Classics, UK.

 

Bulfin, Ailise (2011) The Fiction of Gothic Egypt and British Imperial Paranoia: The Curse of the Suez Canal. Trinity College Dublin.

 

Barbados Agricultural Reporter (1904) A priestess of Death. Barbados Agricultural Reporter, 11 July 1904, p4.

 

Shaw, I & Nicholson, P (1995) British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. BMP, London.

 

Summers, Montague (1946) Witchcraft & Black Magic. Dover Publications, NY, USA.

 

Goodrich-Freer, Ada (1913) The Priestess of Amen-Ra. The Occult Review, Vol. 17, Jan 1913, p.11. London, UK.

 

O’Donnell, Elliott (1911) Haunted Houses of London. London, UK.

 

Stead, William (1909) Ghost of Egyptian Mummy Haunts British Museum. San Francisco Examiner, 15 Aug 1909, p.1. San Francisco, USA.

 

Cheiro (1928) True Ghost Stories. The London Publishing Company, London, UK.

-------

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/darkhistories and get on your way to being your best self.

 

-------

Click the link to hit up Vessi Footwear and use my code, DARKHISTORIES at checkout for 15% off your entire order! Free shipping to CA, US, AU,JP, TW, KR, SGP

-------

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories

The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories

Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9

Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast

Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/

Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf

The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.