Curse of Pharaohs?

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 868, 11 January 1930, Page 18

Curse of Pharaohs?

HHE strange legend of the curse of the Pharaohs has been revived by the death of the Hon. Richard Bethell, heir of Lord Westbury, who was found dead at the Bath Club, Mayfair. Mr. Bethell acted as secretary to Mr. Howard Carter, who carried out the excavations at the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen, in the Valley of the Kings, some years ago. According to a belief held in Egypt, a curse falls, on all who disturb the tombs of its ancient kings. Since the treasures of Tut-Ankh-Amen’s tomb were removed, ten people concerned in the excavations have died. The first was Lord Carnarvon, who died in 1923 in Cairo, from an illness which originated in a mosquito bite on the face. “A Curse on Me” In September of the same year, Lord Carnarvon’s half-brother, Colonel Aubrey Herbert, died in London. He had entered the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen and is reported to have re-

marked at the time: —“Something dreadful is going to happen to our family.” Others concerned in the excavations who have died are: Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, a famous radiologist, who had agreed to X-ray the mummy, died in Switzerland on January 18, 1924. Professor Laffleur, of McGill University, who went to Luxor to see the tomb, died there on February 9, 1924. Mr. H. G. Evelyn-White, the scholar and Egyptologist, committed suicide in September, 1924, and left a letter in which were these words: “I knew there was a curse on me.” M. Benedite, the French archaeologist, who was attached to the Department of Antiquities at Cairo, and M. Pasanova, both of whom had taken part in the research work in the Valley of the Kings, died suddenly in 1926. M. Benedite was the fifth archaeologist to die while the work was in progress. q’he suggestion that Mr. Bethell had come under the “curse” was raised last year, when there was a series of mysterious fires at his home, where some of the treasures of Tut-Ankh-Amen’s tomb were stored. A charge of arson was made against a footman, but this, was reduced to a charge of "wilful damage, and he was bound over.