The curse of Tutankhamun

Satanic curses

In September this year, a woman in Guyana was convicted of bludgeoning a friend to death. Her friend, she explained, was possessed, and she was trying to beat the Devil out. In Romania, meanwhile, a priest and four nuns from the Romanian Orthodox Church are on trial, accused of murdering a 23-year-old novice. In his defence, the priest who led the exorcism has claimed his approach was better than the medical treatment she had been receiving for her schizophrenia.It's an older story, though, ...

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Tutankhamen-like Curse Killed Nepal's Royal Family?

One of the most gripping tales to have captured public imagination is the legend of Tutankhamen's curse, the superstition that the mummy of Egypt's boy-king took its revenge on the violators of its tomb, causing the death of the British excavators who discovered the grave in 1923.Though the tales petered out in the 80s, after the woman who was the last link to the expedition died, a similar myth has now sprung up in Nepal, still regarded as a mysterious land that opened up to th...

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The evil eye throughout history

They've always said that the eye is the window to the soul. Perhaps the real truth is that it is the window of intent. When you drive on the highway and get cut off, the first thing you do is give a sharp glare at the offender, though some of us choose to complement it with a colorful hand gesture. We use our eyes to correct misbehaving children, we shoot a look of incredulity when someone says something ridiculous, and we even advise our friends and family to "always look him in the ey...

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Behind the curse

Anthony North: It can get to you. It can grip you, turn you inside out, and even kill you. At least, that’s what some people believe. But even if you don’t believe, the idea of the curse can still send a frightening tingle down the spine. From witches sticking pins in an effigy, to the Voodoo bokor placing a curse on you, occult literature is full of incidences of successful curses, driving people mad and making them have accidents. But is there a reality to the curse? Coincidence: The usual sce...

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Egyptian tomb raider dies from 'curse'

Legend has it that the royal tombs of ancient Egypt were sealed with monstrous curses against all those who trespassed into the domain of the afterlife. In the tomb of the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamun, hieroglyphs were said to have spelled out a dreadful end for all those who entered.Howard Carter, the lead archaeologist who opened the tomb in 1923, wrote that "all sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt". But a German man has decided the curse of themummies is definitely ...

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The Curse of the Stolen Cloak

Copyright © Archaeology MagazineServandus, a Roman who lived in Britain around 1,700 years ago, was unhappy about having his cloak stolen. So he asked a god to destroy the culprit. This ancient case of petty larceny has now been reopened by archaeologists excavating in Leicester, England, where they uncovered a Latin "curse tablet" that targets the thief.The thin, rectangularsheet of lead, dating to the second or third century A.D. and measuring 7 by 3 inches, bears the in...

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Curse of the cocaine mummies

In the ancient world cocaine grew only in the Andes, so how did the Egyptian mummy of Ramses II have some on him ?Its an enduring mystery that has raised the serious possibility that ancient seafarers reached the Americas long before Christopher Columbus or even the vikings ever got there. In the movie, Contact, Jodie Foster plays an astronomer who establishes communication witha civilisation beyond our solar system. In a recent television program, The Curse of the Cocaine Mummies, a d...

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'Cursed' black diamond on display

A "cursed" black diamond, which has seen three former owners commit suicide, is to go on display in the UK for the first time.The Black Orlov, also known as The Eye of Brahma, was said to have been removed from a Hindu idol in India. This sacrilege allegedly led future owners of the precious stone to suffer violent deaths. The 67.5-carat gem will go on show at the Natural History Museum's Diamonds exhibition from Wednesday. The diamond's history is unclear, but legend tells...

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The "Superman" Curse

There is a sinister legend that Superman is a cursed role. Blood chills at the thought of it. Has every actor associated with the character of Superman, in addition to various performers and artists associated with The Man of Steel, suffered some strange disastrous fate after completing his or her work? Let's examine the evidence. Most tragic is the case of George Reeves, the beloved Superman of '50s television who was the victim of a bizarre and unexpected suicide (or was it m...

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"Curses" Plagued Film Set of "The Exorcist"

Spooky premonitions were reported. People succumbed under mysterious circumstances. Buildings spontaneously combusted. And that was just behind the scenes on "The Exorcist,'' the 1973 Oscar-winner about a cherubic 12-year-old named Regan, who, seemingly possessed by the devil, starts to levitate and spit green bile.Unduly nervous about how the adaptation of the William Peter Blatty bestseller would fare in release (itearned a then-whopping $8 million its opening weekend), Warn...

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