The Curse of the Pharaohs' Tombs

by Harrison Paul

  I’m used to having a curious label attached to my research into matters such as the Loch Ness Monster and curses. However, it is my belief that we should treat the unknown with respect, and fully research it until, in the words of Sherlock Holmes ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes, first used these lines in his February 1890 work, ‘The Sign of Four’. Conan Doyle was an ardent believer in the supernatural, including Egyptian curses, so the mysterious path we walk in search of answers to the great and often dark mysteries of the world is not a unique one! In 2009, during a research visit to Egypt, I dedicated much of my time initially to study in the Cairo museum, examining records of ancient documents and discussing the great pharaohs and curses with many scholars, before travelling to other areas of historical interest across the region. I visited dozens of tombs, worked on archaeological dig sites, and spoke with countless ‘experts’ in Egyptology along the way. My sole aim was to investigate curses, since this clearly interests many others across the globe. One thing became evident during my research and investigations: very few people feel comfortable discussing Egyptian curses, and most pass over the subject as though it doesn’t exist and is of no importance. When first mentioned in conversation it usually arouses a nervous titter, accompanied by an uncomfortable reaction of the eyes, which dart left to right, up and down, in the vain hope that the subject will be dropped from conversation. Yet privately the public are interested in such matters. Whenever I am asked to give a presentation or talk on the subject of Egyptian curses I do so to packed audiences.

  Upon returning home to England I received a typed letter from Egypt. It was from a person who was clearly well educated and knowledgeable. Without psycho-analysing that individual any further, the contents of the letter are disclosed here for the first time.

  My grandfather was a man named Asim, he was an intelligent and learned man who was able to speak with and understand visiting Westerners. He learned to speak English through his daily interaction with such people. My grandfather was a person whom others would call upon for advice and assistance, he was seen by many as clever and sensible, not one to elaborate or extinguish the truth, he was sombre, honest and above all, genuine. My father told me how Asim would read as many English-speaking books (of all kinds) that he could; he was especially interested in those that discussed European history. He wasn’t one to waste time on matters of no consequence, he cherished life and wanted to embrace as much of it as he could. He would say that knowledge was power and positive knowledge would ultimately help the world develop into a better place. I remember him saying that money and greed was the cause of much pain and anguish among people all over the world, he was a great believer in first, and foremost, providing for his family, caring for them and being able to support those he most cherished.

  Because he was so literate, he was well connected when it came to finding employment and in gaining managerial positions on things like archaeological digs. The manual workforce that supported the archaeologists’ searches across Egypt came from local communities; it was paid but extremely hard work in difficult conditions. It isn’t really expressed too much as being this way but Asim described it as being similar to slave labour. On many digs the workforce lived in small camps near to where excavations were taking place, the conditions were dreadful, food and drinks were available at set times only, the sanitary conditions weren’t great either. When the dig for Tutankhamun began, this was long before the tomb was discovered, Asim was among those Egyptians selected to aid excavations. The following letter is in his words not mine or those of anyone else. I am sir, your obedient servant Habbi

  A second, incomplete letter was enclosed. It read:

  Working in the desert wasn’t good for the soul or the mind, and it wasn’t good for the body. It was an expensive pastime and the archaeologists received monetary support from wealthy overseas benefactors, they were also restricted to strict timescales to carry out excavations in the Valley of the Kings and elsewhere, it was great pressure to deliver which they endured. In turn that pressure was put upon the workers some of whom would suffer as a result of the dismal moods of the archaeologists, this was more obvious when the benefactors came to visit excavation sites, there was an expectancy to deliver success, and not, as so happened in many instances, just desert sand!

  Workers were pushed to clear rubble and dig throughout the day, sometimes in searing sunshine and with no rest. The one thing I liked about Carter and Carnarvon was their ability to wander through excavation areas and communicate with the workforce, they seemed to understand how grueling it could be and made every effort to keep all the men happy and fit and healthy. They gave regular breaks and changed routines to keep everyone alert and interested. Carnarvon liked to talk to the local workers, he would ask their opinions and sought advice on local knowledge and beliefs and customs. He understood the men’s respect for the afterlife and their worries about what disturbing it could mean: it wasn’t discussed as a curse, but as an evil act of revenge that came from the afterlife for entering that world through the tombs.

  I can recall with great clarity the moment when the first step that led into the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered. Excavation sites were generally busy and hard-working places, where dozens of men were focused on the task in hand, for much of the time there was silence, then every so often when someone made a find there was much shouting and attention drawing to the area of the find. This was so that the archaeologists, who could not be everywhere at once, could be alerted to the find. The vast majority of finds were of small items of pottery so were easily uncovered and revealed. Yet when the first step of the tomb was found there was much more excited shouting, this was because it was obvious that it (the step) was part of a more substantial structure, within a few moments people were shouting, we have found it. For many minutes, work on the dig and in the entire area stopped, this was while the archaeologists visited and viewed the find. This time there was something very different about the atmosphere, the archaeologist dropped to his knees and with his hand, swept more sand clear. Carter arrived and removed further sand, I saw by the look in his eyes that the find was an important one. He shook the worker who made the discovery, by the hand and gave him a great hug, a huge cheer went up across the entire area of the dig. I heard Carter say that he couldn’t be sure of the significance because it was simply a step, however, he believed it could only be one thing, the entrance to a tomb. There was much concern because most archaeologists believed the tomb of King Tutankhamun would be more prominent, yet secluded in its location, this stone step had been found very close to the tomb of Ramesses VI.

  A different archaeologist, Theodore Davis, believed he had found the tomb of King Tutankhamun many years earlier, during his dig he discovered funerary artifacts that depicted the king’s name, he stopped his excavations because he was so sure he had unearthed all there was to find and all that remained in the Valley of the Kings. Carter was convinced there was more and that the tomb of King Tutankhamun had not been discovered by Davis. A meeting of archaeologists was called in one of the tents, and the area surrounding the tent was guarded so that only those present could know what was being discussed. I was close by sharing some water with some workers when I was called to the tent, there was much excited talking taking place and I was asked along with two other men to get a message sent to Lord Carnarvon to notify him that Carter had found something. Carter had scribbled the message onto a piece of paper, he was insistent that we should not tell anyone else about it and that we were to inform Lord Carnarvon that he would update him with more definite news when he was able. As I was about to leave I received a message telling me to put together a team of workers and to go to the step and sift away sand and debris. Carter did not wish to miss anything during the clearance we had to work carefully but with some haste because he knew we were close to something important.

  As the s
teps descended the more difficult it was for us to remove the sand because there was more of it, so more workers were drafted in to help remove it. It took days to clear twelve of the steps until we reached the upper part of a blocked entrance doorway. Carter was there observing everything and at night he had guards stand over the dig to ensure no one accessed it without his authority. It was late in the afternoon and he (Carter) looked closely at the upper part of the sealed door, he believed there would be a name or some other clue about what was inside. He found the impression of the Royal Necropolis and with that and from his belief of the design of the tomb doorway he believed this was a tomb that dated back to the 18th Dynasty. The excitement among many present at the dig site was clear, some workers urged Carter to proceed and enter, but many others, most of the men, asked him not do it while they were present in fear of the vengeance of the gods for entering this sacred place. Carter knew of the superstitions and dismissed them as nonsense. Many workers were openly sobbing and praying for their own and their families’ safekeeping.

  Carter instructed us to fill in the steps until further notice, and he would place guards around the area to stop unauthorised entry. There was little more any of us could do as we were forced to wait for Lord Carnarvon to attend the site before it could again be uncovered, this time exposing the entire doorway. It was over two weeks before Carnarvon could to get to the Valley of the Kings, and the site was prepared for the final dig, the day Carnarvon and his daughter (Lady Evelyn Herbert) got there, we uncovered sixteen steps in total that led directly down to the foot of the sealed entrance doorway. Carter and some of his fellows were quickly examining the door, he called out that he had found seals that bore Tutankhamun’s name. It was an incredible moment then suddenly Carter had everyone stop. He noticed that the tomb doorway had previously been broken through, he shouted that tomb robbers had been inside. There was a sense of dejection in his voice then he suddenly seemed elated. We were told this was because the tomb had been resealed thereby showing it had not been emptied. When the doorway was finally removed there was a general air of ill-feeling among many of the workers, not towards Carter or the archaeologists, but the concern that what they were part of was sinful and they would be punished by the underworld for such sacrilege.

  Behind the door was a passage filled with rock, Carter instructed workers to clear the debris from the area. This was the first time anyone had set foot inside that tomb for 3,000 years and it was Egyptian workers who were the first inside during the clearance. A chain of men was formed as the rocks were passed from inside the passage and out of the dig area. I can still recall the smell that came from inside that passage, it was sweet and sickly, I could smell it from the top of the access staircase, I had no reason to enter the tomb and didn’t want to, something felt wrong about it. Then, suddenly one of the workers inside the passage screamed out that the face of a black jackal or desert dog stared at him through the gloom, he was delirious, and after a few moments of manic screaming he fell to the floor in a deep faint. He was at once carried outside for air. I was surprised by the attitude of the archaeologists who insisted that the man be immediately replaced and the clearance work continue, they did not seem to have any care for him. The worker never regained consciousness, he never saw his family again, the last thing he had claimed to see was a black jackal or dog snarling at him, he expired in the Valley of the Kings. An Egyptian doctor said later that the man had died of fright!

  The clearance continued, and was about twelve feet along the passage when the two front workers, who were at the deepest point inside, both stopped working and ran out into the daylight. One of them, Imbram had the look of insanity about him, his eyes were wide open and bulging, his face white as death, he could not speak, he could only muster gurgling noises and he was shaking uncontrollably. The second worker, Fenzil, was also shaking, his entire body appeared to have gone into a seizure and his eyes were rolling in his head. He also claimed to see a tall black jackal/dog-headed man stood upright in the passageway, he said it possessed evil eyes and spoke without moving its mouth, it was snarling and warned both men to at once leave the tomb or unimaginable pains would be suffered by them and their family for all eternity. Imbram threw a rock at the creature, the rock flew through it into empty space. The threatening creature suddenly lunged towards him and grabbed hold of his hand, taking it in its mouth. Imbram screamed out in pain and in terror both men stumbled out of the tomb as quickly as they could. Lying on the desert sand, away from the tomb entrance, both men were delirious and shouted warnings to other local workers. Imbram was apparently the more damaged of the two men, he was taken away from the site and never recovered from the incident. He died several hours later.

  The physician who examined him before he expired claimed to notice several lacerations on his right hand, he commented that it was his belief these had been caused by manual labour and the handling of heavy rocks. Fenzil survived for several days before his body painfully gave up after his lungs exploded! He was in a constant state of fever and talked incessantly of death being at his side with the gods of the Duat (realm of the dead) tormenting his last living hours by torturing his mind with voices and images of violent death. He claimed the boy king (Tutankhamun) was angered by the intrusion of his tomb and had wished vengeance on those who violated his final resting place. In the final moments before his death, Fenzil suddenly became lucid and explained to his family that in the madness that prevailed through his illness, he spoke the truth, the jackal god was real and had damned him for eternity. He warned his family not to disrupt the peace of the tombs or they too would suffer as he had.

  Howard Carter had been present at the time of the incidents and was kept informed of the ill workers’ fate. He dismissed all suggestions that dead guardians of the underworld had risen and were protecting the tomb. He told key workers, such as myself, to promote calm and deny all talk of the afterlife and evil vengeful protectors of the tomb. Workers were told that should they be heard talking of such things on site or elsewhere they would be removed from the dig and immediately replaced. This ensured that control of the excavations was maintained by the lead archaeologists and that the workers did what was asked of them and no more. It was a very difficult situation because of the fear that existed, natural explanations were given for the deaths such as the men already suffering ill health. At no point was there was any thought given to stopping the clearance of the tomb, it seemed to me that the health of Egyptian workers was of secondary value, they were expendable.

  Soon other strange unaccountable occurrences began to happen, and discontent gradually spread through the workforce as a common belief that the deaths were an act of vengeance from the gods of the Duat who protected this tomb. One worker close to the outer entrance doorway of the tomb refused to go any further into the passageway, he claimed to hear the wailing voices of the dead commanding the spirits of the underworld to rise. Two other men claimed to see the jackal/dog-headed god standing guard, growling and staring menacingly at them. It was only when archaeologists physically supported the clearance of the passageway that some order was restored, all the workforce was distracted by the singing of songs and this helped with the speed in which the passageway was cleared. The guards who watched over the tomb after darkness had fallen spoke of hearing voices coming from the passageway and inside the tomb, but when an archaeologist was called he dismissed this claim as wind whistling through the narrow chamber. Yet the guards claimed it was not the wind but the sounds of many people talking in a manner that they described as though they were speaking to the gods in prayer.