The Curse of the Pharaohs' Tombs

by Harrison Paul

  For twenty days the voyage went as planned: the sailing was good and very few problems were encountered. The pontoon appeared relatively stable. Some of the crew were to later recall hearing strange moaning noises that were apparently ‘human like’. At times there was the sound of rhythmic incantations in an unknown foreign language, but some crew members dismissed the sounds as the mind playing tricks on them. These men, however, were well used to the strange ways of the sea: they recognised the sounds of the wind and waters. It was also said that a curious suffocating atmosphere prevailed on both vessels, as though the men were in a dreamlike state.

  Matters took a turn for the worse on 14 October 1877, when, as both vessels travelled through the Bay of Biscay, a violent storm erupted and the seas transformed from a manageable swell to huge waves that lashed over the vessels. The Cleopatra began to roll wildly, to such an extent that its safety and security became a real concern. The crews of both vessels fought desperately against the wind and waves in an attempt to maintain course and control, but the unrelenting storm was relentless in its battering. Eventually, after an epic battle that had lasted several hours, one end of the pontoon containing the obelisk disappeared below the surface, causing the opposite end to rise upright out of the water. The sinking and loss of the Cleopatra seemed certain.

  The crew continued to frantically battle against the elements. Six volunteer crewmen – William Askin, Michael Burns, James Gardiner, William Donald, Joseph Benbow and William Patan – all died during the struggle with the raging seas. Captain Carter and five other crew members were fortunate to be rescued and were taken on board the Olga.

  Shortly after midnight the situation became so desperate that the decision was made to cut the Cleopatra free of the Olga, and allow it to sink of its own accord. It was with great reluctance that Captain Booth, believing the battle was lost, abandoned the Cleopatra to her fate and prepared to make sail for England minus the obelisk.

  Unknown to anyone onboard the Olga, however, instead of sinking the pontoon somehow righted itself. Against all odds, it remained afloat for a further sixty hours, when it was eventually located and picked up by the steamer Fitzmaurice and safely towed to the port of Vigo, Spain, where it was kept awaiting collection.

  In England, a tugboat was especially adapted to sail to Spain to collect the Cleopatra and bring it to London. There were further stories of mysterious voices, wailing and incantations being heard by crew members during this journey, but no further calamities occurred. So the Cleopatra eventually arrived in the River Thames, where it was towed to its final resting position by the paddle tug Anglia, under the command of Captain David Glue. Crowds of people stood on the banks of the river to witness the spectacle; in Kent, schoolchildren were given a ‘day off’ to watch the Cleopatra pass by.

  Eventually, on 12 September 1878, the needle was erected in its current location on the Thames Embankment. Two bronze Sphinxes sit at its base, facing the wrong way (it is claimed that Queen Victoria thought this pose was more aesthetically pleasing). They should be facing away from the obelisk (not towards it), to protect and defend it. These statues were added later, having been designed by George John Vulliamy and created at the Ecclestone Iron Works in Pimlico in 1881. They bear the inscription ‘The good god, Thuthmosis III, given life.’

  Two earthenware jars were buried in the front part of the pedestal beneath the Needle. Alongside them, it is said, were buried:

  Photographs of twelve English beauties of the day

  A box of hairpins

  A box of cigars

  Several tobacco pipes

  A baby’s bottle

  Some children’s toys

  A shilling razor

  A hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in the erection

  A 3 inch bronze model of the monument

  A complete set of British coins

  A rupee

  A portrait of Queen Victoria

  A written history of the strange tale of the transport of the monument

  Plans on vellum

  A translation of the inscriptions

  Copies of the Bible in several languages

  A copy of Whitaker’s Almanac

  A Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London

  Copies of ten daily newspapers

  As for the vessel Cleopatra, her task was complete, and she was sent for scrap!

  There is a definite belief that Cleopatra’s Needle is cursed, which is reinforced by the unfortunate circumstances that surround its trip to London. A high number of deaths by suicide have occurred in its vicinity; it seems to be a magnet for sinister activity. It is claimed by some that the curse was placed on the monolith by the pharaoh Rameses II. He modified the original hieroglyphics on the needle in around 1300 BC, changing the meaning from prayers to Ra the sun god, to prayers about himself! The self-proclaimed world’s most evil man, Aleister Crowley, was totally convinced that the Rameses II carvings contained a magical spell that preserved the soul of the dead pharaoh within the stone of the needle.

  Crowley was obsessed with the monument and was known to have acquired a human skeleton that he regularly took to the needle in the dark of night. There he would feed animal blood to the skeleton, in the belief that it would return to life with Rameses II’s reincarnated spirit. There have also been reports of deep, mocking laughter coming from within the Needle, and sightings of a dark shadowy figure majestically moving around the Needle’s base that disappears when approached by a living human entity. Others have heard and seen six shadow figures wailing at the foot of the monument, their sobbing sounds turning into desperate screams of anguish. These figures, many claim, are those of the six crewmen who lost their lives attempting to bring the Needle to London.

  Believers in the curse claim that Cleopatra’s Needle was the first monument in London to be hit during a First World War air raid. A mounted plaque on the Sphinx to the right of the obelisk (as one faces the Thames), incorrectly states:

  THE SCARS THAT DISFIGURE THE PEDESTAL OF THE OBELISK, THE BASES OF THE SPHINXES, AND THE RIGHT HAND SPHINX, WERE CAUSED BY FRAGMENTS OF A BOMB DROPPED IN THE ROADWAY CLOSE TO THIS SPOT, IN THE FIRST RAID ON LONDON BY GERMAN AEROPLANES A FEW MINUTES BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON TUESDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER 1917.

  The detail on the plaque is wrong: the air raid of 4 September 1917 was not the first raid on London by German aeroplanes. Gotha bombers had carried out daylight raids on the city during June and July 1917, and there had been a further daylight bombing of the capital on 28 November 1916. The first night raid carried out by German aeroplanes took place on 6 May 1917.

  A further apparition is often seen by the obelisk at night or early in the morning: a naked man who runs from behind the monument and jumps into the dirty cold water of the Thames. A loud splash is heard as the waters engulf him without any sign of surface disturbance. No one knows who the spirit represents. It is said he was a late Victorian disciple of Rameses II who was driven insane by the spell of the Needle; he turned into a killer and ended his own life within the shadow of the Needle. The shadowy figure was believed to be the serial killer known as the Thames Torso Killer: the crimes associated with that individual are said to have stopped in 1889.

  In 1993 a more amazing, yet equally sinister claim was made about the Needle, this time relating to what might be buried beneath it: sacred and magical tools that originated from within the Great Pyramid of King Cheops in Egypt. It was claimed by scholar and researcher Robert Bauval that in 1872, civil engineer Waynman Dixon was asked to go to Egypt to carry out survey work at the pyramids. There he visited the Great Pyramid and began to investigate one of its large internal rooms, the Queen’s Chamber. During his investigation he discovered a tunnel and began to explore it. Some six feet along its length he came across three mysterious ritual objects which he removed. They were:

  A hook-like bronze implement known as a pesash-kaf; this instrument was used by ancient Egyptian surveyors, possibly during the construction of major buildings in
cluding the Pyramids. It was also used by ancient priests to open the mouths of the dead, thus allowing the corpse to ‘breathe’ and be reborn into the next life.

  A granite or dolomite sphere about the size of a cricket ball, believed to have been used during pyramid construction as an implement to smooth rough stone.

  A five-inch length of cedar wood which was a small part of a larger item. It had been broken off and was believed to be a builder’s measuring rod.

  Waynman Dixon’s brother John, who was a prominent British Freemason, arrived in Cairo a short time after the find had been made and was given the relics by his brother. Both men then travelled to Alexandria to examine the great obelisk that later became known as Cleopatra’s Needle, which they wanted to bring to England. It is worth noting that Egyptian pyramids and obelisks were of great importance to Freemasons a century ago. Many believe that the Great Pyramid was an ancient Masonic temple! Sir Erasmus Wilson, who put up the money to bring the Needle to London, was himself a leading British Freemason and engaged John Dixon to arrange its passage. Dixon also designed the pedestal upon which the Needle stands, and the suggestion is that he placed the ancient sacred relics taken from the Great Pyramid within the pedestal.

  A group of tourists visiting London in 2012 contacted the author to explain a strange occurrence that had taken place at night next to the Needle. The group, consisting of four women and five men, had been walking along the Embankment and had collectively heard the sound of singing voices. As they neared the obelisk, the sounds grew louder and were described as being not dissimilar to a group of men chanting. The sounds stopped and one of the men saw a movement right next to the Needle. It was, he believed, the form of a dog-headed man crouched over a laid-out corpse. The figure looked as if it was carrying out some operation on the head of the body. In one hand it appeared to hold a stick-like object. As he called to others in the group to look, they all saw the crouched figure move to a standing position, then disappear inside the stone needle. Rushing to the scene they could find no evidence to support what they had all witnessed, so they set about trying to disprove it as a trick of the light. No matter how hard they tried, no rational explanation was obvious. Shadows from the road did not cast shapes or forms in the area where the sighting took place, and there was no chanting noise.

  Somewhat disturbed by the incident, they opted to believe that it must have been some form of trickery and they continued on their way. They were hardly twenty-five yards from the Needle when one of the group looked back and again saw the shadow of a tall dog-headed man appear, and bend down over what looked like a prostrate human form. Within moments, the chanting sound had resumed.

  I have visited Cleopatra’s Needle on the Thames Embankment countless times and carried out various lighting tests to check what shadows are cast and how. I have been unable to recreate anything like the shadows witnessed by the group of tourists, even deliberately it is virtually impossible to mimic what they saw. I questioned each member of the group and asked them to describe the image, particularly the dog-headed man. The sketches produced were almost identical and are shockingly similar to Anubis, although no one in the group claimed or professed to know anything about Cleopatra’s Needle or ancient Egypt. They were in London for a week’s holiday.

  As for the chanting noise the group heard? Well, the River Thames and passing boat traffic are just a few feet from the Embankment walk, so it could be that noise was emanating from a vessel. Or the sound could have come from road and vehicular noise; in-car entertainment systems are played loudly by some drivers. On its own noise or sounds aren’t strong evidence of mysterious goings-on. But in conjunction with the sightings it certainly seems sinister.

  I do not believe in coincidence and for me there are too many different anecdotes and details about Cleopatra’s Needle for them all to be totally unfounded. If you include recorded deaths, suicides and historical anecdotes, somewhere in the region of seventy deaths are connected to Cleopatra’s Needle. That’s far too many for me to readily dismiss as coincidence or accidental. So is Cleopatra’s Needle in London cursed? I leave it to you to decide!

  Chapter 6

  The Dog-Headed Men

  The archetypal Western image of an Egyptian god is that of a human form with an animal head, usually that of jackal or dog, like Anubis, although it can be a human with a bird head, such as Thoth. This isn’t an image that has been deliberately inflicted upon us by our modernday culture but rather, through the ancient drawings found inside tombs and at temples that were produced by the Egyptians themselves. There exists a veritable pantheon of such strange and curious looking entities, all of which were worshipped by the people and the great pharaohs themselves. Yet such creatures not only feature in Egyptian culture, but in other civilisations too. The creature we are concerned with here is the dog-headed man, which often appears in tales of curses. A dog-headed creature is sometimes referred to as a cynocephalus, meaning a two-legged human being with the head of a dog. In many cultures such creatures are viewed as savage and a threat. The most infamous of all dog-headed men is the Egyptian god Anubis, yet it was a Greek physician, Ctesias, who first documented such beings in the fifth century BC. He claimed that many such people lived in caves in the mountains of India, communicating by barking at one another and eating nothing but raw meat. He went on to state that these beings kept sheep and fought with swords, bows and spears that were exchanged for amber from fruit trees. He wrote:

  The Kynokephaloi living on the mountains do not practise any trade but live by hunting. When they have killed an animal they roast it in the sun. They also rear numbers of sheep, goats, and asses, drinking the milk of the sheep and whey made from it. They eat the fruit of the Siptakhora, whence amber is procured, since it is sweet. They also dry it and keep it in baskets, as the Greeks keep their dried grapes. They make rafts which they load with this fruit together with well-cleaned purple flowers and 260 talents of amber, with the same quantity of the purple dye, and 1000 additional talents of amber, which they send annually to the king of India. They exchange the rest for bread, flour, and cotton stuffs with the Indians, from whom they also buy swords for hunting wild beasts, bows, and arrows, being very skilful in drawing the bow and hurling the spear. They cannot be defeated in war, since they inhabit lofty and inaccessible mountains. Every five years the king sends them a present of 300,000 bows, as many spears, 120,000 shields, and 50,000 swords.

  They do not live in houses, but in caves. They set out for the chase with bows and spears, and as they are very swift of foot, they pursue and soon overtake their quarry. The women have a bath once a month, the men do not have a bath at all, but only wash their hands. They anoint themselves three times a month with oil made from milk and wipe themselves with skins. The clothes of men and women alike are not skins with the hair on, but skins tanned and very fine. The richest wear linen clothes, but they are few in number. They have no beds, but sleep on leaves or grass. He who possesses the greatest number of sheep is considered the richest, and so in regard to their other possessions. All, both men and women, have tails above their hips, like dogs, but longer and more hairy. They are just, and live longer than any other men, 170, sometime 200 years.

  Elsewhere, such creatures were frequently recorded. Herodotus, a Greek historian of the 5th century BC, reported:

  For the eastern region of Libya, which the Nomads inhabit, is low-lying and sandy as far as the Triton river; but the land west of this, where the farmers live, is exceedingly mountainous and wooded and full of wild beasts. In that country are the huge snakes and the lions, and the elephants and bears and asps, the horned asses, the Kunokephaloi (Cynocephali) (Dog-Headed) and the Headless Men that have their eyes in their chests, as the Libyans say, and the wild men and women, besides many other creatures not fabulous.

  The Greek Aelian (On Animals), when writing about natural history in the 2nd century AD, wrote:

  In the same part of India as the [crimson-dye] beetles, are born the Kynokephaloi
(Cynocephali) (Dog-Heads), as they are called – a name which they owe to their physical appearance and nature. For the rest they are of human shape and go about clothed in the skins of beasts; and they are upright and injure no man; and though they have no speech they howl; yet they understand the Indian language. Wild animals are their food, and they catch them with the utmost ease, for they are exceedingly swift of foot; and when they have caught them they kill and cook them, not over a fire but by exposing them to the sun’s heat after they have shredded them into pieces. They also keep goats and sheep, and while their food is the flesh of wild beasts, their drink is the milk of the animals they keep. I have mentioned them along with brute beasts, as is logical, for their speech is inarticulate, unintelligible, and not that of man.

  After traversing the Egyptian oasis one is confronted for seven whole days with utter desert. Beyond this live the human Kynoprosopoi (Cynoprosopi) (Dog-Faces) along the road that leads to Aithiopia (Ethiopia). It seems that these creatures live by hunting gazelles and antelopes; further, they are black in appearance, and they have the head and teeth of a dog. And since they resemble this animal, it is very natural that I should mention them here [in a book on Animals]. They are however not endowed with speech, but utter a shrill squeal. Beneath their chin hangs down a beard; we may compare it with the beards of Drakones, and strong and very sharp nails cover their hands. Their whole body is covered with hair – another respect in which they resemble dogs. They are very swift of foot and know the regions that are inaccessible: that is why they appear so hard to capture.

  It occurs to me now to mention the following additional facts relating to Kynokephaloi (Cynocephali) [thought to derive from travellers’ accounts of baboons]. If a Kynokephalos finds some edible object with a shell on it (I mean almonds, acorns, nuts) its strips the shell off and cleans it out, after first breaking it most intelligently, and it knows that the contents are good to eat but that the outside is to be thrown away. And it will drink wine, and if boiled or cooked meat is served to it, it will eat its fill; and it likes well-seasoned food, but food boiled without any care it dislikes. If it wears clothes, it is careful of them; and it does everything else that I have described. If you put it while still tiny to a woman’s breast, it will suck the milk like a baby.