00:00.00 kinkella Hello and welcome back to the suudo archeology podcast episode 128 I'm your host Dr Andrew King Kella and we are talking about the curse of King Tu my friends and so let's get into the actual curse now. The tomb has been found. It's a media sensation. This is near the end of 1922 just to give us our little temporal spot there and of course it being so huge you get these flurry of stories and public reactions and. Every newspaper wanting to sell based on this right? It really is just this huge ah media event and a couple a couple months in like three months in or so there's a I believe it's a letter published. In New York world magazine where somebody just publishes this ah letter talking about you know that basically a curse will befall anyone who disturbs the dead there will be a dire punishment for. Anyone associated with this kind of thing just this general sort of your everyday clap trap of beware beware that kind of thing right? and I'm sure this kind of thing happened in yeah, all over the place right? The the idea just that general kind of cliche idea of. 01:29.81 kinkella If you disturb the dead well negative things shall shall befall you right? It's just sort of this this old trope that's been used forever and ever and ever but two weeks after the letter was published and we are now four months since the tomb was opened. Lord Carnarvin dies so because of the timing and now if we really think about it. Basically anyone dying in the first couple months after the tomb is open who's related to it in any way I mean dude, what are you going to say come on this is this is pseudo archeology at its easiest right. It's like oh the curse the curse the curse of king touch be fair lord car. All then you know, um, had Lord Kernarvin die well I already set up last time he was sickly. He was always sicken in frail health so what actually happened is he got a mosquito bite on his cheek and then he. Cut it shaving and then that got infected and ultimately the blood poisoning that came with that finally did him in but kind of like the king tut story. He was just frail with all kinds of other bad health problems anyway, so the actual fact that he died. Was not surprising to anyone not surprising to his family right? You know this is a frail person who you just know is going to go sooner rather than later. But after that there's this idea that the place is cursed it's cursed and you have 03:03.79 kinkella Other stories that are kind of rolled into this now I'll just tell you about some of the ones that I've heard some of the ones that I've seen online. Um I cannot I have no idea how true or false most of these are right? Ah, but. I have heard that ah when when carnarvin entered the tomb or when he died I'm unsure his dog howled at the Moon. Oh. 03:38.48 kinkella Okay I have heard that when carnarvin died or when the tomb was opened. Let's go with I have heard that when the tomb was opened that all the lights in Cairo. Went out but I'm kind of guessing if you're using 1922 electricity I bet that happens every 72 hours or so this one? Okay, this is one of my favorites that you guys might have heard I've heard that shortly after opening the tomb. Howard Carter while at the tomb sent a messenger back to his house. The messenger got there only to find that Howard's prized canary was being eaten by a snake that got into the canary's cage. That's my personal favorite. What the has do with the curse. Well, the snake is obviously symbolic of egyptian royalty. So it's king tut soul coming back and saying ha you denigrate my tomb I will eat your bird. 04:52.95 kinkella There's another one too of um, one of the people I think it was one of the assistants to to the project I forget because sometimes they're either assistants or they're tourists who kind of hung out for a while at the tomb. But. This guy after he visited the tomb his house burned down. Oh yeah, King Tut was like you desecrate the dead I'll burn your house down then he built his house again and then it flooded yes of King Tut was like oh yeah, oh I see you. With your newly built house I will unleash floods so those there there you go though? those are the people who are. Related to the curse right? The big ones the bit. The big one is of course Lord Kern Narvin it's like Lord Carn Arvin dies ah the curse and then it's like hey you have some other ones now if you go online, you'll see a couple other people listed um up to years after we got to remember the tomb is open in 1922 so and then I would say in the next decade so throughout the 20 s you'll have you'll have a handful of um, again either assistants or other archeologists or tourists who visit visit the site dying um usually from fevers or pneumonia. 06:22.24 kinkella Or very obvious diseases. They don't just drop dead like they caught this thing and then they died. Um, my favorite 1 was one of them who died in 1929 was the victim of a suspected smothering. 06:42.16 kinkella In a hotel room. How that's the curse I don't know I guess like King Tut was like I know it's been seven years since you desecrated my tomb but I'm going to send one of my minions to smother you beware beware my friends. The curse of king tut it's everywhere. Um, so that that's it. That's what you have and then finally I guess to to wrap it up. Howard Carter himself dies in I believe in 1939 dies over 16 years after he opens the tomb and he dies of cancer. He has cancer I believe he's he's 64 or something like that at at at the time of his death and that even that sixteen years later the curse of the tomb is well. If you open this decades from now you may die. It's pretty ah pretty ah inclusive curse I would say very inclusive. 07:57.60 kinkella So you know what? you know what I love about this though if you actually put a scientific um hat on and actually analyze this which which a handful of people have done. Just because it's been so much. You know oh king tut king Tut Cursa King tut they found that if you average out like the 30 people or so who who actively worked you know? yeah on this tomb. Um and follow out their life. History. They. Die go altogether. They died an average age of 73 which is 1 year more than the expected age of death for people of that era and of of that time. So the real curse of king tut is here ye hear? ye. Those who desecrate my tomb shall live an average of 1 year more than your fellow countrymen thus I have spoken and when we come back, let's wrap up the curse of king tut.