An acquaintance of mine has a great prejudice towards archaeologists, contemptuously calling them "grave diggers." And, probably, he is not alone in his views. Desecration of graves at all times and among all peoples was considered one of the most terrible crimes.
Disturbing the ashes of the dead run the risk of running into big trouble. The heroes of Stephen Sommers' blockbuster "The Mummy" were convinced of this. They opened the ancient tomb and released the forces of evil hidden in the body of the chief priest of Egypt Imhotep, for the terrible crime of the damned and buried alive.
"So it's in the movies!" - you say. But even in life, "white" and "black" archaeologists, enthusiastically unearthing ancient burial mounds and opening tombs, despite warnings about possible consequences, often pay the dearest price for their insolence.
Fatal lot
About three thousand years ago, the body of the deceased Egyptian princess Amen-Ra was placed in a decorated wooden coffin and buried in a tomb on the banks of the Nile, in Luxor. In 1890, some subjects, who can be safely attributed to the "black" archaeologists, dug up her remains.
The "grave diggers" offered their find to four wealthy English tourists, who were brought to the excavation site by evil fate. The British liked the beautiful sarcophagus so much that they decided to buy it. Lots were cast for who would get this treasure. The winner paid several thousand pounds and sent the sarcophagus to the hotel. Then for some reason he rushed towards the desert - and disappeared forever in its sands.
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The second party to the deal was accidentally shot in the hand by an Egyptian servant from a gun the next day. The limb had to be amputated. The third of the four, returning to England, learned that he had become bankrupt, having lost all his savings on the stock exchange. The fourth fell seriously ill, lost his job and ended up selling matches on the street.
It is unknown what became of those who dug up the tomb. History is also silent about how the coffin of Princess Amen-Ra came to England. Here the artifact has changed several owners, and most of them died under rather strange circumstances. Here is what one of them wrote in his diary: “When I tried to look into the eyes of the mummy, or rather at the place where they once were, at some point it began to seem to me that the embalmed body was showing signs of life - her look expressed so much hatred that my blood was cold in my veins …"
In the end, this thrill-seeker decided to resell the sarcophagus to a London businessman who wanted to add to his collection of Egyptian artifacts. The seller's body was soon found in a dark alley with a knife in his heart.
And the buyer started a black streak in his life: three of his relatives died in a traffic accident, and the house burned down (the sarcophagus was not damaged at all). The businessman realized that these incidents had something to do with the mummy, which was obviously cursed, and hastened to donate it to the British Museum.
The mess at the British Museum
On the way to the museum, under the wheels of a wagon carrying the sarcophagus, a stupid passer-by got into and was seriously injured. Then one of the workers carrying the load into the museum stumbled on the stairs, fell and broke his leg. His friend, who was in good health, died suddenly a few days later.
The sarcophagus was placed in the Egyptian hall of the museum. And it was then that the indignant spirit of the princess manifested itself in full.
The night watchmen now and then heard someone groaning, sobbing and desperately pounding on the lid in the coffin. These afterlife sounds chilled the soul, drove me crazy. And the next morning, museum workers, entering the Egyptian hall, found that many of the exhibits had been displaced or scattered throughout the hall. When one watchman died during the night watch, his partner hurried to resign. And then one of the cleaning ladies, wiping the dust from the sarcophagus, allowed herself to mockingly twirl the rag in front of the face painted on it - and soon her son died of measles.
The museum's management decided not to tempt fate anymore and moved the mummy to the storeroom. However, after that, one of the movers became seriously ill, and the caretaker in charge of transporting the sarcophagus was found dead at a work table.
Rumors spread throughout the capital of an evil spirit living in the British Museum. One quick reporter decided to cash in on a photograph of a terrifying sarcophagus. After developing the film and printing a photograph, he found that a monstrous face was looking at him from the photograph. The shocked young man shot himself the same evening at home.
Evil remains evil
After a while, the museum got rid of the ominous exhibit, selling it to a private collection. The buyer immediately began a series of misfortunes. Finally, he removed the mummy to the attic.
The famous theosophist and occultist Helena Blavatsky once visited this house. As soon as she entered, she immediately thrashed in a violent seizure. Having regained consciousness, she went around the house in search of an unusually strong source of evil and finally reached the attic, where she found the sarcophagus. The owner asked her:
- Can you banish this evil spirit?
“Evil spirits cannot be driven out,” Blavatsky replied. - Evil remains evil forever. There is nothing you can do about it. I beg you to get rid of this evil as soon as possible!
But it turned out to be not so easy to follow this advice. The fame of the sinister artifact spread throughout the civilized world, and no one wanted to contact him.
But in the end, such a daredevil was found. It turned out to be Lord Canterville, an English aristocrat and a passionate collector. He was a very superstitious person and knew that a terrible curse was inscribed on the sarcophagus that would strike anyone who dared to disturb the princess's peace. But the temptation to possess a legendary artifact turned out to be stronger than fear. The lord hoped that if he did not open the sarcophagus, the curse would not overtake him.
Three sea disasters
Indeed, for a while Canterville owned his treasure without incident. And then he decided to present the sarcophagus at an exhibition in New York. He booked himself a cabin on the world's best liner of the time, and a place was reserved for the sarcophagus in the cargo hold. And everything would be fine, only this ship was called "Titanic".
As you know, on the night of April 15, 1912, he sank, colliding with an iceberg (according to the official version), and killed more than one and a half thousand people. And what about the mummy? It is likely that she did not sink. There were witnesses who saw Lord Canterville take her with him to the lifeboat, despite the protests of other passengers. Others claim that they noticed this sarcophagus floating on the surface of the ocean, among other belongings of the Titanic.
Be that as it may, in 1914 Princess Amen-Ra appeared again to the world. The new owner of the sarcophagus was a wealthy Canadian from Montreal. He soon became disillusioned with his dangerous acquisition and decided to send the mummy back to England on a ship called the Queen of Ireland.
However, shortly after leaving the port, this steamer collided with a Norwegian vessel. As a result, 1,029 people died. The Canadian himself survived. But after that, he had a vision that the princess's spirit would not rest until the coffin returned to its rightful place in Luxor.
Therefore, in order to save the world from the curse that took the lives of so many people, the Canadian decided to return the mummy to Egypt. The ship, which he boarded with his dangerous cargo, departed from New York on May 1, 1915.
And six days later he was attacked by a German submarine. The torpedo launched by her sent the steamer to the bottom, killing 1200 people. The Canadian survived again, but all his life he suffered from mental breakdown, unable to survive the fact that so many people died through his fault.
Despite all the efforts of doctors and scientists, it was not possible to find out from the owner what happened to the mummy. Most likely, the sarcophagus remained in the hold of the sunken steamer and now rests on the seabed somewhere near the Irish coast. And God forbid, if some treasure seeker one day raises it to the surface. After all, the curse of the princess Amen-Ra remains in force until she returns to Luxor.
Valery NIKOLAEV