Case file · Haunting
The 'curse of the pharaohs'
Lord Carnarvon, who financed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb, died at the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo on 5 April 1923 of an infected mosquito bite. The press quickly announced a pharaoh's curse.
1923 CE · 30.05, 31.25 · status: explained
The account
Newspapers said Cairo's lights went out at the moment of his death and that his dog howled and died in England. Marie Corelli had just warned of dire punishment, and every later death connected to the excavation was added to the 'curse'. Arthur Conan Doyle blamed 'elementals' left by the priests.
The sceptical view
No curse inscription was found on the tomb. A 2002 study in the BMJ found that people present at the opening lived no shorter than others, and Howard Carter himself lived until 1939.