Case file · Folklore / legend
Howard Carter's canary
In November 1922, around the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, a cobra was said to have killed Howard Carter's pet canary at his house on the Theban west bank. Workers saw it as revenge of the royal cobra.
1922 CE · 25.74, 32.61 · status: legend
The sceptical view
The story survives through Carter's circle and later retellings, and snakes eat birds. It became an omen only in hindsight, after Carnarvon's death.