The Curse of King Tutankhamun's Tomb

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Untimely deaths followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter. Coincidence or ancient curse? When the tomb of King Tutankhamun was sealed more than 3000 years ago, it was rumoured to be protected by a curse, which would ruin the life of anyone who disturbed the pharaoh's final resting place. A mere two weeks after the tomb was discovered in 1922, one of the explorers died from a fatal mosquito bite. This wasn't the end of the bad luck, there was more to come... Anthony and Maddy are joined by Egyptologist Campbell Price to unpick fact from fiction, and get to the bottom of one of the most notorious curses in the world.

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After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, we're your host's Anthony Delaney and Maddie Pelling.
0:03.7	And if you would like After Dark myths, misdeeds and the paranormal, ad free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
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0:20.7	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.
0:24.8	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:37.4	The sun beats down on the beginning of the season in the Valley of the Kings.
0:38.3	Only in the winter does the temperature dip enough to allow for tourism and, more importantly, excavation.
0:44.3	But at 2pm on November the 26th, 1922, it's still very hot.
0:49.3	All around the sounds of tools against hard earth ceased.
0:53.3	Anyone who isn't assembled around the ancient stairway
0:56.0	cut into the ground is watching silently from afar.
0:59.0	At the bottom of the steps, through a sealed outer door
1:03.0	and down a passageway cleared of debris over the last few weeks,
1:06.0	British Egyptologist Howard Carter, a man in his late 40s,
1:10.0	is focused on the task at hand.
1:13.2	Trembling, he makes a tiny hole in the top left-hand corner of the door, and with an iron
1:19.0	testing rod tests its depth. It passes straight through. There is a space there, one that
1:25.1	isn't packed with rubble, a chamber perhaps. As he tests the air for
1:30.6	foul gases and widens the hole to glimpse inside the chamber, the candle flickers as a rush of
1:36.1	air escapes. Now, exact numbers vary, but within a decade of Howard Carter's discovery, several of those present will have died from mysterious illnesses and strange accidents.
1:48.7	Others, gifted with loot from the tomb, will be blighted with fire and flood.
1:53.9	As this air, which escapes from its centuries-long burial beneath the bedrock of Egypt,
	...

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