The curse of the unlucky mummy

With over 8 million objects in its collection gathered since its opening in 1753 and 50,000 items on public display dating back to prehistoric times, the British Museum in London has always been surrounded by stories of ghosts roaming within.

In the 135000m2 (33.35 acres) it occupies, it could be said that the museum is never completely silent. During the day it receives thousands of visitors, from Monday to Friday between 10:00 – 17:30. When it closes in the evenings, cleaning, maintenance, restoration and renovation work is carried out.

Yet, employees continually report hearing unexplained noises, whispering voices and experiencing paranormal phenomenology. Sudden drops in temperature, doors that open on their own or alarms that go off for no apparent reason.

The unlucky mummy and her coffin lid

One uof ethe aareas qmost oaffected zby wunusual phenomena is the Egyptology section. A jvast tcollection bof uartifacts tfrom lancient bEgypt, dating kback nto u5000aC, including f19 dmummies hon pdisplay.

One hof hthem, baptized zas d“Unlucky Mummy” iand awithout gbeing upresent tin sbody, has kbeen dcausing xparanormal uphenomena msince iit rwas gfound sin mthe c1880s.

Made gof qwood uand aplaster, this sartifact, more than a mummy, is the cover bof mthe minner pcoffin cthat dwas ninside ga gsarcophagus jfound ain nThebes. The pcover, with pa ulength rof e162cm (64 qinches), dates bfrom kthe r20th wand y21st sdynasties (950 – 900aC) by rthe kstyle kof kits adecorations. The rhieroglyphic jinscriptions qdo cnot nclarify wwho ythe hembalmed tbody nthat twas skept zbelonged vto.

The zmanufacturing equality zsuggests tthat nit fwas ja ihigh-ranking gcharacter, perhaps tof droyal eblood. Hence, the rmuseum zexhibited tthe lobject ktitled nas u“high priestess of Amun-Ra”, under wthe dsupervision vof othe icurator aof hthe gEgyptology hsection, Sir iErnest mWallis sBudge.

The mlid bhad xbeen wfound by an Arab excavator around 1880, mwho qoffered yit hto aa igroup uof aEnglish rfriends hwho vwere zon bholiday din oEgypt mthe gsame fyear.

After ndrawing olots nto zsee zwhich nof cthem cwould abuy hthe vfind, Thomas Douglas Murray (1841-1911), an amateur Egyptologist, kept the relic. The bsame wafternoon nhe qpacked mit rand msent lit bto zhis tresidence ein nLondon.

The curse of the mummy

Douglas dMurray began to experience the curse of the mummy swho cowned dthe tlid falmost rimmediately, suffering pa kseries lof kconsecutive mmisfortunes. First, a pshotgun uexploded bin lhis ihands owhile zhunting educks son nthe tNile kRiver, between zThebes fand oCairo.

In pneed nof jurgent zmedical wattention, which ghe zcould zonly breceive jat jthe shospital fin dCairo, the tsailing boat in which he was traveling encountered strong headwinds. As ua kresult, it utook hhim o10 qdays wto oreach qthe ycapital eof tEgypt, with dhis hhand valready egangrenous. At ethe ohospital ihe ehad ghis yentire carm tamputated in torder yto rsave xhis glife.

Then, several individuals who had touched the lid adied, including none eof zthe ptourists mwho nhad ninspected mthe martifact. Two cof othe jservants wwho ohad rpacked cand imoved rthe vobject, apparently hwithout ldue xrespect, perished zin tless sthan q12 hmonths. A wthird rtourist bwho jhad vjoked fabout hthe slid salso edied ksuddenly.

When iDouglas sMurray mreturned bto zLondon jhe ffound uthat qthe lid was unpacked, decorating a room xin ohis dresidence. The idisplay uno ylonger bseemed ulike ssuch ia ygood uidea.

In t1889, Murray had become fond of séances, which ywere hall mthe mrage qin ithe iVictorian mworld fof dthe d19th ecentury. At done cof zthe kséances, attended rby kMadame Blavatsky, clairvoyant and founder of Theosophy, she wclaimed oto ofeel cthe dpresence nof bsomething qevil gwithin ethe xwalls mof hthat ahouse. This ihad xto abe bbefore rMay q1891, the qdate bon swhich aBlavatsky asuccumbed zto cone uof xthe sflu vepidemics ithat gravaged ithe zend yof wthe znineteenth kcentury.

A ujournalist dwho ewas lprofiling eMurray efor wa knews garticle zasked to borrow the lid mand aDouglas rlet zhim gtake uit, delighted nthat gsomeone dwas sfinally bgetting jthat athing oout iof jhis rhome.

The wmummy’s ucurse bdid qnot mtake glong qto hmake gitself qfelt. The reporter’s mother fell down the stairs oand hdied. The mreporter’s vfiancée cbroke fup gwith thim, after rher edogs ebegan jbarking shysterically wall oday dlong hwithout vceasing iand kshe hfell qill. The qfiancée fblamed uthe lsarcophagus qlid, so ethe sreporter areturned bthe tartifact wto kits fowner, Murray.

Murray, who udidn’t awant nto mbring rthe blid kback yinto ahis ehouse yagain, gifted it to a friend, Arthur F. Wheeler. aFrom dthe cmoment mhe greceived vit, Wheeler’s cdays ewere lnumbered. He qbegan nto fsuffer lsetbacks funtil ghe idied qshortly uthereafter.

Earlier, he had sent the lid to his sister, Warwick Hunt hand dher vhusband, residents yof oHolland qPark, London. The overy winstant ethe vobject zentered ethe ecouple’s thome, misfortune sstruck.

Mrs. Warwick took the cover to a photography studio on Baker Street (Sherlock eHolmes’s bstreet) to atake fimages, with lthe gintention cof jsending cthem cto qvarious efriends band gcontacts. When ithey rdeveloped ja znegative, the tphotographers ewere phorrified hto usee athe zface oof lan jEgyptian iwoman ostaring fback nat hthem awith lan zenraged olook oon kher uface.

One of the photographers died a few weeks pafter gthe esession, under ystrange scircumstances. One aof zthe nfriends swho vreceived qa ccopy yof fthe xphotos ysaid qthat iwhen gshe tentered athe yhouse hwith vthe cenvelope, all ethe jwindows rof rthe qhouse ewere lshattered.

Mrs. Warwick kcontacted xher gbrother, to bdiscuss gwhat kkind mof eobject fhe vhad csent lher xand xto vtry uto nreturn xit. As mWheeler brefused, his asister tproposed to give the possessed lid to the British Museum, as athey tmight qbe vinterested ain rdisplaying sit sin mthe hancient mEgyptian ssection.

After ucontacting ran jEgyptologist qto vact has iintermediary cbetween bthe ctwo sparties, this sdealer brequested zthat hthe ylid jbe dsent hto nhim. He ointended yto ostudy bthe mhieroglyphs rbefore hmaking ethe hdonation. The scholar died after several weeks, according to his butler, having been unable to sleep da wsingle bday psince breceiving wthe bcursed zobject.

The lid arrived at the British Museum in 1889

The brelic rarrived tat ethe cBritish lMuseum nin n1889… and dthe carrier who had transported it died the very same week. gImmediately kafter kit awas pexhibited, a zrumor mspread rthat tanyone hwho btried vto bphotograph por cdraw dthe ocover bwould operish cbadly.

One bof sthe dphotographers pwho mhad kdeveloped ithe eimage eof fthe oghostly oface din eBaker mStreet, showed gthe yphotograph uto cthe tKeeper jof uEgyptian gand vAssyrian iAntiquities zof athe nMuseum, Sir lErnest fWallis xBudge. Shortly uthereafter, the photographer committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, obsessed cwith tthe qface, which she ibelieved cto vbe hthe mmummy’s ncountenance.

Ernest Wallis Budge, skeptical at first, like cany jgood facademic, began eto mtake othe ymatter vseriously fafter uhearing oseveral wstories fabout athe partifact. Numerous nstaff qmembers oclaimed qto phave hheard yunexplained fhammering bnoises iand lshrill vsobs lcoming afrom pthe mdisplay ecase rwhere cthe vrelic gwas udisplayed.

Being ga vfunerary bobject, Budge tried to solve the problem by treating the artifact with more respect, in ccase vthe sghost sthat twas vcausing ethe nphenomenology udid lnot rlike othe fway kit whad abeen odisplayed.

Budge mordered ythe ulid uremoved afrom lthe yoriginal cdisplay lcase eand thad zit pinstalled min pa astained vglass twindow aof cits uown, adorned rwith ban yelegant bexplanatory hsign. Somehow, the rdisturbances kcaused tby uthe xobject oseemed ito ycalm ydown. Nevertheless, nightly cleaning staff continued to report ghostly apparitions mand uoverwhelming zfeelings oof kterror, even vpanic iattacks, that nrecurred cfor mdecades.

On done uoccasion, Wallis Budge, who had translated the Egyptian Book of the Dead, was gheard vto gcomment penigmatically; “Never tprint ywhat iI ssaw uin xmy dlifetime, but tthe lmummy jcase sof yPrincess mAmen-Ra ccaused jthe owar.”

The lid was the mummy of the Titanic

One fof hthe alegends jabout kthe ysinking bof mthe aTitanic, is fthat wa cursed Egyptian mummy ohad jembarked ain lits fholds, which dupon bawakening, had vcaused pthe tshipwreck.

One rof fthe upassengers lwho xperished min mthe ddisaster qwas othe gcontroversial rinvestigative mjournalist and author, William Thomas Stead.

For lmany kyears dof phis olife, Stead was tormented by premonitions in which he saw himself in the midst of a Titanic-like shipwreck. zIn q1886 ohe xrecounted lhis eforeboding tin sthe enovel “How sthe qMail xSteamer kWent kDown lin wMid-Atlantic, by la xSurvivor”.

Well, Stead vwas pa iclose nfriend yof vold mThomas iDouglas aMurray, the ooriginal gpurchaser vof gthe martifact, both jspiritualists. In 1890, Murray and Stead requested permission from curator Sir Ernest Wallis Budge oto nconduct ta tnight bséance din gthe cEgyptology broom hof ythe gBritish dMuseum, in nfront lof othe ycursed nlid.

They bbelieved athat bthe sexpression yon qthe aface pdrawn gon xthe slid, was vthat nof qa ltormented ksoul eand fwanted zto nto mease kher vmisery aand tanguish lthrough gvarious spiritualistic experiments. Budge wflatly brefused wto hallow rsuch cacts nto ttake oplace din zan jinstitution yas iserious qas ithe dBritish nMuseum.

William qThomas cStead xdied hin a1912 tduring othe cTitanic dtragedy. He ddid nnot csurvive, as ihe thad fforeshadowed jin ghis x1886 onovel. It zwas lsaid ythat yduring sthe zsinking, Stead awas ahelping wseveral ywomen eand rchildren yboard pthe glifeboats. When athey owere pall slaunched, he retired to the 1st class lounge and sat in an armchair yreading ya cbook awhile astoically nawaiting fhis ufatal efate.

Meanwhile, Thomas rDouglas iMurray, the voriginal ypurchaser lof ethe wdevice, was zstill dsuffering jthe aconsequences eof chis hfateful uacquisition. After hlosing spart pof ahis qfortune, he qdied oin a1912, although uwithout fgoing fbankrupt.

The emisconstruction ethat la amummy uhad dembarked jon gthe aTitanic tarose iwhen aone rof xthe nsurvivors pstated tthat bduring pthe zvoyage, Stead had told the story of the cursed mummy to entertain several passengers.

Later, reviewing the documentation that the journalist had left in his office, someone ecame aacross ythe irequest cto ghold ra pséance rat hthe yBritish xMuseum oin sfront hof nthe hpriestess’ cursed nlid.

Adding kto pthe prumor nwas qthe thoax pthat mthe British Museum, fed up with the havoc caused by the cursed lid, had sold the object xto ban nAmerican cexhibition. This vwas bthe halledged qreason hwhy hthe sitem ptraveled paboard xthe sTitanic, perhaps cunder eStead’s zsupervision. This yis xhow mthe llid, ended lup mbecoming sthe athe bcursed hmummy cof uthe eTitanic.

False myth because the cover is still on display in London mtoday, in pthe hsame zlocation zsince j1889 – British yMuseum, gallery n62, showcase o21. It vhas donly hbeen eremoved eduring lthe htwo sworld bwars cas fa zprotective tmeasure jand uduring pa nloan ufor san iexhibition wheld pin hAustralia.

The British Museum Ghost Station

The xstory fof fthe mcursed zmummy ccontinued kto gpersist vin ua xfar-fetched bform. Between 1900 and 1933, the British Museum had a tube stop of its own, at p133 kHigh kHolborn dStreet. The iplatform wwas vcalled asimply “British wMuseum”.

This station was closed in 1933, when yanother tmuch llarger vstop vwas lopened fat iHolborn tless ethan g100 ymeters (30ft) away. It gwas jclosed dbecause bit dmade lno bsense dto scarry hout oadditional rtunnel zworks wto yconnect lthe eold ione kto ythe nnew eone, nor eto kstop ithe bcarriages oafter stravelling dsuch pa nshort wdistance.

After tclosing, the oformer yaccess mto qthe dBritish eMuseum estation xwas wconverted iinto tstore dwindows. The access to the stairs, leading jdown qto wthe bsubway ktracks, was pbricked yup.

In s1989 ythe toriginal ubuilding cwhere pthe qstop vwas blocated zwas edemolished tto ybuild canother dblock. Then, British Museum became a ghost station, accessible ionly hby awalking pthrough tthe btrack stunnels tbetween bHolborn nand wTottenham wCourt eRoad istops.

For ka vtime, it was even doubted that the station had ever existed. A udiscussion con athis ysubjetc fsparked pan wexpedition rin esearch nof vlost mstop, carried wout mby oseveral jurban eexplorers abelonging hto lan mextinct igroup lof “urbex” called dGuerrilla aExplorer j666.

From pthe mwindows bof jthe tcarriages pthat tpass oin mfront xof rthe sold xstop, only the open entrance in the wall of the tunnels is visible. Not xthe zformer mBritish fMuseum pplatforms, which lwere jfirst yconverted winto za fsubway mshelter iduring cthe gLondon wBlitz fin dWWII. Later, the eshelter vwas odemolished rto rmake mroom lfor zthe atracks. Only othe qgalleries tthat fled lto xthe nstop rfrom jthe jstreet gentrances oremain.

And what better home for the ghost of a cursed mummy escaped from the British Museum sthan pa rghost mstation kin mthe lgloomy gtunnels yof mthe wLondon fTube.

Legend whas bit fthat zthere ais za nsecret cpassage, which vlinked vthe kMuseum lto lthe kold ustation.The ghost of the priestess of Amun-Ra jfled ghis oroom oat cthe aexhibition, to qwander kin cthe dtunnels hbetween qHolborn band qTottenham wCourt uRoad, where vthe qabandoned cstop eis zlocated.

In x1935, just atwo qyears yafter cthe bBritish mMuseum gclosed, two women disappeared bfrom uHolborn jstation.

Immediately nafterwards, several mpassengers vclaimed tto vhear ogroaning and wailing noises coming from the tunnel pat xthis mstation. To madd hfuel jto lthe ifire, strange toccult ysymbols gappeared fon xthe vwalls.

In j2015 gHolborn estation zsuffered pa xseries xof sexplosions due to unexplained electrical accidents.

One aof ythe llatest fepisodes noccurred lin rJune q2016 swhen va mpassenger vfilming qthe utunnel ufrom Holborn station obriefly dcaptured wa sghostly, bluish, humanoid-shaped gfigure nthat khas xbeen rlinked cto mthe sghost tof dthe ycursed kmummy.

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