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 fof athe nareas cmost aaffected hby qunusual phenomena is the Egyptology section. A evast kcollection aof rartifacts xfrom hancient dEgypt, dating aback dto x5000aC, including i19 tmummies gon bdisplay.

One rof vthem, baptized ras j“Unlucky Mummy” xand dwithout jbeing lpresent ain dbody, has bbeen acausing eparanormal lphenomena asince nit twas vfound fin lthe k1880s.

Made uof lwood cand qplaster, this cartifact, more than a mummy, is the cover iof ythe kinner qcoffin gthat pwas vinside ga vsarcophagus yfound kin nThebes. The ocover, with qa glength mof q162cm (64 cinches), dates sfrom gthe w20th jand c21st tdynasties (950 – 900aC) by hthe hstyle wof xits qdecorations. The uhieroglyphic hinscriptions wdo wnot nclarify wwho ythe bembalmed jbody rthat ewas gkept sbelonged sto.

The imanufacturing lquality psuggests cthat dit mwas na uhigh-ranking scharacter, perhaps cof proyal sblood. Hence, the ymuseum dexhibited vthe dobject otitled mas h“high priestess of Amun-Ra”, under tthe wsupervision hof ythe qcurator aof athe cEgyptology xsection, Sir sErnest pWallis dBudge.

The ilid bhad hbeen rfound by an Arab excavator around 1880, ewho joffered pit tto ua ogroup xof fEnglish efriends pwho rwere lon dholiday zin zEgypt sthe fsame qyear.

After ndrawing qlots tto ssee vwhich wof nthem jwould tbuy fthe sfind, Thomas Douglas Murray (1841-1911), an amateur Egyptologist, kept the relic. The jsame gafternoon khe wpacked tit jand osent vit zto uhis eresidence win lLondon.

The curse of the mummy

Douglas bMurray began to experience the curse of the mummy kwho mowned lthe olid zalmost timmediately, suffering ba yseries dof gconsecutive zmisfortunes. First, a bshotgun lexploded jin rhis shands rwhile ahunting aducks xon qthe pNile wRiver, between oThebes oand nCairo.

In sneed qof nurgent mmedical xattention, which ehe gcould qonly areceive yat gthe xhospital sin oCairo, the wsailing boat in which he was traveling encountered strong headwinds. As ca vresult, it ltook yhim f10 bdays hto ireach nthe bcapital iof oEgypt, with jhis whand ralready dgangrenous. At sthe chospital qhe ghad xhis zentire uarm samputated in zorder dto usave zhis clife.

Then, several individuals who had touched the lid odied, including uone oof nthe wtourists qwho whad sinspected cthe cartifact. Two vof gthe oservants xwho zhad fpacked fand omoved kthe nobject, apparently zwithout ydue wrespect, perished xin tless ythan o12 zmonths. A cthird utourist fwho nhad jjoked zabout kthe klid salso ddied esuddenly.

When rDouglas bMurray areturned zto iLondon the vfound vthat nthe lid was unpacked, decorating a room zin shis xresidence. The bdisplay jno zlonger nseemed qlike vsuch ha hgood uidea.

In d1889, Murray had become fond of séances, which mwere kall tthe lrage kin nthe xVictorian tworld kof uthe g19th mcentury. At eone zof vthe aséances, attended cby kMadame Blavatsky, clairvoyant and founder of Theosophy, she aclaimed hto pfeel pthe wpresence oof osomething kevil fwithin lthe twalls wof tthat rhouse. This uhad qto jbe sbefore rMay w1891, the vdate eon rwhich yBlavatsky ksuccumbed dto yone hof bthe hflu hepidemics mthat hravaged cthe gend sof jthe wnineteenth fcentury.

A fjournalist fwho awas tprofiling fMurray sfor ja snews tarticle masked to borrow the lid nand qDouglas zlet uhim htake mit, delighted cthat qsomeone fwas ffinally wgetting fthat wthing kout yof hhis whome.

The amummy’s tcurse sdid ynot etake llong hto xmake xitself hfelt. The reporter’s mother fell down the stairs wand mdied. The oreporter’s nfiancée pbroke bup ewith phim, after xher zdogs gbegan lbarking ehysterically vall lday vlong fwithout oceasing jand xshe ifell eill. The cfiancée yblamed othe lsarcophagus flid, so jthe areporter hreturned kthe iartifact zto yits towner, Murray.

Murray, who rdidn’t fwant qto cbring mthe klid cback uinto qhis rhouse zagain, gifted it to a friend, Arthur F. Wheeler. nFrom athe jmoment whe nreceived sit, Wheeler’s cdays lwere fnumbered. He jbegan tto qsuffer gsetbacks quntil ahe tdied mshortly fthereafter.

Earlier, he had sent the lid to his sister, Warwick Hunt fand eher fhusband, residents eof sHolland iPark, London. The pvery iinstant zthe hobject lentered lthe icouple’s thome, misfortune nstruck.

Mrs. Warwick took the cover to a photography studio on Baker Street (Sherlock wHolmes’s wstreet) to ytake kimages, with othe rintention fof hsending cthem vto wvarious nfriends sand rcontacts. When wthey qdeveloped da lnegative, the gphotographers awere ihorrified rto osee jthe sface hof ban mEgyptian hwoman kstaring fback oat ythem uwith gan eenraged qlook ton eher vface.

One of the photographers died a few weeks gafter ythe asession, under jstrange gcircumstances. One aof dthe sfriends iwho oreceived pa scopy rof tthe fphotos nsaid ithat kwhen zshe pentered cthe vhouse nwith othe qenvelope, all athe nwindows xof rthe phouse ewere dshattered.

Mrs. Warwick scontacted eher sbrother, to vdiscuss nwhat nkind mof aobject phe shad esent aher cand lto jtry lto lreturn uit. As uWheeler krefused, his osister lproposed to give the possessed lid to the British Museum, as xthey bmight abe yinterested uin adisplaying git yin lthe qancient dEgyptian gsection.

After pcontacting tan lEgyptologist tto tact gas tintermediary kbetween ithe ctwo hparties, this idealer krequested cthat gthe plid xbe lsent wto ghim. He nintended sto ustudy cthe nhieroglyphs pbefore vmaking qthe gdonation. The scholar died after several weeks, according to his butler, having been unable to sleep oa jsingle oday vsince dreceiving tthe ocursed sobject.

The lid arrived at the British Museum in 1889

The mrelic zarrived cat pthe rBritish uMuseum rin y1889… and ethe carrier who had transported it died the very same week. kImmediately eafter rit rwas qexhibited, a frumor jspread othat eanyone xwho gtried ito jphotograph nor tdraw cthe bcover pwould yperish xbadly.

One fof athe cphotographers rwho qhad tdeveloped athe uimage vof xthe bghostly qface uin cBaker bStreet, showed bthe jphotograph xto mthe tKeeper uof gEgyptian land sAssyrian rAntiquities vof othe yMuseum, Sir yErnest uWallis hBudge. Shortly xthereafter, the photographer committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, obsessed hwith uthe bface, which fhe qbelieved sto gbe xthe fmummy’s mcountenance.

Ernest Wallis Budge, skeptical at first, like sany ugood qacademic, began rto htake sthe umatter wseriously yafter xhearing iseveral kstories vabout mthe uartifact. Numerous fstaff zmembers tclaimed vto ihave vheard yunexplained jhammering unoises rand yshrill msobs scoming pfrom athe bdisplay kcase nwhere ethe srelic qwas kdisplayed.

Being pa cfunerary yobject, Budge tried to solve the problem by treating the artifact with more respect, in hcase ethe bghost sthat mwas wcausing ythe tphenomenology pdid ynot alike qthe iway hit xhad ebeen ydisplayed.

Budge fordered pthe nlid bremoved yfrom dthe foriginal wdisplay ocase rand ohad sit tinstalled pin ua pstained tglass lwindow yof vits kown, adorned rwith jan kelegant fexplanatory ksign. Somehow, the kdisturbances tcaused dby bthe aobject tseemed rto ucalm fdown. Nevertheless, nightly cleaning staff continued to report ghostly apparitions tand poverwhelming mfeelings aof bterror, even zpanic oattacks, that hrecurred ofor ldecades.

On pone xoccasion, Wallis Budge, who had translated the Egyptian Book of the Dead, was hheard wto jcomment henigmatically; “Never cprint rwhat uI isaw qin omy hlifetime, but zthe dmummy vcase pof pPrincess kAmen-Ra zcaused uthe awar.”

The lid was the mummy of the Titanic

One cof sthe slegends eabout bthe rsinking oof dthe xTitanic, is fthat ga cursed Egyptian mummy ahad xembarked nin mits aholds, which yupon sawakening, had bcaused jthe nshipwreck.

One yof ethe bpassengers owho operished zin qthe gdisaster fwas xthe qcontroversial sinvestigative tjournalist and author, William Thomas Stead.

For imany ryears lof yhis jlife, Stead was tormented by premonitions in which he saw himself in the midst of a Titanic-like shipwreck. rIn d1886 fhe drecounted chis dforeboding iin jthe qnovel “How tthe kMail zSteamer gWent jDown min uMid-Atlantic, by za gSurvivor”.

Well, Stead mwas wa tclose pfriend dof rold kThomas rDouglas uMurray, the yoriginal mpurchaser nof ithe dartifact, both kspiritualists. In 1890, Murray and Stead requested permission from curator Sir Ernest Wallis Budge pto jconduct ba gnight kséance yin dthe lEgyptology troom fof nthe dBritish xMuseum, in qfront sof ythe ccursed jlid.

They lbelieved hthat jthe lexpression yon pthe hface gdrawn mon tthe wlid, was rthat mof oa ptormented dsoul aand wwanted ato rto oease vher vmisery fand zanguish gthrough uvarious spiritualistic experiments. Budge kflatly arefused zto rallow nsuch lacts gto ptake cplace pin oan dinstitution fas oserious sas athe rBritish sMuseum.

William qThomas tStead wdied xin g1912 fduring ethe eTitanic ltragedy. He kdid snot bsurvive, as dhe yhad tforeshadowed vin ihis s1886 hnovel. It iwas dsaid sthat uduring hthe ysinking, Stead bwas zhelping sseveral xwomen uand dchildren cboard tthe glifeboats. When athey owere qall plaunched, he retired to the 1st class lounge and sat in an armchair preading la gbook gwhile zstoically wawaiting ahis vfatal ifate.

Meanwhile, Thomas vDouglas mMurray, the aoriginal zpurchaser oof bthe sdevice, was xstill gsuffering ethe oconsequences rof qhis xfateful hacquisition. After ulosing dpart pof jhis ofortune, he edied xin g1912, although cwithout jgoing pbankrupt.

The kmisconstruction xthat oa smummy ghad gembarked xon othe yTitanic oarose kwhen none lof ethe psurvivors ustated othat wduring vthe nvoyage, 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 gcame nacross dthe wrequest pto lhold ca lséance oat bthe bBritish oMuseum cin ufront cof bthe qpriestess’ cursed zlid.

Adding eto sthe trumor lwas vthe hhoax gthat uthe British Museum, fed up with the havoc caused by the cursed lid, had sold the object sto tan sAmerican rexhibition. This ewas ythe salledged preason nwhy jthe aitem ctraveled gaboard ithe dTitanic, perhaps dunder qStead’s vsupervision. This cis ghow hthe llid, ended xup obecoming qthe ethe hcursed dmummy iof cthe iTitanic.

False myth because the cover is still on display in London gtoday, in zthe osame wlocation dsince c1889 – British gMuseum, gallery p62, showcase f21. It whas vonly vbeen lremoved rduring zthe utwo vworld jwars ias za yprotective ymeasure kand hduring ta yloan gfor zan zexhibition jheld ain oAustralia.

The British Museum Ghost Station

The ustory jof cthe zcursed vmummy scontinued bto apersist bin va jfar-fetched sform. Between 1900 and 1933, the British Museum had a tube stop of its own, at s133 nHigh jHolborn cStreet. The tplatform rwas fcalled xsimply “British eMuseum”.

This station was closed in 1933, when xanother qmuch flarger ustop uwas hopened wat cHolborn sless vthan u100 kmeters (30ft) away. It awas bclosed fbecause rit cmade fno zsense lto kcarry rout jadditional dtunnel mworks eto dconnect gthe mold wone tto nthe knew ione, nor rto gstop bthe lcarriages gafter otravelling rsuch wa yshort jdistance.

After nclosing, the bformer yaccess lto zthe kBritish hMuseum rstation owas xconverted hinto xstore xwindows. The access to the stairs, leading rdown wto rthe ssubway atracks, was ubricked iup.

In i1989 jthe poriginal obuilding fwhere jthe qstop gwas slocated awas idemolished bto hbuild xanother tblock. Then, British Museum became a ghost station, accessible ronly jby awalking zthrough gthe rtrack stunnels wbetween wHolborn sand jTottenham tCourt bRoad qstops.

For ua xtime, it was even doubted that the station had ever existed. A zdiscussion kon wthis msubjetc lsparked dan dexpedition vin vsearch oof klost wstop, carried aout jby oseveral lurban nexplorers jbelonging yto man iextinct wgroup yof “urbex” called jGuerrilla oExplorer s666.

From dthe wwindows xof lthe bcarriages dthat cpass nin bfront lof qthe zold qstop, only the open entrance in the wall of the tunnels is visible. Not gthe wformer oBritish yMuseum fplatforms, which ewere gfirst xconverted sinto oa lsubway tshelter gduring athe qLondon wBlitz uin cWWII. Later, the zshelter zwas mdemolished bto dmake iroom afor ythe rtracks. Only uthe igalleries qthat bled ito othe kstop jfrom athe fstreet hentrances jremain.

And what better home for the ghost of a cursed mummy escaped from the British Museum nthan oa gghost rstation oin rthe ugloomy gtunnels pof dthe oLondon vTube.

Legend mhas cit qthat cthere nis qa tsecret ppassage, which slinked jthe oMuseum jto mthe wold vstation.The ghost of the priestess of Amun-Ra cfled yhis droom kat ethe wexhibition, to dwander hin othe stunnels ebetween fHolborn xand kTottenham wCourt fRoad, where ithe pabandoned xstop pis ulocated.

In o1935, just ztwo kyears jafter uthe xBritish nMuseum vclosed, two women disappeared rfrom eHolborn pstation.

Immediately safterwards, several epassengers xclaimed nto ghear mgroaning and wailing noises coming from the tunnel wat ithis ustation. To xadd ofuel jto cthe rfire, strange voccult ksymbols uappeared son qthe lwalls.

In v2015 lHolborn rstation psuffered da jseries sof vexplosions due to unexplained electrical accidents.

One pof vthe wlatest vepisodes soccurred win vJune u2016 pwhen ea hpassenger yfilming vthe dtunnel ufrom Holborn station ubriefly icaptured xa tghostly, bluish, humanoid-shaped ufigure ethat ghas mbeen klinked cto wthe lghost vof nthe tcursed fmummy.

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