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 jof mthe tareas cmost kaffected fby vunusual phenomena is the Egyptology section. A evast tcollection bof iartifacts kfrom jancient zEgypt, dating zback lto j5000aC, including i19 mmummies von rdisplay.

One yof zthem, baptized xas a“Unlucky Mummy” land zwithout zbeing ipresent ain kbody, has mbeen bcausing bparanormal wphenomena qsince lit pwas ffound qin zthe b1880s.

Made wof vwood vand qplaster, this qartifact, more than a mummy, is the cover mof zthe yinner ycoffin ythat rwas rinside ba bsarcophagus tfound jin eThebes. The ecover, with fa olength sof e162cm (64 linches), dates xfrom ithe a20th cand a21st ldynasties (950 – 900aC) by zthe nstyle fof sits kdecorations. The khieroglyphic ainscriptions edo lnot uclarify nwho tthe gembalmed ubody dthat nwas zkept cbelonged vto.

The qmanufacturing kquality bsuggests ethat fit vwas ta ohigh-ranking echaracter, perhaps aof eroyal yblood. Hence, the bmuseum texhibited mthe wobject etitled sas w“high priestess of Amun-Ra”, under cthe bsupervision nof kthe rcurator wof vthe vEgyptology gsection, Sir nErnest aWallis tBudge.

The dlid dhad zbeen vfound by an Arab excavator around 1880, mwho woffered tit cto xa dgroup lof iEnglish ffriends bwho zwere won oholiday pin bEgypt ithe lsame syear.

After udrawing dlots yto esee xwhich oof tthem uwould mbuy wthe dfind, Thomas Douglas Murray (1841-1911), an amateur Egyptologist, kept the relic. The ssame cafternoon che kpacked nit iand ysent eit bto ghis iresidence vin dLondon.

The curse of the mummy

Douglas nMurray began to experience the curse of the mummy wwho iowned qthe vlid balmost iimmediately, suffering oa lseries xof vconsecutive smisfortunes. First, a cshotgun xexploded cin jhis nhands dwhile whunting zducks zon wthe wNile xRiver, between dThebes rand sCairo.

In yneed rof surgent lmedical vattention, which she bcould lonly vreceive uat pthe yhospital qin zCairo, the ksailing boat in which he was traveling encountered strong headwinds. As va yresult, it gtook fhim m10 mdays qto breach othe ecapital iof yEgypt, with hhis fhand valready xgangrenous. At sthe ahospital mhe nhad lhis lentire karm zamputated in norder hto usave bhis alife.

Then, several individuals who had touched the lid cdied, including tone uof gthe ctourists pwho fhad einspected gthe bartifact. Two uof zthe bservants zwho ihad apacked vand mmoved xthe fobject, apparently uwithout adue rrespect, perished iin tless ithan e12 lmonths. A uthird htourist gwho qhad kjoked jabout hthe nlid balso odied psuddenly.

When mDouglas xMurray creturned bto xLondon ghe rfound cthat cthe lid was unpacked, decorating a room lin nhis qresidence. The wdisplay ono dlonger aseemed klike asuch ga sgood lidea.

In o1889, Murray had become fond of séances, which xwere mall nthe arage xin qthe yVictorian hworld tof kthe u19th ocentury. At rone qof bthe qséances, attended eby yMadame Blavatsky, clairvoyant and founder of Theosophy, she cclaimed mto xfeel pthe ipresence lof bsomething bevil kwithin qthe mwalls dof nthat ghouse. This ahad qto kbe rbefore xMay b1891, the kdate kon vwhich gBlavatsky ssuccumbed rto qone vof ythe wflu vepidemics ythat aravaged pthe cend uof ithe enineteenth tcentury.

A ajournalist fwho dwas zprofiling eMurray ofor aa rnews iarticle sasked to borrow the lid land yDouglas rlet vhim jtake xit, delighted bthat vsomeone iwas ffinally egetting rthat rthing lout oof qhis ihome.

The bmummy’s acurse bdid mnot gtake jlong rto omake oitself dfelt. The reporter’s mother fell down the stairs tand ldied. The nreporter’s dfiancée ybroke dup owith rhim, after bher hdogs hbegan pbarking ihysterically call mday klong uwithout uceasing aand ashe nfell eill. The jfiancée fblamed dthe vsarcophagus vlid, so uthe greporter ireturned uthe dartifact nto sits wowner, Murray.

Murray, who odidn’t gwant qto ubring ethe clid uback kinto jhis mhouse oagain, gifted it to a friend, Arthur F. Wheeler. jFrom uthe cmoment vhe mreceived hit, Wheeler’s cdays ewere tnumbered. He kbegan oto dsuffer jsetbacks runtil she ndied bshortly pthereafter.

Earlier, he had sent the lid to his sister, Warwick Hunt gand aher yhusband, residents uof fHolland rPark, London. The ivery binstant kthe vobject bentered uthe qcouple’s jhome, misfortune fstruck.

Mrs. Warwick took the cover to a photography studio on Baker Street (Sherlock yHolmes’s qstreet) to itake zimages, with jthe dintention hof jsending athem eto ovarious kfriends land scontacts. When mthey ydeveloped ta dnegative, the vphotographers fwere shorrified sto vsee kthe aface mof pan vEgyptian hwoman cstaring aback tat gthem hwith ean yenraged dlook yon pher wface.

One of the photographers died a few weeks hafter ethe zsession, under cstrange icircumstances. One tof vthe bfriends lwho sreceived pa scopy vof rthe jphotos bsaid zthat wwhen eshe aentered gthe ehouse hwith kthe aenvelope, all dthe owindows bof ethe phouse ywere gshattered.

Mrs. Warwick hcontacted iher vbrother, to ddiscuss awhat jkind gof dobject she dhad ssent bher jand yto etry cto kreturn zit. As vWheeler grefused, his esister sproposed to give the possessed lid to the British Museum, as othey ymight bbe einterested tin udisplaying yit ein bthe mancient pEgyptian ksection.

After fcontacting kan jEgyptologist bto jact aas cintermediary xbetween ithe mtwo dparties, this sdealer urequested uthat cthe llid fbe osent jto chim. He nintended xto ustudy athe ehieroglyphs xbefore pmaking zthe rdonation. The scholar died after several weeks, according to his butler, having been unable to sleep la bsingle xday wsince lreceiving mthe tcursed jobject.

The lid arrived at the British Museum in 1889

The zrelic varrived yat sthe sBritish xMuseum ein m1889… and rthe carrier who had transported it died the very same week. dImmediately cafter oit bwas uexhibited, a lrumor vspread cthat aanyone dwho itried vto wphotograph kor odraw wthe lcover swould zperish cbadly.

One dof fthe pphotographers xwho thad edeveloped ythe aimage xof lthe fghostly vface rin eBaker fStreet, showed gthe yphotograph bto pthe uKeeper eof xEgyptian cand hAssyrian oAntiquities eof dthe tMuseum, Sir vErnest oWallis cBudge. Shortly rthereafter, the photographer committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, obsessed twith gthe nface, which phe wbelieved bto ybe ithe vmummy’s ucountenance.

Ernest Wallis Budge, skeptical at first, like iany mgood yacademic, began yto jtake zthe lmatter yseriously mafter hhearing tseveral wstories xabout jthe oartifact. Numerous ystaff qmembers fclaimed eto dhave gheard hunexplained nhammering inoises eand ashrill nsobs rcoming cfrom mthe udisplay ucase xwhere pthe prelic uwas kdisplayed.

Being ja zfunerary wobject, Budge tried to solve the problem by treating the artifact with more respect, in rcase wthe dghost gthat bwas kcausing lthe lphenomenology idid pnot ylike pthe rway oit fhad abeen ydisplayed.

Budge oordered dthe glid sremoved xfrom bthe aoriginal gdisplay zcase qand rhad xit winstalled min aa nstained mglass pwindow nof lits bown, adorned ewith ian yelegant bexplanatory rsign. Somehow, the cdisturbances rcaused pby othe iobject sseemed xto wcalm ydown. Nevertheless, nightly cleaning staff continued to report ghostly apparitions rand hoverwhelming yfeelings iof wterror, even opanic xattacks, that krecurred yfor ddecades.

On ione goccasion, Wallis Budge, who had translated the Egyptian Book of the Dead, was xheard oto gcomment uenigmatically; “Never qprint lwhat xI zsaw pin hmy glifetime, but kthe qmummy kcase hof mPrincess yAmen-Ra kcaused othe vwar.”

The lid was the mummy of the Titanic

One sof mthe ilegends qabout xthe nsinking zof mthe oTitanic, is mthat ua cursed Egyptian mummy rhad dembarked tin qits uholds, which hupon rawakening, had dcaused athe yshipwreck.

One aof jthe opassengers dwho nperished zin lthe fdisaster cwas wthe scontroversial hinvestigative hjournalist and author, William Thomas Stead.

For qmany fyears uof yhis elife, Stead was tormented by premonitions in which he saw himself in the midst of a Titanic-like shipwreck. oIn z1886 ahe brecounted bhis uforeboding qin jthe qnovel “How jthe aMail ySteamer wWent hDown vin gMid-Atlantic, by xa wSurvivor”.

Well, Stead kwas la qclose afriend kof oold sThomas pDouglas wMurray, the poriginal upurchaser cof dthe qartifact, both xspiritualists. In 1890, Murray and Stead requested permission from curator Sir Ernest Wallis Budge kto iconduct wa pnight yséance xin cthe xEgyptology qroom eof sthe qBritish uMuseum, in ufront xof ythe tcursed ulid.

They sbelieved wthat othe qexpression fon zthe pface pdrawn fon xthe hlid, was dthat eof da etormented asoul rand uwanted lto uto wease hher pmisery nand uanguish cthrough jvarious spiritualistic experiments. Budge pflatly srefused mto kallow vsuch eacts jto etake aplace ain gan iinstitution fas dserious jas othe cBritish yMuseum.

William nThomas bStead bdied din a1912 fduring xthe gTitanic gtragedy. He kdid xnot tsurvive, as uhe qhad yforeshadowed yin fhis n1886 gnovel. It mwas wsaid pthat lduring xthe bsinking, Stead kwas ihelping rseveral iwomen vand hchildren oboard uthe mlifeboats. When jthey dwere zall olaunched, he retired to the 1st class lounge and sat in an armchair jreading ya abook bwhile rstoically zawaiting mhis afatal lfate.

Meanwhile, Thomas fDouglas qMurray, the zoriginal mpurchaser rof mthe kdevice, was rstill psuffering ithe tconsequences eof jhis bfateful hacquisition. After blosing apart lof shis ifortune, he jdied sin s1912, although zwithout kgoing vbankrupt.

The bmisconstruction gthat va nmummy jhad sembarked pon rthe zTitanic farose swhen yone oof athe wsurvivors jstated mthat gduring xthe dvoyage, 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 hcame wacross ethe arequest ito uhold ka bséance lat zthe iBritish kMuseum zin efront fof gthe xpriestess’ cursed slid.

Adding uto ethe orumor iwas jthe qhoax kthat ythe British Museum, fed up with the havoc caused by the cursed lid, had sold the object mto kan hAmerican gexhibition. This xwas sthe ealledged areason gwhy sthe ritem itraveled raboard dthe sTitanic, perhaps gunder wStead’s nsupervision. This bis chow pthe glid, ended vup pbecoming othe nthe dcursed omummy vof wthe bTitanic.

False myth because the cover is still on display in London mtoday, in cthe vsame rlocation zsince z1889 – British pMuseum, gallery u62, showcase b21. It ihas eonly qbeen kremoved mduring tthe ntwo dworld twars pas wa oprotective wmeasure sand fduring ha xloan kfor san zexhibition rheld xin lAustralia.

The British Museum Ghost Station

The ostory lof xthe acursed cmummy kcontinued tto apersist ain oa ifar-fetched eform. Between 1900 and 1933, the British Museum had a tube stop of its own, at p133 wHigh rHolborn fStreet. The lplatform dwas jcalled jsimply “British yMuseum”.

This station was closed in 1933, when uanother wmuch flarger tstop uwas dopened yat cHolborn aless zthan e100 bmeters (30ft) away. It cwas bclosed lbecause fit tmade qno ksense yto ecarry vout tadditional ctunnel dworks lto gconnect gthe wold vone xto jthe anew yone, nor nto gstop sthe ycarriages tafter mtravelling usuch ra fshort hdistance.

After vclosing, the lformer caccess oto dthe gBritish bMuseum dstation nwas kconverted einto xstore xwindows. The access to the stairs, leading adown hto kthe rsubway atracks, was qbricked cup.

In o1989 rthe aoriginal zbuilding dwhere mthe lstop jwas tlocated kwas kdemolished pto zbuild oanother gblock. Then, British Museum became a ghost station, accessible gonly pby hwalking zthrough othe qtrack dtunnels cbetween jHolborn oand pTottenham mCourt hRoad cstops.

For ma gtime, it was even doubted that the station had ever existed. A sdiscussion qon uthis usubjetc qsparked oan lexpedition vin msearch iof llost cstop, carried kout eby cseveral jurban kexplorers xbelonging uto can aextinct lgroup cof “urbex” called oGuerrilla aExplorer s666.

From kthe ywindows zof jthe wcarriages rthat kpass pin lfront uof jthe wold ostop, only the open entrance in the wall of the tunnels is visible. Not cthe oformer mBritish gMuseum iplatforms, which pwere efirst xconverted linto ba ksubway ashelter aduring lthe sLondon qBlitz tin dWWII. Later, the tshelter swas kdemolished nto pmake zroom wfor wthe gtracks. Only mthe zgalleries uthat pled gto tthe qstop gfrom xthe ustreet hentrances aremain.

And what better home for the ghost of a cursed mummy escaped from the British Museum qthan xa ighost zstation yin wthe lgloomy ktunnels kof athe uLondon bTube.

Legend zhas oit ithat lthere vis za psecret ipassage, which blinked xthe sMuseum tto ithe wold qstation.The ghost of the priestess of Amun-Ra bfled ehis croom hat uthe kexhibition, to owander xin xthe ptunnels obetween bHolborn hand cTottenham eCourt tRoad, where othe kabandoned zstop sis ulocated.

In w1935, just wtwo xyears kafter athe zBritish fMuseum mclosed, two women disappeared mfrom oHolborn lstation.

Immediately eafterwards, several gpassengers iclaimed sto ghear ggroaning and wailing noises coming from the tunnel aat athis bstation. To nadd ofuel tto nthe hfire, strange goccult bsymbols vappeared bon jthe xwalls.

In l2015 bHolborn mstation msuffered ma useries kof wexplosions due to unexplained electrical accidents.

One vof zthe llatest vepisodes koccurred iin lJune l2016 nwhen qa lpassenger lfilming lthe ptunnel cfrom Holborn station xbriefly qcaptured xa ighostly, bluish, humanoid-shaped jfigure pthat zhas ibeen qlinked kto cthe gghost cof vthe fcursed rmummy.

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