| Monday, November 21, 2005 |
| EGYPTIAN PRINCESS |
Of all tales of the supernatural, this one is perhaps the best documented, the most disturbing and the most difficult to explain... The Princess of Amen-Ra lived in 1050 B.C. When she died, she was laid in an ornate wooden coffin and buried deep in a vault at Luxor, on the banks of the Nile. In the 1880s, four rich young Englishmen visiting the excavations at Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains of the Princess of Amen-Ra. They drew lots. The man who won paid several thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his hotel. A few hours later, he was seen walking out towards the desert. He never returned. The next day, one of the remaining three men was shot by an Egyptian servant accidentally. His arm was so severely wounded it had to be amputated. The third man in the foursome found on his return home that the bank holding his entire savings had failed. The fourth man suffered a severe illness, lost his job and was reduced to selling matches in the street. Nevertheless, the coffin reached England (causing other misfortunes along the way), where it was bought by a London businessman. After three of his family members had been injured in a road accident and his house damaged by fire, the businessman donated it to the British Museum. As the coffin was being unloaded from a wagon in the museum courtyard, the wagon suddenly went into reverse and trapped a passer-by. Then as the casket was being lifted up the stairs by two workmen, one fell and broke his leg. The other, apparently in perfect health, died unaccountably two days later. Once the Princess was installed in the Egyptian Room, trouble really started. Museum's night watchmen frequently heard frantic hammering and sobbing from the coffin. Other exhibits in the room were also often hurled about at night. One watchman died on duty; causing the other watchmen wanting to quit. Cleaners refused to go near the Princess, too. When a visitor derisively flicked a dust cloth at the face painted on the coffin, his child died of measles soon afterwards. Finally, the authorities had the mummy carried down to the basement, figuring it could not do any harm down there, while leaving the lid of the coffin on display. (The lid of the coffin (Exhibit No. 22542) is still there!) Within a week, one of the helpers was seriously ill, and the supervisor of the move was found dead on his desk. By now, the papers had heard of it. A journalist photographer took a picture of the mummy case and when he developed it, the painting on the coffin was of a horrifying, human face. The photographer was said to have gone home then, locked his bedroom door and shot himself. Soon afterwards, the museum sold the mummy to a private collector. After continual misfortune (and deaths), the owner banished it to the attic. A well-known authority on the occult, Madame Helena Blavatsky, visited the premises. Upon entry, she was sized with a shivering fit and searched the house for the source of "an evil influence of incredible intensity". She finally came to the attic and found the mummy case. "Can you exorcise this evil spirit?" asked the owner. "There is no such thing as exorcism. Evil remains evil forever. Nothing can be done about it. I implore you to get rid of this evil as soon as possible." But no British museum would take the mummy; the fact that almost 20 people had met with misfortune, disaster or death from handling the casket, in barely 10 years, was now well known. Eventually, a hardheaded American archaeologist (who dismissed the happenings as quirks of circumstance), paid a handsome price for the mummy and arranged for its removal to New York. In April of 1912, the new owner escorted its treasure aboard a sparkling, new White Star liner about to make its maiden voyage to New York. Because the reputation of the mummy was well known, the owner, who was a chess player named William T. Stead, was afraid that his cargo would not be loaded. Therefore, he secretly arranged for the mummy to be hidden under the body of a new Renault automobile, which was being transported to America on the ship. Stead did not reveal the truth about his cargo to the other passengers until the night before the next disaster. On the night of April 14, amid scenes of unprecedented horror, the Princess of Amen-Ra accompanied 1,500 passengers to their deaths at the bottom of the Atlantic.
***** The name of the ship was Titanic. ***** |
posted by Rakesh @ Monday, November 21, 2005   |
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| 1 Comments: |
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Hi Rakesh.
Don't believe everything you hear, without questioning its validity. This story is not true.
__________________________________
The museum you are talking about is the British museum, and the story is explained on their website here:
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/aes/faqs/unlucky.html
__________________________________
Be careful not to misread what they have written. The museum talk about the myth, in order to make you aware of the existence of this story (which has been popularly circulated and mistakenly taken as true, without any evidence other than people retelling the story).
The museum do not validate the story, in fact they specifically explain why it is not true.
"The stories outlined here are a mixture of pure invention, unsubstantiated rumour and misunderstanding. Although proof of the mummy-board's alleged supernatural powers is completely lacking, the mythology surrounding it has evolved over the past hundred years and continues to acquire new dimensions."
________________________________
If you read thoroughly, you will see why it is untrue. If you haven't read thoroughly, Here are the main points you should notice:
1. (heading: "History of EA 22542")
The mummy-board was presented to the British Museum in July 1889.
**> The mummy to which EA 22542 belonged is said to have been left in Egypt; it never formed part of the collections of the British Museum. <**
2. (heading: "The 'Unlucky Mummy' in folklore")
The mummy-board has acquired a reputation for bringing misfortune, and a vast web of mythology has developed around it. It has been credited with causing death, injury and large-scale disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
**> None of these stories has any basis in fact, but from time to time the strength of the rumours has led to a flood of enquiries on the subject. <**
A disclaimer written by Wallis Budge was published in 1934, and yet **> since that time the myth has undergone further embellishment. <**
The main elements of the story are as follows. **>(then they explain the myth). <**
3. (heading: "Titanic")
Such was the notoriety of 22542 (the mummy case lid), that the story of its supposed association with the Titanic was in circulation within months of the disaster **> - yet at no point in the interim had it left the British Museum. <**
A possible explanation for the (untrue) association of 22542 with the Titanic lies in the fact that W T Stead was among those who died when the ship sank and, according to one of the survivors, **> told the story of the British Museum's 'unlucky mummy case' to fellow passengers during the voyage. <**
(In other words the story was changed afterwards, and retold to say that it had been onboard titanic, when in fact it had never been).
__________________________________
Here is an example of a person who has heard the story, and even read the british museum's page, but hasn't read it carefully and has misinterpreted it.
http://www.samsloan.com/cursed.htm
So now he is one more person circulating the fiction of this myth. (A little knowledge is useless, if the parts you leave out are the important ones).
_________________________________
There is a similar myth, that you will probably know, about the discoverers of Tutankhamon.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Curse+of+the+Pharaohs
This curse too, turned out not to be true. As it all had a clear scientific explanation.
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Hi Rakesh.
Don't believe everything you hear, without questioning its validity. This story is not true.
__________________________________
The museum you are talking about is the British museum, and the story is explained on their website here:
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/aes/faqs/unlucky.html
__________________________________
Be careful not to misread what they have written. The museum talk about the myth, in order to make you aware of the existence of this story (which has been popularly circulated and mistakenly taken as true, without any evidence other than people retelling the story).
The museum do not validate the story, in fact they specifically explain why it is not true.
"The stories outlined here are a mixture of pure invention, unsubstantiated rumour and misunderstanding. Although proof of the mummy-board's alleged supernatural powers is completely lacking, the mythology surrounding it has evolved over the past hundred years and continues to acquire new dimensions."
________________________________
If you read thoroughly, you will see why it is untrue. If you haven't read thoroughly, Here are the main points you should notice:
1. (heading: "History of EA 22542")
The mummy-board was presented to the British Museum in July 1889.
**> The mummy to which EA 22542 belonged is said to have been left in Egypt; it never formed part of the collections of the British Museum. <**
2. (heading: "The 'Unlucky Mummy' in folklore")
The mummy-board has acquired a reputation for bringing misfortune, and a vast web of mythology has developed around it. It has been credited with causing death, injury and large-scale disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
**> None of these stories has any basis in fact, but from time to time the strength of the rumours has led to a flood of enquiries on the subject. <**
A disclaimer written by Wallis Budge was published in 1934, and yet **> since that time the myth has undergone further embellishment. <**
The main elements of the story are as follows. **>(then they explain the myth). <**
3. (heading: "Titanic")
Such was the notoriety of 22542 (the mummy case lid), that the story of its supposed association with the Titanic was in circulation within months of the disaster **> - yet at no point in the interim had it left the British Museum. <**
A possible explanation for the (untrue) association of 22542 with the Titanic lies in the fact that W T Stead was among those who died when the ship sank and, according to one of the survivors, **> told the story of the British Museum's 'unlucky mummy case' to fellow passengers during the voyage. <**
(In other words the story was changed afterwards, and retold to say that it had been onboard titanic, when in fact it had never been).
__________________________________
Here is an example of a person who has heard the story, and even read the british museum's page, but hasn't read it carefully and has misinterpreted it.
http://www.samsloan.com/cursed.htm
So now he is one more person circulating the fiction of this myth. (A little knowledge is useless, if the parts you leave out are the important ones).
_________________________________
There is a similar myth, that you will probably know, about the discoverers of Tutankhamon.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Curse+of+the+Pharaohs
This curse too, turned out not to be true. As it all had a clear scientific explanation.