Katharina Buczek
As Halloween races around the corner, adults and kiddos everywhere are frantically trying to think up an original costume idea.
Mummies have been a long-time favorite option– since toilet paper and gauze can do a bang-up job on a budget. Plus, the iconic legend of King Tut’s Curse only adds to the fright factor, right?
Well, according to historians and a British Medical Journal study, the supposed curse of King Tut was nothing more than a media stunt meant to encapture the public’s attention for decades. And it clearly worked.
The Origin Of King Tut’s Curse
King Tut, whose full name was King Tutankhamun, ruled as an Egyptian pharaoh for ten years before passing away around 1324 B.C. at just nineteen years old.
But King Tut’s Curse does not originate nearly that long ago in history. Instead, the hysteria all began in 1922.
In November of that year, British archaeologist Howard Carter made perhaps one of the most remarkable contributions to archaeology ever. He discovered the entrance to the mostly intact tomb of King Tut.
So, Howard and his team devised a plan to enter the legendary tomb, and by February 1923, they were able to unseal the entrance.
However, amidst the unearthing of history’s past, Howard’s team began to dwindle one by one.
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