You know,
the unsensational version of the story here reads almost as well as the sensational. However, time for some coincidences:
* Lord Carnarvon consulted mediums who all said not to enter Tut's tomb.
* 47 days after entering the tomb Carnarvon died at Hotel Continental in Cairo. The cause of death was unknown but a mosquito had bitten him where Tut himself had a cheek mark.
* Carnarvon's dog in England became agitated and died at the same time.
* The lights went out in Cairo for several minutes.
* Arthur Maze, another of the archeologists, died shortly afterwards, at the same hotel, complaining of tiredness and went into coma, never to come out.
* Archibald Reid, the team's radiologist returned to England after complaining of exhaustion. He died shortly afterwards.
* George Gould, friend of Carnarvon then travelled to Egypt, visited the tomb, collapsed of fever and died.
* Carnarvon's personal secretary, Richard Bethell, died of heart failure four months later.
* Howard Carter seemingly died of natural causes.
* Lord Carnarvon's half-brother committed suicide. The medics claimed temporary insanity as the cause.
* Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt's director of antiquities, died in 1966. He begged Egyptian authorities not to let some of the relics leave the country for an exhibition in Paris. A car ran him down and he died.
* Richard Adamson, the expedition security chief not present at the opening, was the last survivor. In 1969 he reiterated his rejection of the "curse theory".
* His wife died less than 24 hours later, his son survived an aircraft crash, but broke his back.
* Adamson gave an interview on British television where he restated his denial most vehemently.
* His taxi crashed later that evening on his way from the studio and Adamson was almost decapitated by a passing truck.
* He gave another interview: "Until now I refused to believe that my family's misfortunes had anything to do with the curse. But now I am not so sure".
* In 1972, Tut and Co were flown to London with a Royal Air Force plane. Gamal Mehrez, Ibrahim's successor in Cairo ridiculed "curse talk" and died before the plane took off.
* Flight Lieutenant Rick Laurie suffered a heart-attack in 1976 and died, after having complained of "horrible visions and nightmares".
* Flight engineer, Ken Parkinson lived through heart-attacks each year at the same time the flight had commenced, until his fatal attack in 1978.
* Flight Lieutenant Jim Webb lost everything he owned during a fire.
My keyboard's keys have just changed positions, i.e. symbols are under their wrong keys since I began typing this and the internet just switched itself off.
All coincidence, of course.
* Now, "85 years later to the day after the pharoah's tomb was discovered",
archaeologists have not only removed the face mask but also the linen shroud around the body. They claim it's to "preserve the body".
Am I the only one to think that this shows the same lack of respect our gallant leaders are currently showing us? Perhaps I'm mistaken - what's respect for the dead when there's a lot of money to be made?
Is Tut in good hands or is he in the hands of those he shouldn't be? How would he feel about being on public display like this? Would you like to see your grandfather's dead body exhumed and put on display, unadorned?
Will you go to look upon Tut uncovered?
1. Iain Dale is back blogging and I see it as a mixed blessing because now there is some sort of peace for both:Crime has exploded and shanty areas have sprung up like mushrooms in the Italian suburbs: the price for welcoming into the community a country that obviously isn't prepared to pay the same price.
