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The curse of the mummy? 10 of the 12 researchers who opened the tomb of the king of Poland died suddenly - voila! tourism

2023-05-04T21:03:58.646Z


Scientists are trying to decipher why almost all the researchers who were present when the tomb of Kazimierz IV, King of Poland was opened, died shortly after. Many believe it is the curse of the mummy


Curse of the Tomb of Kazimierz IV, King of Poland (@MostAmazingTop10)

When Kazimierz IV the Hygienic, King of Poland, died in 1492, no one could have predicted the death that would follow him after his tomb was opened half a millennium later.

In 1973 a group of archaeologists opened his tomb and found her dead shortly after from mysterious circumstances.



The "curse of the mummy" is such a popular myth that it has appeared in cinema, television and literature, with the general idea being the need of the dead to hurt us beyond the grave.

Its basis comes from the curse of the pharaohs - the belief that whoever opens the tomb of one of the pharaohs will be harmed by an ancient curse imposed by the Egyptian priests when a disturbance was placed in his tomb.



George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, was an English nobleman known for having financed the search and excavations at the Tomb of Tut Ankh Amun in the Valley of the Kings.

It was the archaeologist Howard Carter who discovered the tomb of Tut Ankh Amun and waited for the arrival of Carnabon from England to open the tomb.

The tomb was opened on November 24, 1922 and on April 5, 1923, a few months later, Herbert's body was found at the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo.

His death gave rise to the story of the "Curse of Tut Ankh Amon".

Many assume that his death was due to sepsis (which developed into pneumonia) caused by the accidental shaving of a rose-carrying mosquito bite, which caused the wound to open and become severely infected.

Another theory holds that the cool, dark tomb of Tut Ankh Amon contained Aspergillus fungi, a very common fungus that normally cannot pass through a healthy human immune system.

So what's the deal with Poland?

Back to King Kazimierz: In the 1970s archaeologists were not often given access to historically significant Polish sites.

This changed in 1973, when the Archbishop of Krakow at the time, Pope John Paul II, commissioned a team of 12 researchers to examine the remains of Kazimierz.

According to researchers from Guy's King and St Thomas' School of Medicine, of the 12 scientists present when the tomb was opened, 10 died within a few weeks.

Is this the curse of the mummy, the Polish version?

Don't call her a mummy: Museums around the world are renaming mummies



First discovery in the world of a pregnant mummy: "We spotted a tiny foot in her stomach"

A 2015 article dealt with the opening of Kazimierz's tomb and confirmed that many researchers who opened the Wawel burial crypt, where the king was buried, developed health problems and some of them later died.

They came to the conclusion that it was fungi that led to their death.

To explore the ecosystem world of crypt fungi, the authors examined samples from a cemetery and burial chapel of the Buchholz family in Soprasel, Poland.

They found extremely high levels of mold in the air, which provided the right temperature and humidity for fungal growth.

"Evaluation of fungi in the air samples and on various surfaces of the crypt revealed very high levels of mold in the air samples which could be dangerous to the health of the grave workers."

It happens

Signs of life were discovered in ancient mummies: it was feared that they would infect humans

To the full article

Evidence of the longevity of fungi in such spaces has been documented since at least 1962, when Cairo University biologist Azzedine Taha found evidence of fungal toxins in ancient tombs and the preserved tissues of mummies.

Taha reported that in cases where fungal spores reached the human lungs, they caused high fever, infections and inflammation of the respiratory tract.

While there is no way to verify the mummy curse, there seems to be more legitimacy to the threat posed by crypts and the musty air they contain.

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Source: walla

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