Among the stories surrounding the sinking of the luxury liner Titanic in 1912 was a tale about an unlucky mummy whose curse was as responsible for that accident as that floating island of ice the tore open the ship's hull. Though the story had been around for years, it spread rapidly in the wake of the popularity of the film Titanic.
The Princess of Amen-Ra lived some 1,500 yrs before Christ. 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 late 1890s, 4 rich young Englishmen visiting the excavations at Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains of 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 3 men was shot by an Egyptian servant accidentally. His arm was so severely wounded it had to be amputated. The 3rd man found on his home return that the bank holding his entire savings had failed. The 4th guy 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 3 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 in 1889 by Mrs Warwick Hunt of Holland Park, London, on behalf of Mr Arthur F Wheeler. As the coffin was being unloaded from a truck in the museum courtyard, the truck suddenly went into reverse and trapped a passer-by. Then as the casket was being lifted up the stairs by 2 workmen, 1 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 dustcloth 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. 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 seized 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."Evil remains evil forever. Nothing can be done about it. I implore you to get rid of this evil as soon as possible."
Eventually, a hard-headed 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 1912, the new owner escorted his treasure aboard a sparkling, new White Star liner about to make its maiden voyage to New York. 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 story has existed since the day the first survivors of the Titanic arrived ashore. It was told by Frederic Kimber Seward and other surviving passengers. They vividly described how a passenger named William T. Stead had told them the story of the curse of the Egyptian mummy, on the night before the Titanic sank. They also told how William T. Stead had gone down with the ship. He had just sat quietly reading a book in the First Class Smoking Room as the ocean liner sank.
The coffin lid is still in the British Museum to this day British Museum (item No. EA22542), sitting quietly in the British Museum's second Egyptian room, where it can be seen today. It is known as the "Unlucky Mummy", because of the well known string of disasters associated with it.
And what ever happened to the mummy? Where is the mummy today? The answer: The Mummy went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, along with 1500 passengers on the Titanic! However, the fact is that the mummy was taken out of her case before because of all the trouble she was causing. The case is still on display in the British Museum and is known as the "Unlucky Mummy". Only the mummy went down with the Titanic, not her case. It was the mummy which brought on the curse, not her wooden coffin! The story of the mummy on the Titanic has been published in the Washington Post , the New York Times and numerous other reputable publications. Of course, nobody can say for sure whether the deaths of 1500 people were caused by the mummy, or whether it was just another unfortunate coincidence. Nevertheless, thousands of visitors flock to the British Museum each year to see the sarcophagus which once held the mummy that sunk the Titanic.
totoo kaya na sya ang dahilan ng pag lubog ng titanic?? tsk ..
