TUTANKHAMEN'S EVIL SPELL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 6, 8 January 1934, Page 6

TUTANKHAMEN'S EVIL SPELL.

The death of Mr. Arthur Weigall, archaeoloist, author and one-time Inspector-General jof Antiquities to the Egyptian Government, jthe result of a long and mysterious illness, brings to mind the alleged ancient curse of Tutankhamen. Following the opening of the tomb some thirteen years ago, a long chain of deaths among members ~of thb original party and those connected with them has followed with sinister significance. Lord Carnarvon, it will be recollected, died through, a mosquito bite, a few weeks after the tomb was opened; next followed the death of Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, who ha<l agreed to X-ray the mummy; Professor Laffleur, who went to visit the tomb, was the next victim. Mr, H. C. Evelyn-White, the Egyptologist; committed suicide; the Hon. Richard Bethel], secretary to Mr. Howard Carter, was. found dead in his r6om; Mr. Gould died soon after visiting the tomb; Mrs. Waddington-Greely, an American visitor to the tomb, committed suicide; Prince Ali Fahmy Bey, shortly after visiting the tomb,.was shot by his wife; Dr. Jonathan W. Carver, who assisted Mr. Carter in opening the tomb, was killed in a motor smash; the list is further lengthened by the death of Mr. Arthur Weigall. Against the idea that this is a mere coincidence may be placed the view of Dr. Mardrus; a distinguished Orientalist, that "the Egyptians for seven thousand years possessed the secret of surrounding their mummies with some dynamic force of which we have only the faintest idea." HARRY WOODRUFFE.