Speaker 1: It is the year ten. Along the banks of the
Speaker 1: river are Sits, the majestic city of war Set, the
Speaker 1: largest in all the land, and capital of the mighty
Speaker 1: Kingdom of Karset, the world leading beacon of knowledge, industry,
Speaker 1: and culture. It is the year ten because it is
Speaker 1: the tenth year of their king's reign. It is also
Speaker 1: his last, for on the edge of the city, inside
Speaker 1: a grand stone temple, their king, a young man of nineteen,
Speaker 1: lies dead. With his death comes great uncertainty for a
Speaker 1: nation only recently restored under the watchful eye of the
Speaker 1: great god Armun, though none of that matters for him now.
Speaker 1: It is not the end by any as is well
Speaker 1: understood by all who are gathered by his side. His
Speaker 1: death is but the first step in the ultimate journey,
Speaker 1: a journey that, with the correct preparations, will see his
Speaker 1: spirit in human form, carried to the other side and
Speaker 1: voyage into eternity to walk forever among the gods in
Speaker 1: the golden fields of Aru. It begins with the ex cerebration,
Speaker 1: the washing of the body, followed by the puncturing of
Speaker 1: a hole through the back of the nasal cavity, into
Speaker 1: which a seven inch tool fashioned from the stem of
Speaker 1: palm leaf with a small hook carved into the end
Speaker 1: is inserted. Since the brain is thought to serve no function,
Speaker 1: the embalmer extracts what they can before pouring a solution
Speaker 1: into the cavity to dissolve what is left. Next, the lungs, liver, stomach,
Speaker 1: and intestines are removed through a small incision cut into
Speaker 1: the left side of the torso, before being cleansed and
Speaker 1: packed into naturen salts alongside the body. Forty days later,
Speaker 1: as the sweet smoke of incense fills the room, the
Speaker 1: desiccated body is smothered in a pungent concoction of herbs,
Speaker 1: oil and resin, before being carefully wrapped in linen, into
Speaker 1: which a number of totems for the gods are inserted,
Speaker 1: all the better to aid him in his journey. Priests
Speaker 1: solemnly chant spells read from papyrus scrolls known to day
Speaker 1: as the Book of the Dead, urging Osiris, the great
Speaker 1: god of the underworld, to take their king from this
Speaker 1: mortal realm and lead him safely to paradise. As an
Speaker 1: exquisite mask of solid gold inlaid with precious stones and
Speaker 1: glass is gent he fitted onto his head. His lifeless
Speaker 1: body now seeming almost alive, as two bright eyes of
Speaker 1: obsidian and quartz stare back into the room. On the
Speaker 1: forehead stands the Eureus, a vigilant cobra rearing up to
Speaker 1: protect its master. Fifteen days later, and this newly bejeweled
Speaker 1: body is transferred to a coffin of solid gold, encasing
Speaker 1: the king in the flesh of the gods. This, in
Speaker 1: turn is placed in two further coffins before being lowered
Speaker 1: into a vast stone sarcophagus, all covered over in more
Speaker 1: spells for the dead. A short time later, under the
Speaker 1: searing heat of the great orb in the sky, the
Speaker 1: very eye of the great god amun Ra, the funerary
Speaker 1: procession makes its way across the desert, the tort sinuous
Speaker 1: bodies of the king's slaves strained with the weight of
Speaker 1: the three tons sarcophagus. As it is dragged across the
Speaker 1: sand toward the Great and Majestic acropolis, two vast giants
Speaker 1: rear into view mighty sandstone statues of the King's grandfather
Speaker 1: towering sixty feet high above the procession, their eyes following
Speaker 1: the sarcophagus as it moves across the dusty land, until
Speaker 1: finally stopping at the entrance of a small tomb carved
Speaker 1: into the rock. Here, the body of the king is
Speaker 1: delivered into the ground as the final spells are encanted,
Speaker 1: and his body left for eternity. The tomb blocked, sealed,
Speaker 1: and filled in with rubble to prevent his body from
Speaker 1: being disturbed. For most the journey to paradise was a
Speaker 1: dangerous and terrifying ordeal, requiring the completion of a treacherous
Speaker 1: gauntlet while being chased by grotesque entities. For kings and queens, however,
Speaker 1: since they were considered virtual deities themselves, success was all
Speaker 1: but guaranteed, provided, of course, their bodies remained preserved and
Speaker 1: undisturbed for all eternity. And so we must leave our
Speaker 1: young king in peace, or risk condemning his spirit to
Speaker 1: a lifetime of restlessness. After all, we wouldn't want to
Speaker 1: come between a king and his paradise, would we. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McClane smith. Having left
Speaker 1: our king, we returned to the surface to find three thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred years have passed and much has changed. The
Speaker 1: Eye of amun Ra now seemingly closed, forever known instead
Speaker 1: as merely the Sun. The once great city of war
Speaker 1: Set transformed into al Uksur, also known as luxor that
Speaker 1: Mighty River are more commonly referred to as the knee
Speaker 1: Il or River Nile. The ancient kingdom of Karset and
Speaker 1: leading seat of civilization known of course as Misron or Egypt.
Speaker 1: Though much remains of the majestic necropolis, known today as
Speaker 1: the Valley of the Kings, the paean to a once
Speaker 1: mighty civilization is now little more than a museum, reduced
Speaker 1: to rubble and dust, a valley of lifeless things where
Speaker 1: once the effigies of Titans passed as shell would have
Speaker 1: it compelled Ye Mighty to look on their works and despair.
Speaker 1: Now only their weathered and crumbling statues remain a reminder
Speaker 1: of distant, unknowable and long forgotten people. Even their language
Speaker 1: would have all but vanished were it not for the
Speaker 1: discovery in seventeen ninety nine of a large broken tablet
Speaker 1: etched all over in words and symbols. The stone was
Speaker 1: dug up by French soldiers stationed at the fort of
Speaker 1: kite Bay, near the city of Rashid, also known as Rosetta,
Speaker 1: on Egypt's North Coast. The writing on the Rosetta Stone,
Speaker 1: although little more than a mundane decree, would ultimately turn
Speaker 1: out to be among the most important discoveries in archeology.
Speaker 1: Composed of three languages, hieroglyphics, ancient Greek, and Demotic, a
Speaker 1: languished thought to have evolved from hieroglyphics, the writing on
Speaker 1: the stone proved to be nothing less than the key
Speaker 1: to unlocking the language of the ancient Egyptians. Roughly twenty
Speaker 1: years after its discovery, French linguist Jean Francois Champollion cracked
Speaker 1: the code, and with a very particular kind of magic,
Speaker 1: an entire civilization had been resurrected, and with it came
Speaker 1: a sudden resurgence of interest in this newly decipherable culture.
Speaker 1: Champollion's discovery heralded the birth of modern Egyptology, and goes
Speaker 1: some way to explaining why. In nineteen o seven, on
Speaker 1: the outskirts of Luxor, we find an Englishman sweating profusely
Speaker 1: in a three piece suit, next to his wife in
Speaker 1: equally ill suiting clothing, her expensive jewelry glinting in the
Speaker 1: sun as they watch workers in long white thobs scrape
Speaker 1: and dig at the ground before them. The man is
Speaker 1: George Edward Stanhope Molineux Herbert, otherwise known as the fifth
Speaker 1: Earl of Carnarvon. Born in eighteen sixty six, at the
Speaker 1: age of thirteen, George, like all Carnarvins before him, was
Speaker 1: sent to Eton College, the nation's most exclusive independent boarding school.
Speaker 1: Despite being an academic failure such as the way of things,
Speaker 1: he was nonetheless granted a place at Cambridge University in
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety. After the death of his father at the
Speaker 1: age of twenty four, George inherited his title along with
Speaker 1: a number of properties, including the family stately home, High
Speaker 1: Claire Castle, a vast and sprawling seventeenth century mansion and
Speaker 1: five thousand acre estate in the County of Hampshire. High
Speaker 1: Claire is perhaps best known as the home of the
Speaker 1: Crawley family from the wildly accessful period drama Downton Abbey.
Speaker 1: Within a matter of years, George, who has a ponchont
Speaker 1: for automobiles and horse racing, has spent most of his
Speaker 1: inheritance racking up vast gambling debts. In the process. Spotting
Speaker 1: a fix, Lord Carnarvon proposes to Almina Wanwell, the illegitimate
Speaker 1: daughter of the banker Alfred de Rothschid, and the couple
Speaker 1: married soon after in eighteen ninety five. The resultant settlement
Speaker 1: provided by Rothschard will be enough to keep the rakish
Speaker 1: Carnarvon from ever having to worry about anything as tiresome
Speaker 1: as getting a job. A son, Harry and daughter Evelyn
Speaker 1: arrived soon after, in eighteen ninety eight and nineteen o one, respectively.
Speaker 1: Carnarvon's interest in Egypt had been slim at best until
Speaker 1: he is advised by a doctor to begin wintering in
Speaker 1: the newly fashionable Low after suffering a near fatal car
Speaker 1: crash in Germany. Bored and alienated from his cars, he
Speaker 1: soon finds himself drawn to the intriguing world of archaeology
Speaker 1: and the thought of finding treasure in the desert, wondering
Speaker 1: if he too, might not be able to find some
Speaker 1: of his own. It was a decision he would not
Speaker 1: live to regret. In the early nineteenth century, there was
Speaker 1: one Egyptian treasure more sought after than any other. What
Speaker 1: drew most archaeologists to the country at that time was
Speaker 1: the valley situated northwest of Luxor, known as the Valley
Speaker 1: of the Kings, the final resting place of over sixty pharaohs,
Speaker 1: nobles and royalty, each buried with a mountain of riches
Speaker 1: to take with them to the afterlife. By nineteen oh seven, however,
Speaker 1: the valley had been almost completely plundered, with many of
Speaker 1: the tombs having been robbed thousands of years previously. Of
Speaker 1: all the pharaohs buried in the valley, only two tombs
Speaker 1: were thought to remain undiscovered, that of horem Heap, the
Speaker 1: last ruler of the Eighteenth dynasty, and that of a
Speaker 1: little known pharaoh, also of the eighteenth dynasty, a mysterious
Speaker 1: boy king known as two tank Armon. It is this
Speaker 1: that has brought Lord Carnarvon to the edge of the
Speaker 1: desert in his thick cotton suit, swatting flies as he
Speaker 1: watches his workers scrape fruitlessly in the dirt. After a
Speaker 1: few years of little success, it becomes clear to the
Speaker 1: hopeless amateur that some expertise is needed, and on the
Speaker 1: advice of an acquaintance, Carnarvan decides to pair up with
Speaker 1: another Englishman named Howard Carter born in Kensington, London in
Speaker 1: eighteen seventy four. Carter had first traveled to Egypt at
Speaker 1: the age of seventeen, having fallen in love with the
Speaker 1: idea of it as a boy. Working initially as an
Speaker 1: artist sketching ancient artifacts for archeologists to study, Carter had
Speaker 1: soon become somewhat of an expert on the subject himself,
Speaker 1: and had, by the age of twenty five, risen to
Speaker 1: the position of Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt. However,
Speaker 1: in nineteen o five, Carter was forced to resign, having
Speaker 1: taken the side of local site guards, allowing them to
Speaker 1: defend themselves against a group of drunk tourists. Cut adrift,
Speaker 1: Carter feared his days as an archeologist were over when
Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvon approached him in nineteen oh seven. Instantly taken
Speaker 1: by the young archeologist, perhaps recognizing something of his roguish self,
Speaker 1: Carnavin offered Carter the chance to work for him. Any
Speaker 1: hope of finding a pharaoh's tomb, however, was hampered by
Speaker 1: the fact that only one person was permitted to dig
Speaker 1: in the Valley of the Kings. Like Carnarvon, Theodore Davies
Speaker 1: had been lured to Egypt by the thrill of the chase.
Speaker 1: The wealthy American lawyer had secured the permit for the
Speaker 1: valley back in nineteen o two and had shown little
Speaker 1: sign of giving it up since, convinced that the undiscovered
Speaker 1: tombs of teutunk Aamen and hoream Heap were lurking there.
Speaker 1: In nineteen o eight, Carnarvon and Carter perceived the devastating
Speaker 1: news that hoream Heep's tomb has been discovered. Though little
Speaker 1: is lost when it is found to have been plundered
Speaker 1: many years before. Worse is to follow, however, with news
Speaker 1: of tutank Aarmon's tomb being discovered a short time later.
Speaker 1: Davies's team had been excavating a sight near the tomb
Speaker 1: of the nineteenth dynasty pharaoh SETI the First when they
Speaker 1: came across it. After careful excavations, a dozen sealed jars
Speaker 1: were discovered, containing, amongst other minor treasures, a series of
Speaker 1: linen bandages bearing the name of tutank Aarmen. Everything else,
Speaker 1: according to Davies, had likely been stolen by tomb robbers
Speaker 1: shortly after the king had first been laid to rest.
Speaker 1: Davies promptly made an announcement to the press, and in
Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen published a detailed account of his findings, but
Speaker 1: something needles at Carter. Davies had undoubtedly found artifacts related
Speaker 1: to tutank Aarmen, and those such objects were often found
Speaker 1: near a tomb, they tended to be buried in a
Speaker 1: separate room, away from the main body. Believing he had
Speaker 1: discovered everything of any significance in the valley, in nineteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: a victorious but exhausted Davies relinquished his permit and returned
Speaker 1: to his home in the United States. Perhaps at this
Speaker 1: point Carter and Lord Carnarvon should have taken heed. Although
Speaker 1: he may not have found Teuton Carmen's body, those rags
Speaker 1: of linen had been buried close to it since, having
Speaker 1: come into contact with it during the burial process. They
Speaker 1: were considered a part of it. To disturb them was
Speaker 1: to disturb the body as a whole, and within a
Speaker 1: year the man who found them would be dead. Believing
Speaker 1: Davies to be mistaken about his find Carter convinced to
Speaker 1: take on his permit so they can look for the
Speaker 1: tomb themselves. Within weeks of securing it, however, dark clouds
Speaker 1: were gathering two gunshots on the streets of Sarajevo start
Speaker 1: a diplomatic cascade that culminates in the outbreak of war,
Speaker 1: the brutal and bloody, likes of which the world has
Speaker 1: never seen. Almost as if it were a warning, Carter
Speaker 1: and Carnarvon are forced to put their efforts on hold.
Speaker 1: Carnarvon returns home to manage his estate, though in truth
Speaker 1: his wife Almina shoulders the brunt of it, helping to
Speaker 1: transform High Clear Castle into a military hospital, working as
Speaker 1: a nurse for the duration of the war. Carter is
Speaker 1: also fortunate to escape the fighting, being employed as a
Speaker 1: diplomatic courier and translator for the British government in Egypt.
Speaker 1: In fifteen, Carter contacts the New York Metropolitan Museums Director
Speaker 1: of Egyptology, Herbert Winlock, to discuss his theory about Davies's mistake.
Speaker 1: Winlock is convinced too it isn't the tomb that he
Speaker 1: has discovered that is still out there. A desperate Carter
Speaker 1: and Carnarvin can only sit back and wait in frustration.
Speaker 1: Back at High Claire, invigorated by his adventures abroad, Lord
Speaker 1: Carnarvon is becoming increasingly fascinated with the occult The mythology
Speaker 1: of ancient Egypt had long held a fascination for purveyors
Speaker 1: of esotericism, which was only intensified by the resurgent interest
Speaker 1: in Egyptology. Many secret orders, most notably the Freemasons, were
Speaker 1: influenced by the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians, incorporating many
Speaker 1: of their spells and beliefs into their rights and symbolism.
Speaker 1: It was the mythology of the great Egyptian gods of Osiris,
Speaker 1: Isis and Horus that Alister Crowley would draw on when
Speaker 1: establishing his own esoteric order, having apparently communicated with an
Speaker 1: ancient Egyptian entity in Cairo in nineteen o five. It
Speaker 1: is unlikely that Lord Carnarvon, being a man of high society,
Speaker 1: was unaware of such connections. For his part, Carnarvon, who
Speaker 1: was thought to have been a member of the London
Speaker 1: Spiritual Alliance, would regularly hold seances in his grand family home,
Speaker 1: dedicating one room, the East Anglia Room, especially for the practice.
Speaker 1: Carnarvon's son Henry, spoke of one story that occurred in
Speaker 1: the spring of nineteen nineteen, whilst he was home from
Speaker 1: military duty in Mesopotamia. Having invited to attend a seance
Speaker 1: along with his sister Evelyn and Howard Carter, amongst others.
Speaker 1: Henry had watched in astonishment as one of the guests
Speaker 1: entered into a trance and began to speak a strange,
Speaker 1: unrecognizable language. It wasn't strange to Carter, however, who slightly unnerved,
Speaker 1: recognized it as Coptic, the language of modern Egypt. Only
Speaker 1: the woman speaking it had never before uttered a word
Speaker 1: of it herself. Later, the group would witness a vase
Speaker 1: of flowers levitating above the table, with a form of
Speaker 1: peace being declared. In nineteen eighteen, Carnarvon and Carter reconvene
Speaker 1: their work in the Valley of the Kings. Four years later,
Speaker 1: having diligently and meticulously supervised the clearing of most of
Speaker 1: the valley, Carter had found nothing, and carnarvin money was
Speaker 1: beginning to run out by the end of an especially
Speaker 1: barren season of excavations. Having long ago grown bored by
Speaker 1: the laborious, mundane realities of his exotic hobby, Lord Carnarvan
Speaker 1: summons Carter to a meeting at Hyclair. On arrival, Carnarvin
Speaker 1: informs the tired and broken Carter that he no longer
Speaker 1: wishes to finance this fool's errand in desperation, Carter requests
Speaker 1: the lord's permission to dig for one final season, with
Speaker 1: only a small section of the valley left to investigate,
Speaker 1: offering to cover all costs himself. Stirred by his friend's commitment,
Speaker 1: and perhaps hearing the voice of his father, who had
Speaker 1: never thought his son would amount to anything, Carnarvin changes
Speaker 1: his mind and agrees to one more year, and so
Speaker 1: it is that Carter returns to Egypt in October nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty two for one final push. In late October, with
Speaker 1: digging due to start again the following week, Carter travels
Speaker 1: to Cairo to help an antique dealer friend inspect a
Speaker 1: number of antiques that have recently come into his possession.
Speaker 1: He has just arrived at the shop when his attention
Speaker 1: is caught by the sweet, lilting sound of bird song.
Speaker 1: Strangely uplifted and moved by the melody, Carter finds himself
Speaker 1: stepping into the cafe next door to locate its source,
Speaker 1: discovering it to be a bright yellow canary in an
Speaker 1: ornate cage. Unable to forget the bird's song, that night,
Speaker 1: He returns to the cafe the following morning, and with
Speaker 1: the help of the antique dealer's assistant, convinces the proprietor
Speaker 1: to say him the melodious canary. Arriving back at his
Speaker 1: home in Luxor, Carter is greeted by his house staff,
Speaker 1: who declare the bird a welcome addition to the house
Speaker 1: and a sure sign of good fortune. The next morning,
Speaker 1: Carter rode up to the Valley of Kings, its silent
Speaker 1: majesty and hidden secrets, never failing to move him there.
Speaker 1: Gazing out across the pale, low lying peaks before him,
Speaker 1: he knew this was his last chance. After five years
Speaker 1: of excavations, Carter and his team had only one small
Speaker 1: area left to investigate, a triangle of land to the
Speaker 1: northeast corner of the tomb of Rameses the Sixth, mostly
Speaker 1: taken up by the ruins of some stone huts that
Speaker 1: had housed the slaves who built Rameses' tomb. Work began
Speaker 1: on November first, and by the third the last remnants
Speaker 1: of the huts had been removed, leaving only the three
Speaker 1: feet of earth they were constructed on, and below that
Speaker 1: the bedrock of the valley At some point the following day,
Speaker 1: having eventually cleared away the mounds of earth, one of
Speaker 1: the workers noticed something strange about the ground, how oddly
Speaker 1: flat it seemed compared to the surrounding bedrock. Scraping away
Speaker 1: at the dirt and sand, he couldn't believe what he
Speaker 1: was looking at. It wasn't just bedrock, it was carved stone.
Speaker 1: As Carter rode up to the sight that morning, he
Speaker 1: sensed immediately that something was up. The bustle and clanking
Speaker 1: of picks and spades was conspicuous by its absence, and
Speaker 1: up ahead he saw his team excitedly huddled around a
Speaker 1: small section of the dick. Carter dismounted and made his
Speaker 1: way to where the men had gathered. The circle of
Speaker 1: workmen opened up, and they smiled at the Englishman as
Speaker 1: he drew near. Removing his hat, he squatted to the
Speaker 1: floor and ran his hand over the exposed stone, feeling
Speaker 1: his way around the edges. It wasn't just carved stone,
Speaker 1: it was a step. Further excavation soon after unveiled the
Speaker 1: clear outline of a stairwell, and as the men labored
Speaker 1: into the evening, one step after another was revealed, descending
Speaker 1: further into the ground. As a bright full moon rose
Speaker 1: into the sky. It was time to call it a night.
Speaker 1: That evening, an elated Carter returned home to find his
Speaker 1: canary strangely subdued. The bird had ceased its singing. Are
Speaker 1: you always taking care of your family? Do you often
Speaker 1: take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself. To make time for you.
Speaker 1: You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed
Speaker 1: therapist to help you get back to feeling your best,
Speaker 1: to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak
Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy Appointments
Speaker 1: are available seven days a week from seven a m.
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Speaker 1: For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers.
Speaker 1: Download the app or visit teledoc dot com. Forward slash
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast to day to get started that t e
Speaker 1: la DC dot com Slash Unexplained podcast. The following day,
Speaker 1: twelve steps down, a short passage is discovered and an
Speaker 1: entrance way that has clearly been officially sealed off. Carter
Speaker 1: stoops down into the chamber and shining a torch onto
Speaker 1: the plaster, finds the mark of the Royal Necropolis stamped
Speaker 1: into it the clear image of a Nubis, the jackal
Speaker 1: god of the dead, with nine characters kneeling below, their
Speaker 1: arms held back and bound by rope. Whatever this was,
Speaker 1: at the very least it had been created by royal appointment.
Speaker 1: That it was found hidden under the tomb of a
Speaker 1: twentieth dynasty pharaoh would suggest it hadn't been seen for
Speaker 1: at least three thousand years. Taking a small chisel and hammer,
Speaker 1: Carter made a slight peep hole through the plaster and
Speaker 1: peered through it to the passageway beyond. Though full of rubble,
Speaker 1: he could clearly see its stretching some way into the rock,
Speaker 1: but that was as far as he could go. With
Speaker 1: darkness approaching. Having made his most exciting discovery in over
Speaker 1: twenty years of work, Carter ordered the stairwell to be
Speaker 1: filled in once more, and instructed his most trusted workmen
Speaker 1: to guard their find. Unable to proceed any further without
Speaker 1: Carnarvon and the supervision of the egypt Antiquities Department, Carter
Speaker 1: composes a telegram to his friend and benefactor the next day,
Speaker 1: accompanied once again by the bright melodies of his pet Canary,
Speaker 1: almost as if it had become reanimated. At the returning
Speaker 1: of the earth to the excavated tomb. Back at High Claire,
Speaker 1: Carnarvon has just returned from walking his beloved dog, Susy,
Speaker 1: when he is greeted by his butler carrying Carter's telegram.
Speaker 1: At last have made wonderful discovery in the valley, It reads,
Speaker 1: A magnificent tomb with seals intact. Congratulations. Carter is forced
Speaker 1: to wait over two weeks before Carnarvon can make it
Speaker 1: back to Luxor, arriving with his daughter Evelyn on November
Speaker 1: the twenty third. Two days later, under the watchful eye
Speaker 1: of Carnarvon and the Chief Inspector of Antiquities, Carter breaks
Speaker 1: through the first entrance to expose the passageway beyond. Over
Speaker 1: the next few days, the excavators work tirelessly to clear
Speaker 1: out the tunnel, until finally, twenty five feet in they
Speaker 1: hit another sealed entrance that also appears to be intact
Speaker 1: and marked with the seal of Tooton Carmen. Moments later, Carter,
Speaker 1: Carnavin and his daughter Evelyn stand on the precipice of
Speaker 1: quite possibly one of the greatest rediscoveries in the history
Speaker 1: of human kind. Barely able to keep his hands steady,
Speaker 1: a trembling Carter positions his chisel to the upper left
Speaker 1: hand corner and makes a tiny breach in the plaster.
Speaker 1: Holding a candle up to the hole, he tests for
Speaker 1: any toxic gases before widening it just enough so that
Speaker 1: he might peer through it. Taking the candle, he extends
Speaker 1: his arm, pulls himself up to take a look, and gasps, well,
Speaker 1: can you see anything, asks Carnavin. Yes, replies Carter, wonderful things.
Speaker 1: It had taken a moment for his eyes to adjust
Speaker 1: to the darkness, the candle flame almost going out as
Speaker 1: a sudden rush of warm air escaped from the chamber.
Speaker 1: Having adapted to the light, Carter had stood completely dumb
Speaker 1: struck as there on the other side of the wall,
Speaker 1: strange figures were beginning to emerge from the darkness, life
Speaker 1: size statues of men, bizarrely shaped animals, and everywhere the
Speaker 1: unrelenting glint of gold. They had at last rediscovered the
Speaker 1: untouched tomb of King tutank Carmen. Moments later, a young
Speaker 1: boy descends into the tunnel to deliver a message to
Speaker 1: the archeologist. Just as Carter had been making his hole
Speaker 1: in the wall, a cobra had made its way into
Speaker 1: his house, upper table, leg and into the cage of
Speaker 1: his canary, killing it instantly and swallowing it whole. The
Speaker 1: boy was terrified. It was a clear sign, he said,
Speaker 1: the cobra, representing royalty and protection as symbolized by the
Speaker 1: eureus as worn on the crown of all pharaohs, had
Speaker 1: killed the lucky bird. Though Carter were later write that
Speaker 1: he and Carnarvon choose this moment to halt the excavation
Speaker 1: until an antiquities official could be alerted, as was required
Speaker 1: by Egyptian law at the time, in truth, they did
Speaker 1: no such thing. Undeterred by the ominous omen, Carter proceeded
Speaker 1: to make the whole wide enough for himself, Carnarvon, and
Speaker 1: Evelyn to slip through it into the next chamber so
Speaker 1: they could examine their find at closer quarters. Moving into
Speaker 1: the sacred space, it was as if they had stepped
Speaker 1: back three thousand years. A half filled bowl of mortar
Speaker 1: had been left on the side, ancient finger prints still
Speaker 1: marked the walls, and all about was filled with hundreds
Speaker 1: of extraordinary statues and other bejeweled and golden objects, but
Speaker 1: there was no sign of the king's body, meaning they
Speaker 1: had only reached the antechamber. Carter walked to the far
Speaker 1: side of the room that was flanked by two life
Speaker 1: size statues, presumably of the king, made from ebony and gold,
Speaker 1: effigies placed to guard the entranceway to his burial chamber.
Speaker 1: Carter held up the candle light to their faces, illuminating
Speaker 1: the sacred cobras set into their crowns right under their gaze.
Speaker 1: He made another small hole, just large enough to squeeze through,
Speaker 1: and then Carter, Carnarvon, and Evelyn made their way into
Speaker 1: the next room, a cramped space taken up by what
Speaker 1: seemed like a vast golden box. They had found it,
Speaker 1: the king's final resting place, with the seal to its
Speaker 1: entrance still intact. This now being highly illegal. The three
Speaker 1: of them slipped back into the ante chamber and covered
Speaker 1: up the hole. Returning to the surface, an exhilarated Carter
Speaker 1: and Carnarvin congratulated each other on their find, but found
Speaker 1: themselves strangely subdued as they made their way to their
Speaker 1: respective beds that night. With the moment they had craved
Speaker 1: for so many years having finally arrived, it was as
Speaker 1: if something of the wander in the world had vanished forever.
Speaker 1: Within days, news of the find had made its way
Speaker 1: around the globe, and Carter and Lord Carnarvon became overnight celebrities,
Speaker 1: their extraordinary rediscovery roundly heralded as one of the greatest
Speaker 1: in history. As protocol dictated, it would be some months
Speaker 1: before Carter was able to access the burial chamber, as
Speaker 1: all objects in the first room needed to be removed
Speaker 1: and documented first. Over the next few weeks, a number
Speaker 1: of dignitaries would come from far and wide to view
Speaker 1: the tomb for themselves. On December third, Lord Carnarvon returned
Speaker 1: home to wait out the next phase, where he found
Speaker 1: a bizarre message waiting for him. It had been sent
Speaker 1: by the self styled Count Louis l Warner Hammon, otherwise
Speaker 1: known as world renowned fortune teller, self described clairvoyant Kiro,
Speaker 1: the apparent psychic, born William John Warner in Ireland in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty six, had made quite a name for himself,
Speaker 1: having apparently successfully foretold a number of recent events, from
Speaker 1: the signing of the Bowful Declaration to the failure of
Speaker 1: Sir Ernest Shackleton's second expedition to the Antarctic. His message
Speaker 1: to Carnarvon was a warning delivered to him, he maintained,
Speaker 1: in the form of automatic writing from one of King
Speaker 1: tutank Aarman's sisters. It was a plea that he not
Speaker 1: remove anything from the king's tomb, or else he would
Speaker 1: suffer an injury, a sickness from which he would never recover,
Speaker 1: and that death would claim him in Egypt. Undoubtedly shaken
Speaker 1: by the message, Carnarvin nonetheless returned to Egypt in January
Speaker 1: to witness the formal opening of the burial chamber, which
Speaker 1: took place on February the sixteenth. Soon after, proceedings were
Speaker 1: halted again when Carter and Carnarvin had a falling out
Speaker 1: over the management of the site. Since the tomb's initial
Speaker 1: rediscovery the treasure within it had become the subject of
Speaker 1: much diplomatic wrangling over who in fact owned it, with
Speaker 1: it eventually being declared the property of the Egyptian state.
Speaker 1: The pair were later reconciled after Carnarvon apologized to Carter.
Speaker 1: One month later, Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito.
Speaker 1: He had all but forgotten the bite until he cut
Speaker 1: himself on it shortly after whilst shaving. Within days, the
Speaker 1: cut became infected and he developed sepsis. Over the next
Speaker 1: few weeks, his body struggled to fight the infection, and
Speaker 1: by early April, the Lord was complete ely bedridden. At
Speaker 1: his suite in the Savoy Hotel in Cairo. At shortly
Speaker 1: after midnight on April fifth, a strong gust of wind
Speaker 1: swept through the city of Cairo, rattling the shutters outside
Speaker 1: the Lord's bedroom. Inside, a weary Carnavin watched with concern
Speaker 1: as the lights of his suite flickered out, as did
Speaker 1: all the lights in fact in the city, plunging it
Speaker 1: into total darkness. By the time they had come back
Speaker 1: on barely minutes later, Lord Carnarvon was dead. Electricians working
Speaker 1: the city's power terminal the following day, will fail to
Speaker 1: find any obvious cause for the blackout. On hearing of
Speaker 1: the death, Author Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the
Speaker 1: first to suggest that Carnavin had been the victim of
Speaker 1: a curse, having broken into the sanctity of a pharaoh's tomb.
Speaker 1: He will not be the last, and nor would Lord
Speaker 1: Carnarvon be the only apparent victim of such a curse.
Speaker 1: Over the next few months, a number of people linked
Speaker 1: to the discovery of the tomb died in strange or
Speaker 1: unexpected circumstances, such as twenty three year old Prince Ali
Speaker 1: Camel Farmi Bay, who was shot dead by his wife
Speaker 1: Marie Marguerite on July tenth, shortly after he had visited
Speaker 1: the tomb. Aubrey Herbert Carnarvon's half brother, had also visited
Speaker 1: the tomb, surely before a routine dental operation led to
Speaker 1: a fatal blood poisoning. He also died that same year.
Speaker 1: In September. The following month, Captain Richard Bethel, Howard Carter's
Speaker 1: forty six year old secretary, was found dead in bed
Speaker 1: of a suspected heart attack, the cause of death ultimately
Speaker 1: being unconfirmed. Over the next ten years, as many as
Speaker 1: eleven people would die apparent victims of the curse. Howard Carter,
Speaker 1: who had no patience for superstition and wild talk of
Speaker 1: ancient curses, would live for another sixteen years before dying
Speaker 1: of Hodgkin's disease at the age of sixty four. Those
Speaker 1: who knew about the ominous warning sent to Lord Carnarvon
Speaker 1: by the psychic Key Roe were left to wander if
Speaker 1: there had been any truth to his claim. Perhaps they
Speaker 1: had unsettled the pharaoh's spirit after all by disturbing his grave,
Speaker 1: or perhaps by taking something that wasn't theirs to take.
Speaker 1: Carnarvin and Howard's insistence that they didn't at any point
Speaker 1: steal anything from inside the tomb seemed to negate the
Speaker 1: second point. At least sixty five years after Carnavin's death,
Speaker 1: High Claire Castle became the property of the fifth Earl's grandson, Henry.
Speaker 1: It having fallen to him to carry out an inventory
Speaker 1: of the family estate. He called in his father's retired butler,
Speaker 1: Robert Taylor, to help with the review. Having finally detailed
Speaker 1: every last item in the house, Henry assumed that everything
Speaker 1: had been accounted for. Well, that is everything, said Taylor,
Speaker 1: except for the Egyptian stuff. I'm sure just what Taylor meant.
Speaker 1: The former butler proceeded to lead Henry to a pair
Speaker 1: of small, ornate doors that had long ago been blocked
Speaker 1: off with furniture. After removing the tables and chairs, Taylor
Speaker 1: opened the doors to reveal a long forgotten, dark and
Speaker 1: dusty passageway. Henry followed Taylor inside, who stopped in front
Speaker 1: of a set of panels in the wall, opening them
Speaker 1: to reveal a secret storage space behind inside, which was
Speaker 1: stored a number of sealed tins. Henry would later open them,
Speaker 1: discovering a collection of over three hundred ancient Egyptian artifacts,
Speaker 1: a secret that Lord Carnarvon had taken to his grave.
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Speaker 1: help supporters, you can now go to Unexplained podcast us
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Speaker 1: large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements of Unexplained
Speaker 1: are produced by me, Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and
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Speaker 1: in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories
Speaker 1: you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation
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