1 00:00:15,370 --> 00:00:22,570 Speaker 1: Pushkin. On the sixteenth of February nineteen twenty three, the 2 00:00:22,690 --> 00:00:27,490 Speaker 1: tomb of the pharaoh Teuton Carmen was officially opened. It 3 00:00:27,650 --> 00:00:30,850 Speaker 1: was a landmark in the history of archaeology. It was 4 00:00:30,890 --> 00:00:34,970 Speaker 1: also a central event in one of my favorite Cautionary Tales, 5 00:00:35,330 --> 00:00:39,210 Speaker 1: first released in October twenty twenty one. A new episode 6 00:00:39,210 --> 00:00:41,930 Speaker 1: of Cautionary Tales will be released on the usual schedule. 7 00:00:42,250 --> 00:00:45,490 Speaker 1: But while you wait, in honor of the centenary of 8 00:00:45,530 --> 00:00:48,930 Speaker 1: the opening of the tomb of Teuton Carmen, I present 9 00:00:49,130 --> 00:00:57,210 Speaker 1: another chance to hear the Mummy's curse. Three and a 10 00:00:57,290 --> 00:01:02,090 Speaker 1: half thousand years ago, in ancient Egypt, the Princess of 11 00:01:02,570 --> 00:01:07,210 Speaker 1: Munrah passed away. She was laid to rest in an 12 00:01:07,290 --> 00:01:11,250 Speaker 1: exquisite wooden coffin and buried in a deep vault at 13 00:01:11,330 --> 00:01:15,690 Speaker 1: Luxor on the banks of the Mighty Nile. More than 14 00:01:15,850 --> 00:01:20,650 Speaker 1: thirty centuries later, in the late eighteen hundreds, four young 15 00:01:20,970 --> 00:01:25,410 Speaker 1: English tourists, rich gentlemen all were offered the chance to 16 00:01:25,450 --> 00:01:30,210 Speaker 1: purchase a delightfully painted mummy case. They drew lots to 17 00:01:30,250 --> 00:01:34,170 Speaker 1: decide who had the right to buy the prize. The 18 00:01:34,210 --> 00:01:37,770 Speaker 1: man who won paid a small fortune and had the 19 00:01:37,850 --> 00:01:42,970 Speaker 1: coffin taken to his hotel. A few hours later, he 20 00:01:43,090 --> 00:01:48,410 Speaker 1: was seen walking out onto the Lone and Level Sands. 21 00:01:49,610 --> 00:01:53,890 Speaker 1: He was never to return. The second fellow was wounded 22 00:01:53,930 --> 00:01:57,930 Speaker 1: in a hunting accident. He lost his arm. The third 23 00:01:57,970 --> 00:02:01,610 Speaker 1: man lost everything in a bank run. The fourth was 24 00:02:01,650 --> 00:02:05,730 Speaker 1: struck with a severe illness, lost his job, and ended 25 00:02:05,770 --> 00:02:10,330 Speaker 1: his days selling matches on street corners. The coffin case 26 00:02:10,530 --> 00:02:15,010 Speaker 1: was purchased by another gentleman. His house caught fire, and 27 00:02:15,130 --> 00:02:18,850 Speaker 1: he quickly donated the unlucky item to the British Museum. 28 00:02:19,850 --> 00:02:24,730 Speaker 1: The removal did not go smoothly. The removal wagon lost 29 00:02:24,730 --> 00:02:28,850 Speaker 1: control and hit a passer by. One workman fell and 30 00:02:28,930 --> 00:02:33,130 Speaker 1: broke his leg while carrying the casket. His colleague simply 31 00:02:33,290 --> 00:02:39,170 Speaker 1: died inexplicably two days later. Night watchman at the museum 32 00:02:39,370 --> 00:02:45,370 Speaker 1: frequently heard sobbing and hammering from inside the coffin. One 33 00:02:45,690 --> 00:02:50,010 Speaker 1: died on duty, the others refused to go near the 34 00:02:50,050 --> 00:02:54,570 Speaker 1: Egyptian room where the item was stored. A visitor who 35 00:02:54,690 --> 00:02:59,890 Speaker 1: treated the exhibition with scorn soon paid the price. His 36 00:03:00,090 --> 00:03:05,090 Speaker 1: child died of measles. A photographer took a picture of 37 00:03:05,130 --> 00:03:09,650 Speaker 1: the case, but when he developed the picture, he saw 38 00:03:09,930 --> 00:03:16,970 Speaker 1: only a tormented human face. The photographer went home, locked 39 00:03:17,050 --> 00:03:23,450 Speaker 1: his door, and shot himself. The British Museum sold the 40 00:03:23,570 --> 00:03:27,850 Speaker 1: cursed object to a private collector, who soon regretted the purchase. 41 00:03:28,330 --> 00:03:31,810 Speaker 1: Eventually he found a buyer bold or foolish enough to 42 00:03:31,850 --> 00:03:36,930 Speaker 1: take it off his hands, an American archeologist who simply 43 00:03:37,010 --> 00:03:42,850 Speaker 1: did not believe in unlucky mummies. He paid top dollar 44 00:03:42,970 --> 00:03:45,850 Speaker 1: for the coffin case and arranged to have it shipped 45 00:03:45,890 --> 00:03:51,530 Speaker 1: across the Atlantic to New York for safekeeping. The lid 46 00:03:51,690 --> 00:03:55,970 Speaker 1: of the coffin of the Princess of Munrah traveled on 47 00:03:56,010 --> 00:03:59,490 Speaker 1: the bridge of the finest ocean liner in the world, 48 00:04:00,370 --> 00:04:04,690 Speaker 1: the Pride of the White Star Line. The ship's name 49 00:04:06,250 --> 00:04:13,410 Speaker 1: was the Titanic. I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to 50 00:04:13,650 --> 00:04:40,770 Speaker 1: cautionary tales. In nineteen twenty two, a decade after the 51 00:04:40,890 --> 00:04:45,130 Speaker 1: Titanic had slipped beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic, 52 00:04:45,970 --> 00:04:50,930 Speaker 1: another archeologist, the Englishman Howard Carter, was at the head 53 00:04:51,090 --> 00:04:54,010 Speaker 1: of the Valley of the Kings in the heart of 54 00:04:54,170 --> 00:04:59,570 Speaker 1: ancient Egypt. He was patiently encamped outside what he described 55 00:04:59,650 --> 00:05:06,810 Speaker 1: as a magnificent tomb with seals. Intact. It had been 56 00:05:07,010 --> 00:05:11,050 Speaker 1: a long wait. Not just the three weeks for Carter's 57 00:05:11,290 --> 00:05:16,170 Speaker 1: patron and financier, Lord Carnarvon to arrive, not just the 58 00:05:16,370 --> 00:05:20,650 Speaker 1: fifteen years of excavating different sites around the valley with 59 00:05:20,890 --> 00:05:29,570 Speaker 1: limited success. No someone or something had been waiting still longer, 60 00:05:30,450 --> 00:05:37,050 Speaker 1: for more than three thousand years. Deep inside that tomb, 61 00:05:37,850 --> 00:05:42,050 Speaker 1: behind a sealed door, a corridor filled with rubble, another 62 00:05:42,130 --> 00:05:45,730 Speaker 1: sealed door, a chamber full of treasures, and yet another 63 00:05:45,810 --> 00:05:51,130 Speaker 1: sealed door, was something that nobody had dared to disturb 64 00:05:51,770 --> 00:05:57,570 Speaker 1: for millennia, and perhaps with good reason. Everyone knew the 65 00:05:57,610 --> 00:06:02,290 Speaker 1: story of the Unlucky Mummy and the Titanic. Such tales 66 00:06:02,330 --> 00:06:09,570 Speaker 1: were popular in late Victorian and Edwardian society. A famous psychic, Hayman, 67 00:06:10,370 --> 00:06:15,890 Speaker 1: sent a telegram with a warning Lord Carnarvon not to 68 00:06:16,090 --> 00:06:21,610 Speaker 1: enter tomb. Disobey at peril. If ignored, will suffer sickness, 69 00:06:22,130 --> 00:06:28,050 Speaker 1: not recover, death will claim him in Egypt. And yet 70 00:06:28,730 --> 00:06:34,210 Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvon had come. After weeks of further digging. He 71 00:06:34,250 --> 00:06:38,450 Speaker 1: now stood at the shoulder of Howard Carter, who, after 72 00:06:38,570 --> 00:06:42,010 Speaker 1: patiently working on a small hole into the burial chamber, 73 00:06:42,570 --> 00:06:46,690 Speaker 1: put a candle to the hole and peered in At 74 00:06:46,730 --> 00:06:51,730 Speaker 1: first I could see nothing, Carter later recalled. But presently, 75 00:06:51,770 --> 00:06:54,970 Speaker 1: as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of 76 00:06:55,010 --> 00:06:59,410 Speaker 1: the room emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, 77 00:06:59,530 --> 00:07:03,330 Speaker 1: and gold everywhere, the glint of gold. For the moment 78 00:07:03,530 --> 00:07:06,930 Speaker 1: I was struck dumb with amazement. And when Lord Carnarvon, 79 00:07:07,210 --> 00:07:12,170 Speaker 1: unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, can 80 00:07:12,250 --> 00:07:15,010 Speaker 1: you see anything? It was all I could do to 81 00:07:15,010 --> 00:07:24,490 Speaker 1: get out the words, yes, wonderful things, wonderful things. Perhaps 82 00:07:26,290 --> 00:07:30,810 Speaker 1: these treasures were there to guard and sustain the mummified 83 00:07:30,850 --> 00:07:36,090 Speaker 1: body and the golden burial mask of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen. 84 00:07:37,210 --> 00:07:42,090 Speaker 1: The story was a sensation. The world's press had gathered 85 00:07:42,130 --> 00:07:45,010 Speaker 1: in Cairo and were jostling for access to the tomb, 86 00:07:45,370 --> 00:07:49,690 Speaker 1: or to Carter or Carnarvin. The Times of London lauded 87 00:07:49,690 --> 00:07:54,250 Speaker 1: it over the other papers, having paid handsomely for exclusive access. 88 00:07:54,930 --> 00:07:58,610 Speaker 1: But every newspaper was there, and every newspaper had an angle. 89 00:07:59,730 --> 00:08:04,610 Speaker 1: These rival newspapers reported that Carter and Carnarvon had deliberately 90 00:08:04,690 --> 00:08:08,530 Speaker 1: destroyed a terrible warning over the tomb because they were 91 00:08:08,570 --> 00:08:12,970 Speaker 1: afraid that the locals would refuse to dig that warning 92 00:08:12,970 --> 00:08:19,370 Speaker 1: red death shall carm on swift wings to whoever toucheth. 93 00:08:19,650 --> 00:08:25,730 Speaker 1: The tomb of the Pharaoh reports too, that Carnarvon had 94 00:08:25,730 --> 00:08:29,930 Speaker 1: received a tiny injury in the tomb. A stinging or 95 00:08:30,050 --> 00:08:34,410 Speaker 1: biting insect had pierced the skin on his cheek just 96 00:08:34,730 --> 00:08:38,370 Speaker 1: as he had entered the presence of Teuton. Carmen and 97 00:08:38,530 --> 00:08:41,770 Speaker 1: Count Hayman was not the only person to have warned 98 00:08:41,810 --> 00:08:47,530 Speaker 1: about the consequences of Lord Carnarvan's arrogance. One eyewitness turned 99 00:08:47,530 --> 00:08:50,810 Speaker 1: to the fellow standing next to him, I give him 100 00:08:51,050 --> 00:08:57,290 Speaker 1: six weeks to live. Nearly six weeks later, Lord Carnarvan's 101 00:08:57,330 --> 00:09:00,530 Speaker 1: family were rushing to be at his side in Cairo. 102 00:09:01,490 --> 00:09:05,490 Speaker 1: He was gravely ill. A wound on his cheek was infected, 103 00:09:05,810 --> 00:09:09,770 Speaker 1: and the malady was spreading through his body. The Express 104 00:09:09,890 --> 00:09:14,810 Speaker 1: newspaper reported that at the moment that Lord Carnarvan breathed 105 00:09:14,930 --> 00:09:20,650 Speaker 1: his last feeble breath, the lights in his hotel went out, 106 00:09:21,570 --> 00:09:27,330 Speaker 1: plunging all into darkness. Death had claimed him. In Egypt. 107 00:09:28,290 --> 00:09:33,130 Speaker 1: It was another pharaoh's curse, and it had claimed its 108 00:09:33,290 --> 00:09:44,370 Speaker 1: first victim. Cautionary tales are true stories of disaster and 109 00:09:44,570 --> 00:09:47,370 Speaker 1: lessons for us all to learn lest we make the 110 00:09:47,450 --> 00:09:52,050 Speaker 1: same mistake ourselves. But what lesson should we learn from 111 00:09:52,130 --> 00:09:57,770 Speaker 1: stories about the Unlucky Mummy or the curse of Tuton Carmen. First, 112 00:09:58,130 --> 00:10:01,810 Speaker 1: let's establish what exactly is said to have happened to 113 00:10:01,930 --> 00:10:06,890 Speaker 1: Carnarvon and Carter's expedition. The first indication of trouble was 114 00:10:07,010 --> 00:10:11,850 Speaker 1: a little on the nose death of a canary. Howard 115 00:10:11,930 --> 00:10:15,850 Speaker 1: Carter's beloved pet canary, had been eaten by a cobra 116 00:10:16,330 --> 00:10:20,450 Speaker 1: the day Carter began to excavate the tomb. The cobra 117 00:10:20,650 --> 00:10:23,210 Speaker 1: was well known as a symbol of the power of 118 00:10:23,210 --> 00:10:29,290 Speaker 1: the pharaoh's Another symbol was the jackal, representative of Anubis, 119 00:10:29,370 --> 00:10:33,490 Speaker 1: the Egyptian god of the dead. In his diary, Howard 120 00:10:33,530 --> 00:10:39,410 Speaker 1: Carter recorded the unsettling site of two black jackals, the 121 00:10:39,690 --> 00:10:43,170 Speaker 1: very image of a Nubis. He noted that it was 122 00:10:43,210 --> 00:10:46,290 Speaker 1: the first time he had seen a black jackal despite 123 00:10:46,530 --> 00:10:51,730 Speaker 1: thirty five years working in Egypt. Carter's canary wasn't the 124 00:10:51,810 --> 00:10:56,730 Speaker 1: only pet to suffer. Lord Carnarvan's dog howled in sorrow 125 00:10:57,210 --> 00:11:01,410 Speaker 1: and then expired at the same moment that Carnarvan himself did, 126 00:11:01,970 --> 00:11:04,770 Speaker 1: which is all the more remarkable, since Carnarvan was in 127 00:11:04,850 --> 00:11:08,050 Speaker 1: Cairo while the dog was in high Clear Castle in 128 00:11:08,130 --> 00:11:11,290 Speaker 1: southern England. High Clear is better known these days as 129 00:11:11,330 --> 00:11:15,810 Speaker 1: the filming location for Downton Abbey. If it had just 130 00:11:15,930 --> 00:11:19,450 Speaker 1: been Carnarvern and a menagerie, that would be one thing, 131 00:11:20,210 --> 00:11:24,170 Speaker 1: But the pharaoh's thirst for revenge was not easily slaked. 132 00:11:25,170 --> 00:11:29,250 Speaker 1: Soon Howard Carter was showing signs of illness too, and 133 00:11:29,330 --> 00:11:32,690 Speaker 1: the list of people struck down by the curse grew 134 00:11:33,210 --> 00:11:38,090 Speaker 1: and grew. A railroad baron from pneumonia after visiting the 135 00:11:38,130 --> 00:11:42,530 Speaker 1: tomb of Teutoncarmen in nineteen twenty three the same year, 136 00:11:43,090 --> 00:11:47,890 Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvon's half brother. A year later, a close colleague 137 00:11:47,890 --> 00:11:52,610 Speaker 1: of Carter suffered a breakdown and retired. A noted radiologist, 138 00:11:52,730 --> 00:11:58,210 Speaker 1: after performing an X ray of Teutoncarmen's sarcophagus, died mysteriously. 139 00:11:58,450 --> 00:12:02,570 Speaker 1: Also in nineteen twenty four, a leading British diplomat was 140 00:12:02,610 --> 00:12:07,370 Speaker 1: assassinated in Cairo again in nineteen twenty four. A respected 141 00:12:07,410 --> 00:12:12,850 Speaker 1: French egyptologist died in nineteen twenty six after stumbling near 142 00:12:12,930 --> 00:12:19,530 Speaker 1: Teutoncarman's tomb. Carnarvan's secretary survived a little longer. He died 143 00:12:19,530 --> 00:12:24,330 Speaker 1: in his sleep in nineteen twenty nine, in circumstances also 144 00:12:24,570 --> 00:12:28,770 Speaker 1: said to be mysterious, and The Times of London noted 145 00:12:28,810 --> 00:12:32,770 Speaker 1: that he is believed to have been troubled by the 146 00:12:32,970 --> 00:12:38,770 Speaker 1: legendary curse of the Pharaohs. The man's father, Lord Westbury, 147 00:12:39,410 --> 00:12:44,410 Speaker 1: killed himself three months later. His suicide note included the 148 00:12:44,450 --> 00:12:50,490 Speaker 1: line I really can't stand any more horrors, but the 149 00:12:50,570 --> 00:12:56,690 Speaker 1: horrors kept coming. Lord Westbury's hearse knocked down a boy 150 00:12:56,730 --> 00:12:59,770 Speaker 1: of eight on the way to the cemetery. The boy 151 00:12:59,890 --> 00:13:04,130 Speaker 1: had died to satisfy the honor of a three thousand 152 00:13:04,210 --> 00:13:07,850 Speaker 1: year old Egyptian. The man who'd given Lord Carnarvon six 153 00:13:07,850 --> 00:13:10,810 Speaker 1: weeks to live, was to die in nineteen thirty four. 154 00:13:11,410 --> 00:13:15,370 Speaker 1: The Daily Express noted that he had been killed by 155 00:13:15,730 --> 00:13:22,090 Speaker 1: the curse. Finally, in nineteen thirty nine, Howard Carter, the 156 00:13:22,170 --> 00:13:25,050 Speaker 1: leader of the expedition, the man who was the first 157 00:13:25,130 --> 00:13:28,050 Speaker 1: to glimpse the mask of Teuton Carmen in more than 158 00:13:28,170 --> 00:13:34,450 Speaker 1: three thousand years, died after picking off his pet, his patron, 159 00:13:34,610 --> 00:13:38,610 Speaker 1: his friends, and his colleagues one by one. The pharaoh's 160 00:13:38,690 --> 00:13:43,570 Speaker 1: curse finally came for Carter. A man doomed to watch 161 00:13:43,770 --> 00:13:50,170 Speaker 1: all around him die. Even then, the curse was not lifted. 162 00:13:50,770 --> 00:13:54,490 Speaker 1: After four decades in a museum in Cairo, the Egyptian 163 00:13:54,530 --> 00:13:58,530 Speaker 1: government arranged to have Teuton Carmen's mask and treasures exhibited 164 00:13:58,530 --> 00:14:03,730 Speaker 1: in Paris and later in London. Numerous untimely deaths followed, 165 00:14:04,210 --> 00:14:09,810 Speaker 1: in particular of two successive directors of Egyptian antiquities. A 166 00:14:09,970 --> 00:14:12,850 Speaker 1: Royal Air Force crew took on the job of flying 167 00:14:12,890 --> 00:14:16,490 Speaker 1: the treasures from Cairo to London and paid the price. 168 00:14:17,290 --> 00:14:21,210 Speaker 1: One of them jokingly kicked the box containing the Pharaoh's mask. 169 00:14:22,210 --> 00:14:25,730 Speaker 1: I've just kicked the most expensive thing in the world. Later, 170 00:14:26,250 --> 00:14:31,610 Speaker 1: a ladder broke underneath him for no apparent reason. That 171 00:14:31,770 --> 00:14:35,810 Speaker 1: leg was in plaster for five months. Another crewman lost 172 00:14:35,890 --> 00:14:39,930 Speaker 1: everything in a house fire. A third suffered two heart 173 00:14:39,930 --> 00:14:43,370 Speaker 1: attacks in his thirties, while two others died of heart 174 00:14:43,410 --> 00:14:48,690 Speaker 1: attacks in their forties, including flight engineer Ken Parkinson. His 175 00:14:48,770 --> 00:14:51,570 Speaker 1: wife said that he had had a heart attack every 176 00:14:51,650 --> 00:14:54,730 Speaker 1: year at the same time of year until the last 177 00:14:54,770 --> 00:14:58,730 Speaker 1: one killed him. Let's try to be rational about this. 178 00:14:59,450 --> 00:15:02,610 Speaker 1: Could there have been some toxic substance in the tomb 179 00:15:02,650 --> 00:15:07,090 Speaker 1: that caused death? As possible One explanation is that some 180 00:15:07,170 --> 00:15:10,370 Speaker 1: strange virus, mold or back tears area evolved in there, 181 00:15:10,850 --> 00:15:14,730 Speaker 1: ready to burst out and wreak havoc. A second possibility 182 00:15:14,850 --> 00:15:18,570 Speaker 1: is that the ancient Egyptians were masters of poison and 183 00:15:18,770 --> 00:15:23,890 Speaker 1: primed the tomb with toxic paints or powders, or perhaps 184 00:15:23,890 --> 00:15:27,730 Speaker 1: the tomb was built out of radioactive material, delivering a 185 00:15:27,850 --> 00:15:31,730 Speaker 1: lethal dose to grave robbers with a temerity to disturb it. 186 00:15:34,610 --> 00:15:38,250 Speaker 1: All of these explanations have been attributed to scientists, but 187 00:15:38,570 --> 00:15:43,770 Speaker 1: there are some obvious subjections. Radiation is easily detected. If 188 00:15:43,810 --> 00:15:47,930 Speaker 1: Tutankhamen's tomb was packed with plutonium, I think we'd know 189 00:15:48,010 --> 00:15:53,050 Speaker 1: about it by now. The epidemiologist F. Dewolfe Miller recently 190 00:15:53,090 --> 00:15:56,930 Speaker 1: told National Geographic that we don't know of even a 191 00:15:57,010 --> 00:16:01,290 Speaker 1: single case of either an archaeologist or a tourist experiencing 192 00:16:01,690 --> 00:16:06,850 Speaker 1: any negative consequences from either tomb molds or bacteria. He 193 00:16:06,930 --> 00:16:09,730 Speaker 1: added that given the sanitary conditions of the time in 194 00:16:09,770 --> 00:16:14,010 Speaker 1: general and those within Egypt in particular, Lord Carnarvon would 195 00:16:14,010 --> 00:16:19,330 Speaker 1: likely have been safer in the tomb than outside. Anyway, 196 00:16:19,730 --> 00:16:23,490 Speaker 1: no toxin could explain all the mysterious deaths of all 197 00:16:23,530 --> 00:16:28,330 Speaker 1: these different people across the decades. But something else might, 198 00:16:29,330 --> 00:16:34,090 Speaker 1: something as strange as any fairnic curse. We'll find out 199 00:16:34,130 --> 00:16:46,610 Speaker 1: more after the break. Let's move from the realm of 200 00:16:46,810 --> 00:16:51,850 Speaker 1: ancient curses to the world of cutting edge science. Cutting 201 00:16:51,890 --> 00:16:55,450 Speaker 1: edge that is, from the perspective of seventeen eighty four. 202 00:16:56,570 --> 00:17:00,770 Speaker 1: We're in Paris, the febrile decade before the Revolution and 203 00:17:00,810 --> 00:17:07,450 Speaker 1: the guillotine. A strange cylinder of polished oak with nautical fittings, ropes, 204 00:17:07,530 --> 00:17:11,490 Speaker 1: brass wheels, and iron rods stands in front of us 205 00:17:11,530 --> 00:17:15,490 Speaker 1: in the center of a room with an audience. Poor souls, 206 00:17:15,850 --> 00:17:20,890 Speaker 1: wretched invalids seeking healing are brought in firmly fastened to 207 00:17:20,930 --> 00:17:25,090 Speaker 1: the cylinder by the ropes, then touch their diseased bodies 208 00:17:25,130 --> 00:17:28,170 Speaker 1: to the iron rods. They're ready to be healed by 209 00:17:28,210 --> 00:17:34,410 Speaker 1: the awesome scientific power of magnetism. To add to the 210 00:17:34,490 --> 00:17:39,650 Speaker 1: sense of occasion, a glass armonica, a strange instrument invented 211 00:17:39,650 --> 00:17:46,690 Speaker 1: by Benjamin Franklin, plays eerie music. A contemporary account describes 212 00:17:46,730 --> 00:17:50,610 Speaker 1: how the patients would cough, spit, feel slight pain, a 213 00:17:50,730 --> 00:17:55,010 Speaker 1: warmth either localized or all over, and perspire. Others are 214 00:17:55,050 --> 00:18:01,090 Speaker 1: agitated by quick involuntary movements. These effects build over several hours, 215 00:18:01,250 --> 00:18:06,290 Speaker 1: with crescendos of screams, sobs, hysterical laughter, and of course, 216 00:18:06,730 --> 00:18:10,530 Speaker 1: the armonica. The climax are curs with the appearance of 217 00:18:10,570 --> 00:18:16,050 Speaker 1: the device's inventor, dressed in gold slippers and a silk robe, 218 00:18:16,050 --> 00:18:19,490 Speaker 1: waving a wand and laying on hands, provoking yet more 219 00:18:19,610 --> 00:18:27,210 Speaker 1: convulsions and hysterics. It's Franz Anton Mesmer, the man who 220 00:18:27,250 --> 00:18:33,130 Speaker 1: gave us the word mesmerize. Mesmer was a sensation in 221 00:18:33,290 --> 00:18:37,730 Speaker 1: pre revolutionary France. A seat at his magnetic device was 222 00:18:37,770 --> 00:18:41,690 Speaker 1: the hottest ticket in Paris. The charge was steep, but 223 00:18:41,770 --> 00:18:45,850 Speaker 1: there was no shortage of eager customers. Some were desperate 224 00:18:45,850 --> 00:18:48,530 Speaker 1: for healing, others were in it for the thrill and 225 00:18:48,650 --> 00:18:52,610 Speaker 1: the ability to describe their experiences later in the salon. 226 00:18:53,610 --> 00:18:58,690 Speaker 1: The Queen herself, Marie Antoinette, was a follower of Mesma, 227 00:18:59,530 --> 00:19:02,970 Speaker 1: so was a hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis 228 00:19:03,050 --> 00:19:07,730 Speaker 1: de Lafayette. But while Mesma himself claimed to be at 229 00:19:07,730 --> 00:19:12,530 Speaker 1: the very forefront of scientific thought and practice, the scientific 230 00:19:12,650 --> 00:19:18,370 Speaker 1: establishment was less impressed. Indeed, the Society of Medicine refused 231 00:19:18,530 --> 00:19:24,610 Speaker 1: even to debunk his treatments, ignoring him completely. But mesmo 232 00:19:24,690 --> 00:19:28,890 Speaker 1: romania could not be ignored for long, and soon the 233 00:19:29,090 --> 00:19:34,530 Speaker 1: King demanded a proper investigation into this strange sorcerer scientist 234 00:19:34,610 --> 00:19:40,370 Speaker 1: and his methods. That investigation would include France's finest scientists, 235 00:19:40,930 --> 00:19:45,570 Speaker 1: led by a distinguished foreign authority, none other than Benjamin 236 00:19:45,650 --> 00:19:51,130 Speaker 1: Franklin himself. Franklin's team conducted a test in which a 237 00:19:51,250 --> 00:19:54,810 Speaker 1: patient sat in front of a closed door. She was 238 00:19:54,850 --> 00:19:58,770 Speaker 1: told that a noted mesmerist was behind it performing his 239 00:19:58,970 --> 00:20:05,570 Speaker 1: magnetic treatments. The investigators described the results. After three minutes, 240 00:20:05,890 --> 00:20:10,170 Speaker 1: she stretched both arms behind her back, wisting them strongly 241 00:20:10,170 --> 00:20:14,130 Speaker 1: and bending her body forward. Her whole body shook. The 242 00:20:14,210 --> 00:20:16,530 Speaker 1: chatter of her teeth was so loud that it could 243 00:20:16,570 --> 00:20:20,010 Speaker 1: be heard from outside. She bit her hand hard enough 244 00:20:20,050 --> 00:20:24,690 Speaker 1: to leave teeth marks. The mesmerist, of course, wasn't there. 245 00:20:25,530 --> 00:20:32,370 Speaker 1: The entire effect was in her imagination. Other tests showed 246 00:20:32,410 --> 00:20:37,290 Speaker 1: similar results. It seemed clear that mesmerism didn't work, which 247 00:20:37,690 --> 00:20:41,490 Speaker 1: it didn't, but Benjamin Franklin was sharp enough to note 248 00:20:41,530 --> 00:20:47,090 Speaker 1: an equally important fact. Even a completely phony cure can 249 00:20:47,130 --> 00:20:51,410 Speaker 1: have powerful effects on the mind. These patients were having 250 00:20:51,450 --> 00:20:58,210 Speaker 1: convulsions caused only by their own belief in mesmerism. Franklin 251 00:20:58,370 --> 00:21:01,410 Speaker 1: also guessed that if these beliefs were powerful enough to 252 00:21:01,490 --> 00:21:05,090 Speaker 1: cause such reactions, they might also be powerful enough to 253 00:21:05,130 --> 00:21:08,730 Speaker 1: do some good. He wrote, if these people can be 254 00:21:08,730 --> 00:21:13,770 Speaker 1: persuaded to forbear their drugs in expectation of being cured 255 00:21:13,810 --> 00:21:17,410 Speaker 1: by only the physician's finger or an iron rod pointing 256 00:21:17,410 --> 00:21:22,890 Speaker 1: at them, they may possibly find good effects. And Franklin 257 00:21:23,010 --> 00:21:26,290 Speaker 1: was right. As Shan Carved Antum and Bill Mesler note 258 00:21:26,330 --> 00:21:31,490 Speaker 1: in their book Useful Delusions, what Franklin had observed is 259 00:21:31,530 --> 00:21:37,410 Speaker 1: now called the placebo effect. It's remarkably powerful. Researchers have 260 00:21:37,490 --> 00:21:41,650 Speaker 1: found that not only do fake painkillers relieve pain, but 261 00:21:41,930 --> 00:21:46,010 Speaker 1: fake expensive pain killers relieve pain more powerfully than fake 262 00:21:46,290 --> 00:21:52,930 Speaker 1: cheap painkillers. Doctors have performed placebo knee surgeries, anesthetic incisions 263 00:21:52,970 --> 00:21:59,490 Speaker 1: but no actual surgery, and found beneficial effects. The placebo 264 00:21:59,570 --> 00:22:04,090 Speaker 1: effect is potent, and so too is its evil twin, 265 00:22:04,890 --> 00:22:08,770 Speaker 1: the no sebo effect. Just as the placebo effect makes 266 00:22:08,810 --> 00:22:11,690 Speaker 1: you you're better because you think you're being helped, the 267 00:22:11,810 --> 00:22:15,170 Speaker 1: no sebo effect makes you feel worse because you think 268 00:22:15,210 --> 00:22:18,770 Speaker 1: you're being harmed. When a doctor says this is going 269 00:22:18,810 --> 00:22:21,930 Speaker 1: to hurt. It is more likely to hurt. When you're 270 00:22:21,970 --> 00:22:24,770 Speaker 1: given a drug or a vaccine shot and told about 271 00:22:24,770 --> 00:22:29,090 Speaker 1: side effects, you're more likely to experience side effects. In 272 00:22:29,130 --> 00:22:33,090 Speaker 1: clinical trials, people are often given a placebo, that is, 273 00:22:33,130 --> 00:22:36,290 Speaker 1: a harmless pill or injection that they think might be 274 00:22:36,330 --> 00:22:39,490 Speaker 1: an actual drug. It turns out that five percent of 275 00:22:39,530 --> 00:22:43,090 Speaker 1: these people then drop out of the trial because they're 276 00:22:43,130 --> 00:22:47,370 Speaker 1: experiencing what they think are side effects, ranging from pain 277 00:22:47,610 --> 00:22:51,850 Speaker 1: to depression to heart disease. It's a no sebo response, 278 00:22:52,610 --> 00:22:57,530 Speaker 1: a bad response to a fake pill. Could the no 279 00:22:57,650 --> 00:23:00,770 Speaker 1: sebo effect help to explain some of the heart attacks 280 00:23:00,810 --> 00:23:04,290 Speaker 1: reported to be caused by the Curse of the Pharaoh? 281 00:23:04,370 --> 00:23:08,530 Speaker 1: It might. I can't help but think of poor Ken Parkinson, 282 00:23:08,850 --> 00:23:12,690 Speaker 1: the flight engineer who helped transport Tuton Carmen's mask from 283 00:23:12,890 --> 00:23:16,970 Speaker 1: Cairo to London in nineteen seventy two, whose wife reported 284 00:23:17,490 --> 00:23:20,210 Speaker 1: that he had a heart attack at the same time 285 00:23:20,250 --> 00:23:24,610 Speaker 1: of year, year after year. Imagine what he must have 286 00:23:24,650 --> 00:23:28,090 Speaker 1: been thinking after three or four years of that it's 287 00:23:28,090 --> 00:23:31,250 Speaker 1: the kind of thing that would cause some serious anxiety, 288 00:23:32,090 --> 00:23:35,690 Speaker 1: and that serious anxiety about a heart attack might turn 289 00:23:35,730 --> 00:23:40,930 Speaker 1: out to be a self fulfilling prophecy. So Maybe tomb 290 00:23:41,050 --> 00:23:45,490 Speaker 1: toxins killed Lord Carnarvon. Maybe the no seebo effect gave 291 00:23:45,610 --> 00:23:53,610 Speaker 1: Ken Parkinson repeated anxiety induced heart attacks. Maybe, but there's 292 00:23:53,770 --> 00:23:57,690 Speaker 1: another explanation for these eerie tales of the Curse of 293 00:23:57,730 --> 00:24:04,490 Speaker 1: the Pharaohs. Unlike tomb toxins, this explanation is everywhere. It's 294 00:24:04,490 --> 00:24:09,250 Speaker 1: all around us. We can't possibly escape it and to 295 00:24:09,330 --> 00:24:13,170 Speaker 1: understand it. I want to tell you a very different 296 00:24:13,250 --> 00:24:19,570 Speaker 1: kind of spooky story. Once upon a time, a man 297 00:24:19,730 --> 00:24:25,370 Speaker 1: walked into a branch of Target near Minneapolis, furious and 298 00:24:25,490 --> 00:24:30,050 Speaker 1: demanded to see the manager. He was brandishing a mailer 299 00:24:30,170 --> 00:24:35,010 Speaker 1: that contained adverts for nursery furniture and maternity clothes, alongside 300 00:24:35,010 --> 00:24:38,810 Speaker 1: lots of smiling babies. My daughter got this in the mail, 301 00:24:39,290 --> 00:24:42,330 Speaker 1: he said. She's still in high school and you're sending 302 00:24:42,370 --> 00:24:45,690 Speaker 1: her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying 303 00:24:45,730 --> 00:24:49,010 Speaker 1: to encourage her to get pregnant? The manager was rather 304 00:24:49,050 --> 00:24:54,090 Speaker 1: confused and apologized. A few days later, he called to 305 00:24:54,130 --> 00:25:00,690 Speaker 1: apologize again. Ah about that, said the no longer angry dad. 306 00:25:01,410 --> 00:25:04,050 Speaker 1: I had a talk with my daughter. Turns out there's 307 00:25:04,090 --> 00:25:07,210 Speaker 1: been some activities in my house. I haven't been completely 308 00:25:07,210 --> 00:25:13,050 Speaker 1: aware of is due in August. I owe you an apology. 309 00:25:14,650 --> 00:25:18,970 Speaker 1: This story, related by Charles Doohig in The New York 310 00:25:19,010 --> 00:25:23,130 Speaker 1: Times magazine in twenty twelve, is the modern version of 311 00:25:23,170 --> 00:25:27,930 Speaker 1: the Mummy's Curse. It's no longer an ancient pharaoh who 312 00:25:27,970 --> 00:25:33,370 Speaker 1: wields mysterious power over us. It's an algorithm analyzing our 313 00:25:33,410 --> 00:25:37,690 Speaker 1: shopping patterns, predicting what we'll do, where we'll go, what 314 00:25:37,810 --> 00:25:42,210 Speaker 1: will desire, all powerful and subtly nudging us in the 315 00:25:42,290 --> 00:25:48,610 Speaker 1: direction of corporate profit. Do Higg's story went viral just 316 00:25:48,850 --> 00:25:51,450 Speaker 1: as tales of the Mummy's Curse had been shared a 317 00:25:51,530 --> 00:25:55,570 Speaker 1: century earlier. People were in awe of the way an 318 00:25:55,610 --> 00:25:59,890 Speaker 1: algorithm could perceive a hidden truth that even this teenage 319 00:25:59,930 --> 00:26:07,490 Speaker 1: girl's own family could not. Well. Perhaps, but while we're 320 00:26:07,490 --> 00:26:11,170 Speaker 1: supposed to assume that everybody who received one of those 321 00:26:11,210 --> 00:26:14,530 Speaker 1: mailers was a pregnant woman, there's no evidence in the 322 00:26:14,610 --> 00:26:18,730 Speaker 1: story for that assumption. What if target sent the same 323 00:26:18,810 --> 00:26:22,090 Speaker 1: mailer to every woman under the age of forty five. 324 00:26:23,210 --> 00:26:28,330 Speaker 1: What if targets sent coupons to absolutely everyone. Maybe they did. 325 00:26:28,930 --> 00:26:32,130 Speaker 1: From the perspective of the angry dad and the pregnant daughter, 326 00:26:32,610 --> 00:26:38,130 Speaker 1: the algorithm would seem just as eerily good. What's going 327 00:26:38,170 --> 00:26:42,490 Speaker 1: on here is what a statistician would call selection bias. 328 00:26:43,330 --> 00:26:46,730 Speaker 1: It's ubiquitous, and while it's easy to understand that, it's 329 00:26:46,770 --> 00:26:50,450 Speaker 1: often hard to solve. I can name far more rich 330 00:26:50,530 --> 00:26:54,850 Speaker 1: actors than poor ones, and far more professional footballers than 331 00:26:54,890 --> 00:26:58,290 Speaker 1: amateur ones. But that doesn't mean most actors are rich 332 00:26:58,330 --> 00:27:03,890 Speaker 1: and most footballers are professional. So how many non pregnant 333 00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:08,290 Speaker 1: people received coupons? I've no idea, but I do know 334 00:27:08,370 --> 00:27:11,650 Speaker 1: that if target It sends you some maternity coupons but 335 00:27:11,730 --> 00:27:15,530 Speaker 1: you're not pregnant, you're probably not going to bother mentioning 336 00:27:15,570 --> 00:27:19,490 Speaker 1: that to anyone, let alone mentioning it to the New 337 00:27:19,570 --> 00:27:27,770 Speaker 1: York Times magazine. You see selection bias. It's everywhere. But 338 00:27:28,170 --> 00:27:31,850 Speaker 1: could selection bias have shaped the way we perceive the 339 00:27:31,930 --> 00:27:36,730 Speaker 1: curse of the Pharaoh. We'll find out after the break. 340 00:27:42,970 --> 00:27:47,490 Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvon died not long after he entered Tutankamen's tomb. 341 00:27:48,130 --> 00:27:53,210 Speaker 1: It's a striking coincidence, if indeed it is a coincidence. 342 00:27:54,450 --> 00:27:57,530 Speaker 1: But to understand whether selection bias might be at play, 343 00:27:58,090 --> 00:28:00,890 Speaker 1: we need to ask how many others have been involved 344 00:28:00,930 --> 00:28:05,090 Speaker 1: in such excavations, and what does it even mean to 345 00:28:05,210 --> 00:28:10,530 Speaker 1: be involved. The mysterious logic of mummies curse stories casts 346 00:28:10,610 --> 00:28:15,410 Speaker 1: the net wide. A British diplomat assassinated five hundred miles 347 00:28:15,450 --> 00:28:18,090 Speaker 1: away from the tomb and two years after it was opened. 348 00:28:18,770 --> 00:28:23,090 Speaker 1: Does that really count? Or remember the young boy whose 349 00:28:23,090 --> 00:28:26,410 Speaker 1: connection to Tusom Carmen was that he was unfortunate enough 350 00:28:26,450 --> 00:28:28,490 Speaker 1: to be in the path of the hearse of the 351 00:28:28,610 --> 00:28:32,290 Speaker 1: father of the Secretary of Lord Carnarvon six years after 352 00:28:32,330 --> 00:28:35,930 Speaker 1: the excavation. If the pharaoh's curse can be blamed for 353 00:28:35,970 --> 00:28:39,290 Speaker 1: such deaths, we could draw plausible lines of connection to 354 00:28:39,450 --> 00:28:43,530 Speaker 1: countless thousands of people around the periphery of the original dig. 355 00:28:45,250 --> 00:28:49,130 Speaker 1: To analyze this rationally, we need to compare the fates 356 00:28:49,170 --> 00:28:53,050 Speaker 1: of people associated with the excavation of the tomb with 357 00:28:53,090 --> 00:28:57,970 Speaker 1: those who were not associated. An epidemiologist named Mark Nelson 358 00:28:58,010 --> 00:29:01,210 Speaker 1: has published a serious attempt at this analysis. It was 359 00:29:01,290 --> 00:29:05,650 Speaker 1: published in the British Medical Journal. Doctor Nelson looked at 360 00:29:05,730 --> 00:29:10,090 Speaker 1: forty four Westerners identified by Howard Carter as being in 361 00:29:10,130 --> 00:29:14,490 Speaker 1: Egypt during the dig. Twenty five of them were potentially 362 00:29:14,610 --> 00:29:19,330 Speaker 1: exposed to a curse by visiting the tomb, nineteen did 363 00:29:19,330 --> 00:29:25,530 Speaker 1: not visit. He found scant evidence of any curse. On average, 364 00:29:25,890 --> 00:29:29,330 Speaker 1: people lived for another twenty years after visiting the tomb. 365 00:29:30,050 --> 00:29:34,770 Speaker 1: Howard Carter survived seventeen years, slightly below the average, so 366 00:29:35,050 --> 00:29:37,650 Speaker 1: it's not true that he died quickly, nor is it 367 00:29:37,690 --> 00:29:40,930 Speaker 1: true that his accursed fate was to live to see 368 00:29:40,970 --> 00:29:44,730 Speaker 1: all his friends succumb. The only hint of a curse 369 00:29:44,770 --> 00:29:47,610 Speaker 1: that doctor Nelson found was that the average age of 370 00:29:47,690 --> 00:29:51,810 Speaker 1: tomb visitors at death was a little younger than the 371 00:29:51,890 --> 00:29:56,170 Speaker 1: average age at death of the companions who didn't visit. However, 372 00:29:56,650 --> 00:29:59,770 Speaker 1: these companions were often the wives of the excavators, and 373 00:30:00,210 --> 00:30:03,530 Speaker 1: women do tend to live longer than men. In any case, 374 00:30:03,930 --> 00:30:07,090 Speaker 1: even the people who visited the tomb lived on average 375 00:30:07,370 --> 00:30:11,490 Speaker 1: until they were over seventy. It's not exactly the stuff 376 00:30:11,530 --> 00:30:17,090 Speaker 1: of nightmares. Lord Carnarvon did die before his time, but 377 00:30:17,410 --> 00:30:22,410 Speaker 1: in an age before antibiotics, such things happened. He nicked 378 00:30:22,450 --> 00:30:26,810 Speaker 1: that mosquito bite while shaving, The cut became infected, and 379 00:30:27,010 --> 00:30:30,690 Speaker 1: he developed pneumonia. It's an unusual way to die, but 380 00:30:31,090 --> 00:30:36,050 Speaker 1: not a mysterious one. Still, there is one final reckoning. 381 00:30:36,810 --> 00:30:40,490 Speaker 1: What of the prophetic warnings that Carnarvon would die within 382 00:30:40,610 --> 00:30:43,850 Speaker 1: six weeks, What of his dog, What of the lights 383 00:30:43,890 --> 00:30:47,450 Speaker 1: going out all over Cairo? And what of one final 384 00:30:47,650 --> 00:30:52,130 Speaker 1: chilling detail that the wound which killed Carnarvon was in 385 00:30:52,170 --> 00:30:55,290 Speaker 1: the same spot as a mark on the cheek of 386 00:30:55,450 --> 00:31:03,290 Speaker 1: King Tutan Carmen himself. The rather underwhelming explanation for some 387 00:31:03,330 --> 00:31:07,370 Speaker 1: of these stories is that they aren't true. Remember that 388 00:31:07,690 --> 00:31:11,530 Speaker 1: long before Howard gazed upon the mask of Teuton Carmen 389 00:31:12,010 --> 00:31:16,730 Speaker 1: or Lord Carnarvon's succumbed to pneumonia, Edwardians had told each 390 00:31:16,730 --> 00:31:21,410 Speaker 1: other ghost stories, and no ghost story was more popular 391 00:31:21,690 --> 00:31:27,170 Speaker 1: than a tale of the Mummy's curse. Such tales sold newspapers. 392 00:31:27,210 --> 00:31:29,890 Speaker 1: Given that most of the newspapers had been shut out 393 00:31:29,930 --> 00:31:33,850 Speaker 1: by The London Times's exclusive deal with Carnarvon, what else 394 00:31:33,890 --> 00:31:37,650 Speaker 1: would they print? Journalists made up spooky stories, and the 395 00:31:37,690 --> 00:31:41,370 Speaker 1: best such stories lived on. The man who claimed he 396 00:31:41,410 --> 00:31:44,570 Speaker 1: had given Carnarvan six weeks to live six weeks before 397 00:31:44,610 --> 00:31:48,370 Speaker 1: he died, was writing for a rival newspaper. He only 398 00:31:48,410 --> 00:31:53,250 Speaker 1: published the details of his prophecy several months after Carnarvon's death. 399 00:31:53,770 --> 00:31:56,810 Speaker 1: The Daily Express reported that the lights went out in 400 00:31:56,850 --> 00:32:01,050 Speaker 1: the hotel when Lord Carnarvon died. Perhaps they did. It 401 00:32:01,090 --> 00:32:03,810 Speaker 1: would hardly be astonishing to have a power cut in 402 00:32:03,890 --> 00:32:07,570 Speaker 1: Cairo in nineteen twenty three, but the timing was probably 403 00:32:07,850 --> 00:32:12,970 Speaker 1: less uncanny. Otherwise other newspapers might also have mentioned it. 404 00:32:14,490 --> 00:32:18,250 Speaker 1: The haunting detail about the wound on Tuton Carman's cheek 405 00:32:18,890 --> 00:32:23,210 Speaker 1: was published only in the Daily Mail. Modern examinations of 406 00:32:23,250 --> 00:32:28,730 Speaker 1: the Mummy mentioned no such wound. Lord Carnarvan's dog, Howard 407 00:32:28,770 --> 00:32:34,810 Speaker 1: Carter's canary. Roger Luckhurst, author of the Mummy's Curse, points 408 00:32:34,810 --> 00:32:37,930 Speaker 1: out that all these tales are second hand or third 409 00:32:37,970 --> 00:32:43,290 Speaker 1: hand accounts newspapers reporting hearsay about hearsay. What about the 410 00:32:43,410 --> 00:32:48,290 Speaker 1: pioneering radiologist Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, said to have x 411 00:32:48,410 --> 00:32:51,170 Speaker 1: rayed the sarcophagus and then to have died of a 412 00:32:51,250 --> 00:32:55,730 Speaker 1: mysterious illness. His mysterious illness wasn't mysterious at all. He 413 00:32:55,810 --> 00:32:59,130 Speaker 1: had cancer, one of the hazards of being a radiologist 414 00:32:59,130 --> 00:33:01,850 Speaker 1: in those days, and it seems unlikely that he ever 415 00:33:02,170 --> 00:33:04,850 Speaker 1: x rayed the sarcophagus. He was too ill to be 416 00:33:04,890 --> 00:33:08,170 Speaker 1: in Egypt. He was convalescing in Switzerland before he died. 417 00:33:09,370 --> 00:33:13,170 Speaker 1: The mysterious portent of the black Jackal of a Nubis 418 00:33:13,210 --> 00:33:17,570 Speaker 1: seen by Howard Carter. It happened, but it wasn't a portent. 419 00:33:18,330 --> 00:33:22,890 Speaker 1: Carter's diary entry records the Black Jackal in May nineteen 420 00:33:22,970 --> 00:33:27,930 Speaker 1: twenty six, several years after Carnarvon's death and many years 421 00:33:28,010 --> 00:33:32,610 Speaker 1: before Carter's. That rather spoils the story of its potency, 422 00:33:32,650 --> 00:33:35,970 Speaker 1: doesn't it. No wonder it was the inaccurate version that 423 00:33:36,090 --> 00:33:40,770 Speaker 1: caught on. And what about Count Hayman, the man who 424 00:33:40,850 --> 00:33:45,410 Speaker 1: warned Carnarvon that death would claim him in Egypt? Well 425 00:33:45,730 --> 00:33:50,570 Speaker 1: maybe Count Hayman, who was not a count, also claimed 426 00:33:50,610 --> 00:33:54,650 Speaker 1: to have warned trophy hunters not to remove the Unlucky 427 00:33:54,730 --> 00:33:59,010 Speaker 1: Mummy from Egypt. Since the Unlucky Mummy left Egypt when 428 00:33:59,050 --> 00:34:04,650 Speaker 1: Hayman was about three years old, this seems implausible. H Yes, 429 00:34:05,570 --> 00:34:10,490 Speaker 1: the Unlucky Mummy, or more precisely, the coffin case of 430 00:34:10,530 --> 00:34:15,250 Speaker 1: the Princess of Arman. Rahr had almost forgotten that older tale, 431 00:34:15,970 --> 00:34:18,170 Speaker 1: the one which predates the discovery of the tomb of 432 00:34:18,170 --> 00:34:22,050 Speaker 1: Teuton Carmen, the one which ends with a coffin case 433 00:34:22,490 --> 00:34:28,130 Speaker 1: sinking with the Titanic. It is quite the story, but 434 00:34:28,410 --> 00:34:33,570 Speaker 1: it is just a story, and one which endlessly mutates. 435 00:34:34,770 --> 00:34:36,930 Speaker 1: One man, who had indeed lost his arm in a 436 00:34:36,970 --> 00:34:40,010 Speaker 1: shooting accident, used to tell it in the eighteen nineties 437 00:34:40,010 --> 00:34:44,490 Speaker 1: and early nineteen hundreds. He was president of the Ghost Club, 438 00:34:44,730 --> 00:34:47,570 Speaker 1: at which gentlemen would meet for dinner and frighten each 439 00:34:47,570 --> 00:34:50,090 Speaker 1: other out of their wits. But there was no shooting 440 00:34:50,090 --> 00:34:53,410 Speaker 1: accident in his telling of the tale. It was only 441 00:34:53,490 --> 00:34:57,930 Speaker 1: after he died that others retrofitted that detail to the story. 442 00:34:58,810 --> 00:35:03,210 Speaker 1: Another brother ghost, one of the members of the Ghost Club, 443 00:35:03,970 --> 00:35:08,570 Speaker 1: died on the Titanic. His fate, too, was woven into 444 00:35:08,610 --> 00:35:13,570 Speaker 1: the story, and so the tale grew and grew, despite 445 00:35:13,730 --> 00:35:19,170 Speaker 1: specific point by point rebuttals from the increasingly exasperated curator 446 00:35:19,330 --> 00:35:23,690 Speaker 1: of the Egyptian Room in the British Museum. But unlike 447 00:35:23,770 --> 00:35:27,930 Speaker 1: my cautionary tales, the story of the Unlucky coffin case 448 00:35:28,330 --> 00:35:33,370 Speaker 1: just isn't true. The case wasn't on the Titanic. We 449 00:35:33,490 --> 00:35:37,570 Speaker 1: know that because we have the Doomed Liners cargo manifest. 450 00:35:38,050 --> 00:35:45,810 Speaker 1: It's exhaustive and it lists no Egyptian artifacts. And there 451 00:35:45,890 --> 00:35:49,050 Speaker 1: is one final reason I'm confident that the coffin case 452 00:35:49,170 --> 00:35:53,130 Speaker 1: of the unknown Priestess of Munrah did not sync with 453 00:35:53,170 --> 00:35:58,210 Speaker 1: the Titanic. It's that it never left the British Museum. 454 00:35:58,570 --> 00:36:02,210 Speaker 1: It's exhibit number EA two two five four two. I 455 00:36:02,290 --> 00:36:04,850 Speaker 1: know because I just went into the museum and had 456 00:36:04,850 --> 00:36:08,850 Speaker 1: a look. Despite everything I've argued, I'll admit I was nervous, 457 00:36:09,370 --> 00:36:11,730 Speaker 1: but I stood in front of the coffin and now 458 00:36:11,770 --> 00:36:15,330 Speaker 1: I'm on my way home, safe from the Curse of 459 00:36:15,370 --> 00:36:29,450 Speaker 1: the Mummy. Key sources for this episode include Roger Luckhurst's 460 00:36:29,450 --> 00:36:34,530 Speaker 1: book The Mummy's Curse, Christopher Turner's article Mesme Romania, the 461 00:36:34,570 --> 00:36:38,330 Speaker 1: British Medical Journal, and Snopes. For a full list of 462 00:36:38,330 --> 00:36:47,290 Speaker 1: our sources, see the show notes at Tim Harford dot com. 463 00:36:47,370 --> 00:36:51,210 Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford with Andrew Wright. 464 00:36:51,530 --> 00:36:55,010 Speaker 1: It's produced by Ryan Dilley and Marilyn Rust. The sound 465 00:36:55,010 --> 00:36:58,370 Speaker 1: design and original music is the work of Pascal Wise. 466 00:36:59,530 --> 00:37:02,130 Speaker 1: This show wouldn't have been possible without the work of 467 00:37:02,250 --> 00:37:07,490 Speaker 1: Mia LaBelle, Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fane, Julia Barton, John Schnarz, 468 00:37:07,930 --> 00:37:13,450 Speaker 1: Karlie mcgliori, Erk Sandler, Maggie Taylor, An Yellow Lakhan, and 469 00:37:13,690 --> 00:37:19,730 Speaker 1: Maya Kanig. Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. 470 00:37:20,250 --> 00:37:23,650 Speaker 1: If you like the show, please remember to rate, share, 471 00:37:24,210 --> 00:37:24,930 Speaker 1: and review.