Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard MacLean Smith here with Unexplained on an
Speaker 1: end of season break. We'll be dipping back into the
Speaker 1: archive each week until season nine begins on Friday, October thirty. First.
Speaker 1: This week's episode takes us to Egypt's Valley of the
Speaker 1: Kings in nineteen twenty two, where years of painstaking excavation
Speaker 1: were about to yield one of archaeology's most infamous discoveries.
Speaker 1: For centuries, these ancient burial grounds had surrendered their secrets reluctantly,
Speaker 1: and one tomb had remained stubbornly hidden, lying in the
Speaker 1: darkness beneath the desert sands. When that first crack of
Speaker 1: light pierced the burial chamber, it revealed wanders beyond imagination,
Speaker 1: golden treasures that had lain untouched for over three thousand years.
Speaker 1: But some believe that disturbing the eternal rest of a
Speaker 1: pharaoh comes with a price, and that some doors are
Speaker 1: never meant to be opened. This is Unexplained Season three
Speaker 1: episode From Eternity to Here. It is the year ten.
Speaker 1: Along the banks of the river are Sits, the majestic
Speaker 1: city of warst the largest in all the land and
Speaker 1: capital of the mighty Kingdom of Casset, the world leading
Speaker 1: beacon of knowledge, industry, and culture. It is the year
Speaker 1: ten because it is the tenth year of their king's reign.
Speaker 1: It is also his last, for on the edge of
Speaker 1: the city, inside a grand stone temple, their king, a
Speaker 1: young man of nineteen, lies dead. With his death comes
Speaker 1: great uncertainty for a nation only recently restored under the
Speaker 1: watchful eye of the great God mun though none of
Speaker 1: that matters for him now. It is not the end
Speaker 1: by any stretch, as is well understood by all who
Speaker 1: are gathered by his side. His death is but the
Speaker 1: first step in the ultimate journey, a journey that, with
Speaker 1: the correct preparations, will see his spirit in human form
Speaker 1: carried to the other side and voyage into eternity to
Speaker 1: walk forever among the gods in the golden fields of Aru.
Speaker 1: It begins with the ex cerebration, the washing of the body,
Speaker 1: followed by the puncturing of a hole through the back
Speaker 1: of the nasal cavity, into which a seven inch tall
Speaker 1: fashioned from the stem of palm leaf with a small
Speaker 1: hook carved into the end is inserted. Since the brain
Speaker 1: is thought to serve no function, the embalmer extracts what
Speaker 1: they can, before pouring a solution into the cavity to
Speaker 1: dissolve what is left. Next, the lungs, liver, stomach, and
Speaker 1: intestines are removed through a small incision cut into the
Speaker 1: left side of the torso, before being cleansed and packed
Speaker 1: into natron salts alongside the body. Forty days later, as
Speaker 1: the sweet smoke of incense fills the room, the desiccated
Speaker 1: body is smothered in a pungent concoction of herbs, oil
Speaker 1: and resin, before being carefully wrapped in linen, into which
Speaker 1: a number of totems for the gods are inserted, all
Speaker 1: the better to aid him in his journey. Priests solemnly
Speaker 1: chance spells read from papyrus scrolls known today as the
Speaker 1: Book of the Dead, urging Osiris, the great god of
Speaker 1: the underworld, to take their king from this mortal realm
Speaker 1: and lead him safely to paradise. As an exquisite mask
Speaker 1: of solid gold inlaid with precious stones and glass, is
Speaker 1: gently fitted onto his head, his lifeless body now seeming
Speaker 1: almost alive, as two bright eyes of obsidian and quartz
Speaker 1: stare back into the room. On the forehead stands the Euaeus,
Speaker 1: a vigilant cobra rearing up to protect its master. Fifteen
Speaker 1: days later, and this newly bedueled body is transferred to
Speaker 1: a coffin of solid gold, encasing the king in the
Speaker 1: flesh of the gods. This, in turn is placed in
Speaker 1: two further coffins before being lowered into a vast stone sarcophagus,
Speaker 1: all covered over in more spells for the dead. A
Speaker 1: short time later, under the searing heat of the great
Speaker 1: orb in the sky, the very eye of the great
Speaker 1: god Moon Rah, the funerary procession makes its way across
Speaker 1: the desert, the taut, sinuous bodies of the king's slaves
Speaker 1: strained with the weight of the three ton sarcophagus as
Speaker 1: it is dragged across the sand toward the Great and
Speaker 1: Majestic Necropolis. Two vast giants rear into view mighty sandstone
Speaker 1: statues of the King's grandfather, towering sixty feet high above
Speaker 1: the procession, their eyes following the sarcophagus as it moves
Speaker 1: across the dusty land, until finally stopping at the entrance
Speaker 1: of a small tomb carved into the rock. Here, the
Speaker 1: body of the king is delivered into the ground as
Speaker 1: the final spells are encanted, and his body left for eternity,
Speaker 1: the tomb blocked, sealed, and filled in with rubble to
Speaker 1: prevent his body from being disturbed. For most, the onely
Speaker 1: to paradise was a dangerous and terrifying ordeal, requiring the
Speaker 1: completion of a treacherous gauntlet while being chased by grotesque entities.
Speaker 1: For kings and queens, however, since they were considered virtual
Speaker 1: deities themselves, success was all but guaranteed, provided, of course,
Speaker 1: their bodies remained preserved and undisturbed for all eternity. And
Speaker 1: so we must leave our young king in peace or
Speaker 1: risk condemning his spirit to a lifetime of restlessness. After all,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't want to come between a king and his paradise,
Speaker 1: would we. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard MacLean Smith.
Speaker 1: Having left our king, we returned to the surface to
Speaker 1: find three thousand, two hundred years have passed and much
Speaker 1: has changed. The Eye of Amunrah now seemingly closed forever,
Speaker 1: known instead as merely the Sun. The once great city
Speaker 1: of war Set transformed into al Uxur, also known as
Speaker 1: luxor that Mighty River. Are more commonly referred to as
Speaker 1: the knee Ill or River Nile, the ancient kingdom of
Speaker 1: Carset and leading seat of civilization, known of course as
Speaker 1: Misron or Egypt. Though much remains of the majestic necropolis
Speaker 1: known today as the Valley of the Kings, the paean
Speaker 1: to a once mighty civilisation is now little more than
Speaker 1: a museum, reduced to rubble and dust, a valley of
Speaker 1: lifeless things where once the effigies of Titans passed as
Speaker 1: Shelley would have it compelled Ye mighty to look on
Speaker 1: their works and despair. Now only their weathered and crumbling
Speaker 1: statues remain a reminder of distant, unknowable and long forgotten people.
Speaker 1: Even their language would have all but vanished were it
Speaker 1: not for the discovery in seventeen ninety nine of a
Speaker 1: large broken tablet etched all over in words and symbols.
Speaker 1: The stone was dug up by French soldiers stationed at
Speaker 1: the fort of kite Bay, near the city of Rashid,
Speaker 1: also known as Rosetta, on Egypt's north coast. The writing
Speaker 1: on the Rosetta stone, although little more than a mundane decree,
Speaker 1: would ultimately turn out to be among the most important
Speaker 1: discoveries in archaeology composed of three languages, Hieroglyphics, Ancient Greek,
Speaker 1: and Demotic, a languish thought to have evolved from hieroglyphics.
Speaker 1: The writing on the stone proved to be nothing less
Speaker 1: than the key to unlocking the language of the ancient Egyptians.
Speaker 1: Roughly twenty years after its discovery, French linguist Jean Francois
Speaker 1: Champollion cracked the code, and with a very particular kind
Speaker 1: of magic, an entire civilization had been resurrected, and with
Speaker 1: it came a sudden resurgence of interest in this newly
Speaker 1: decipherable culture. Champollion's discovery heralded the birth of modern Egyptology,
Speaker 1: and goes some way to explaining why. In nineteen o seven,
Speaker 1: on the outskirts of Luxor, we find an Englishman sweating
Speaker 1: profusely in a three piece suit, next to his wife
Speaker 1: in equally ill suiting clothing, her expensive jewelry glinting in
Speaker 1: the sun as they watch workers in long white thobes
Speaker 1: scrape and dig at the ground before them. The man
Speaker 1: is George Edward Stanhope molneu Herbert, otherwise known as the
Speaker 1: Fifth Earl of Carnarvon born in eighteen sixty six. At
Speaker 1: the age of thirteen, George, like all Carnarvans before him,
Speaker 1: was sent to Eton College, the nation's most exclusive independent
Speaker 1: boarding school. Despite being an academic failure such as the
Speaker 1: way of Things, he was nonetheless granted a place at
Speaker 1: Cambridge University. In eighteen ninety after the death of his
Speaker 1: father at the age of twenty four, George inherited his
Speaker 1: title along with the number of properties, including the family's
Speaker 1: stately home, High Claire Castle, a vast and sprawling seventeenth
Speaker 1: century mansion and five thousand acre estate in the County
Speaker 1: of Hampshire. High Claire Ishashaps, best known as the home
Speaker 1: of the Crawley family from the wildly successful period drama
Speaker 1: Downton Abbey. Within a matter of years, George, who has
Speaker 1: a ponchant for automobiles and horse racing, has spent most
Speaker 1: of his inheritance racking up vast gambling debts. In the process.
Speaker 1: Spotting a fix, Lord Carnarvan proposes to Almina Wombwell, the
Speaker 1: illegitimate daughter of the banker Alfred de Rothschild, and the
Speaker 1: couple married soon after. In eighteen ninety five, the resultant
Speaker 1: settlement provided by Rothschild will be enough to keep the
Speaker 1: Rakish Canarvan from ever having to worry about anything as
Speaker 1: tiresome as getting a job. A son, Harry and daughter
Speaker 1: Evelyn arrived soon after, in eighteen ninety eight and nineteen
Speaker 1: oh one, respectively. Carnarvan's interest in Egypt had been slim
Speaker 1: at best until he is advised by a doctor to
Speaker 1: begin wintering in the newly fashionable location after suffering a
Speaker 1: near fatal car crash in Germany. Bored and alienated from
Speaker 1: his cars, he soon finds himself drawn to the intriguing
Speaker 1: world of archaeology and the thought of finding treasure in
Speaker 1: the desert, wondering if he too might not be able
Speaker 1: to find some of his own. It was a decision
Speaker 1: he would not live to regret. In the early nineteenth century,
Speaker 1: there was one Egyptian treasure more sought after than any other.
Speaker 1: What drew most archaeologists to the country at that time
Speaker 1: was the valley situated northwest of Luxor, known as the
Speaker 1: Valley of the Kings, the final resting place of over
Speaker 1: sixty pharaohs, nobles and royalty, each buried with a mountain
Speaker 1: of riches to take with them to the afterlife. By
Speaker 1: nineteen oh seven, however, the valley had been almost completely plundered,
Speaker 1: with many of the tombs having been robbed thousands of
Speaker 1: years previously. Of all the pharaohs buried in the valley,
Speaker 1: only two tombs were thought to remain undiscovered, that of Horemheb,
Speaker 1: the last ruler of the eighteenth dynasty, and that of
Speaker 1: a little known pharaoh, also of the eighteenth dynasty, a
Speaker 1: mysterious boy king known as two tank Armoun. It is
Speaker 1: this that has brought Lord Carnarvan to the edge of
Speaker 1: the desert in his thick cotton suit, swatting flies as
Speaker 1: he watches his workers scrape fruitlessly in the dirt. After
Speaker 1: a few years of little success, it becomes clear to
Speaker 1: the hopeless amateur that some expertise is needed, and on
Speaker 1: the advice of an acquaintance, Carnarvan dec to pair up
Speaker 1: with another Englishman named Howard Carter. Born in Kensington, London
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy four. Carter had first traveled to Egypt
Speaker 1: at the age of seventeen, having fallen in love with
Speaker 1: the idea of it as a boy. Working initially as
Speaker 1: an artist, sketching ancient artifacts for archaeologists to study. Carter
Speaker 1: had 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 oh five, Carter was forced to resign, having
Speaker 1: taken the side of local sight guards, allowing them to
Speaker 1: defend themselves against a group of drunk tourists Cutter drift.
Speaker 1: Carter feared his days as an archaeologist were over when
Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvan approached him in nineteen oh seven. Instantly taken
Speaker 1: by the u s young archaeologist, perhaps recognizing something of
Speaker 1: his roguish self, Carnarvan offered Carter the chance to work
Speaker 1: for him. Any hope of finding a pharaoh's tomb, however,
Speaker 1: was hampered by the fact that only one person was
Speaker 1: permitted to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Like Carnarvan,
Speaker 1: Theodore Davies had been lured to Egypt by the thrill
Speaker 1: of the chase. The wealthy American lawyer had secured the
Speaker 1: permit for the valley back in nineteen o two and
Speaker 1: had shown little sign of giving it up since convinced
Speaker 1: that the undiscovered tombs of teutonk Armen and horum Hep
Speaker 1: were lurking there. In nineteen oh eight, Carnarvon and Carter
Speaker 1: perceived the devastating news that horum Heep's tomb has been discovered,
Speaker 1: though little is lost when it is found to have
Speaker 1: been plundered many years before. Worse is to follow, however,
Speaker 1: with news of teutonk Aarmen's tomb being discovered a short
Speaker 1: time later. Davies's team had been excavating a site near
Speaker 1: the tomb of the nineteenth dynasty pharaoh SETI the First
Speaker 1: when they came across it. After careful excavations, a dozen
Speaker 1: sealed jars were discovered, containing, amongst other minor treasures, a
Speaker 1: series of linen bandages bearing the name of toutonk Aarmen.
Speaker 1: Everything else, according to Davies, had likely been stolen by
Speaker 1: tomb robbers shortly after the king had first been laid
Speaker 1: to rest. Davies promptly made an announcement to the press,
Speaker 1: and in nineteen fourteen published a detailed account of his findings.
Speaker 1: But something needles at Carter. Davies had undoubtedly found artifacts
Speaker 1: related to toutonk armen, and though such objects were often
Speaker 1: found near a tomb, they tended to be buried in
Speaker 1: a separate room away from the main body. Believing he
Speaker 1: had discovered everything of any significance in the valley, in
Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, a victorious but exhausted Davies relinquished his permit
Speaker 1: and returned to his home in the United States. Perhaps
Speaker 1: at this point Carter and Lord Carnarvan should have taken heat.
Speaker 1: Although he may not have found Teuton Carman's body, those
Speaker 1: rags of linen had been buried close to it since,
Speaker 1: having come into contact with it during the burial process.
Speaker 1: They were considered a part of it. To disturb them
Speaker 1: was to disturb the body as a whole, and within
Speaker 1: a year the man who found them would be dead.
Speaker 1: Believing Davies to be mistaken about his find, Carter convinced
Speaker 1: Canarvan to take on his per so they can look
Speaker 1: for the tomb themselves. Within weeks of securing it, however,
Speaker 1: dark clouds were gathering. Two gunshots on the streets of
Speaker 1: Sarajevo start a diplomatic cascade that culminates in the outbreak
Speaker 1: of war. The brutal and bloody lights of which the
Speaker 1: world has never seen. Almost as if it were a warning,
Speaker 1: Carter and Carnarvan are forced to put their efforts on hold.
Speaker 1: Carnarvan 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 Claire 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 nineteen fifteen, Arta contacts the New York Metropolitan Museum's
Speaker 1: director of Egyptology, Herbert Winlock, to discuss his theory about
Speaker 1: Davies mistake. Winlock is convinced too it isn't the tomb
Speaker 1: that he has discovered that is still out there. A
Speaker 1: desperate Carter and Carnarvan can only sit back and wait
Speaker 1: in frustration. Back at High Claire, Invigorated by his adventures abroad,
Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvan is becoming increasingly fascinated with the occult. The
Speaker 1: mythology of ancient Egypt had long held a fascination for
Speaker 1: purveyors of esotericism, which was only intensified by the resurgent
Speaker 1: interest in Egyptology. Many secret orders, most notably the Freemasons,
Speaker 1: were influenced by the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians, incorporating
Speaker 1: many 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 Horace that Aleister 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 Carnarvan, 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: Carnarvan'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 been invited to attend a
Speaker 1: seance 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 Carnarvan's 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 High Claire. On arrival,
Speaker 1: Carnarvan informs the tired and broken Carter that he no
Speaker 1: longer wishes to finance this fool's errand in desperation, Carter
Speaker 1: requests the lord's permission to dig for one final season,
Speaker 1: with only a small section of the valley left to investigate,
Speaker 1: offering to cover all costs himself. Stirred by his friend's
Speaker 1: commitment and perhaps hearing the voice of his father, who
Speaker 1: had never thought his son would amount to anything, Carnarvan
Speaker 1: changes his mind and agrees to one more year, and
Speaker 1: so it is that Carter returns to Egypt in October
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two for one final push. In late October,
Speaker 1: with digging due to start again the following week, Carter
Speaker 1: travels to Cairo to help an antique dealer friend inspect
Speaker 1: a 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 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 sell him the melodious canary. Arriving back at his
Speaker 1: home in Luxall, 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's 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 site 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 dig. 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 the
Speaker 1: following day. Twelve steps down, a short passage is discovered
Speaker 1: and an entrance way that has clearly been officially sealed off.
Speaker 1: Carter stoops down into the chamber, and shining a torch
Speaker 1: onto the plaster, finds the mark of the royal Necropolis
Speaker 1: stamped into it the clear image of a Nubis, the
Speaker 1: jackal god of the dead, with nine characters kneeling below,
Speaker 1: their 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 peephole through the plaster and peered
Speaker 1: 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 destructed his most trusted workmen
Speaker 1: to guard their find. Unable to proceed any further without
Speaker 1: Canarvan 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: Canarvan has just returned from walking his beloved dog, Susie,
Speaker 1: when he is greeted by his butler carrying Carter's telegram.
Speaker 1: At last have made wonderful discos goovery in the valley.
Speaker 1: It reads, a magnificent tomb with seals intact. Congratulations. Carter
Speaker 1: is forced to wait over two weeks before Carnarvon can
Speaker 1: make it back to Luxell, arriving with his daughter Evelin
Speaker 1: on November twenty third. Two days later, under the watchful
Speaker 1: eye of Carnarvon and the Chief Inspector of Antiquities, Carter
Speaker 1: breaks through the first entrance to expose the passageway beyond.
Speaker 1: Over the next few days, the excavators work tirelessly to
Speaker 1: clear out the tunnel, until finally, twenty five feet in
Speaker 1: they hit another sealed entrance that also appears to be
Speaker 1: intact and marked with the seal of Touton Carmen. Moments later, Carter, Carnarvan,
Speaker 1: and his daughter Evelin stand on the precipice of quite
Speaker 1: possibly one of the greatest rediscoveries in the history of
Speaker 1: human kind. Barely able to keep his hands steady, a
Speaker 1: trembling Carter positions his chisel to the upper left hand
Speaker 1: corner and makes a tiny breech in the plaster. Holding
Speaker 1: a candle up to the hole, he tests for any
Speaker 1: toxic gases before widening it just enough so that he
Speaker 1: might peer through it. Taking the candle, he extends his arm,
Speaker 1: pulls himself up to take a look, and gasps, well,
Speaker 1: can you see anything, asks Canarvan. 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: sized 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 Teuton Carmen. Moments later, a young
Speaker 1: boy descends into the tunnel to deliver a message to
Speaker 1: the archaeologist. Just as Carter had been making his hole
Speaker 1: in the wall, a cobra had made its way into
Speaker 1: his house, up a table leg and into the cage
Speaker 1: of his canary, killing it instantly and swallowing it whole.
Speaker 1: The boy was terrified. It was a clear sign, he said,
Speaker 1: the cobra, representing royalty and protection as symbolized by the
Speaker 1: Uaeus as worn on the crown of all pharaohs, had
Speaker 1: killed the lucky bird. Though Carter will later write that
Speaker 1: he and Canarvan choose this moment to halt the excavation
Speaker 1: until an antiquity's 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 hole wide enough for himself, Canarvan, and
Speaker 1: Evelin 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 fingerprints still marked
Speaker 1: the walls, and all about was filled with hundreds of
Speaker 1: extraordinary statues and other bedeeled and golden objects, but there
Speaker 1: was no sign of the king's body, meaning they had
Speaker 1: only reached the ante chamber. Carter walked to the far
Speaker 1: side of the room that was flanked by two life
Speaker 1: sized 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 candlelight to their faces, illuminating the
Speaker 1: 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, Canarvan, and Eveland 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 whole. Returning to the surface, an exhilarated Carter
Speaker 1: and Canarvan congratulated each other on their fiend, 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 wonder 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 Carnarvan 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 Carnarvan 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 Lawarna Hammon, otherwise known
Speaker 1: as world renowned fortune teller and self described clairvoyante. Keiro
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 Balfour Declaration to the failure of
Speaker 1: Sir Ernest Shackleton's second expedition to the Antarctic. His message
Speaker 1: to Carnarvan was a warning delivered to him he maintained
Speaker 1: in the form of automatic writing from one of King
Speaker 1: teutonk Armand'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, Canarvan none the less returned to Egypt
Speaker 1: in January to witness the formal opening of the inner
Speaker 1: burial chamber, which took place on February sixteenth. Soon after,
Speaker 1: proceedings were halted again when Carter and Carnarvan had a
Speaker 1: falling out over the management of the site. Since the
Speaker 1: tomb's initial rediscovery the treasure within it had become the
Speaker 1: subject of much diplomatic wrangling over who in fact owned it,
Speaker 1: with it eventually being declared the property of the Egyptian state.
Speaker 1: The pair were later reconciled after Carnarvan apologized to Carter.
Speaker 1: One month later, Lord Carnarvan 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 completely bedridden. At his
Speaker 1: suite in the Savoy Hotel in Cairo. Shortly after midnight
Speaker 1: on April fifth, a strong gust of wind swept through
Speaker 1: the city of Cairo, rattling the shutters outside the lord's bedroom. Inside.
Speaker 1: A weary Canarvan watched with concern as the lights of
Speaker 1: his suite flickered out, as did all the lights in
Speaker 1: fact in the city, plunging it into total darkness. By
Speaker 1: the time they had come back on barely minutes later,
Speaker 1: Lord Carnarvan was dead. Electricians working the city's power terminal
Speaker 1: the following day, will fail to find any obvious cause
Speaker 1: for the blackout. On hearing of the death, Author Arthur
Speaker 1: Conan Doyle is one of the first to suggest that
Speaker 1: Carnarvan had been the victim of a curse, having broken
Speaker 1: into the sanctity of a pharaoh's tomb. He will not
Speaker 1: be the last, and nor would Lord Carnarvan be the
Speaker 1: only apparent victim of such a curse. Over the next
Speaker 1: few months, a number of people linked to the discovery
Speaker 1: of the tomb died in strange or unexpected circumstances, such
Speaker 1: as twenty three year old Prince Ali Camel Farmi Bay,
Speaker 1: who was shot dead by his wife Marie Marguerite on
Speaker 1: July tenth, shortly after he had visited the tomb. Aubrey
Speaker 1: Herbert Carnarvon's half brother, had also visited the tomb, shortly
Speaker 1: before a routine dental operation led to a fatal blood poisoning.
Speaker 1: He also died that same year. In September. The following month,
Speaker 1: Captain Richard Bethel Howard Carter's forty six year old secretary,
Speaker 1: was found dead in bed of a suspected heart attack,
Speaker 1: the cause of death ultimately being unconfirmed. Over the next
Speaker 1: ten years, as many as eleven people would die apparent
Speaker 1: victims of the curse. Howard Carter, who had no patience
Speaker 1: for superstition, and while talk of ancient curses, would live
Speaker 1: for another sixteen years before dying of Hodgkin's disease at
Speaker 1: the age of sixty four. Those who knew about the
Speaker 1: ominous warning sent to Lord Carnarvan by the psychic Key
Speaker 1: Roe were left to wonder if there had been any
Speaker 1: truth to his claim. Perhaps they had unsettled the pharaoh's
Speaker 1: spirit after all by disturbing his grave, or perhaps by
Speaker 1: taking something that wasn't theirs to take. Canarvan and Howard's
Speaker 1: insistence that they didn't at any point steal anything from
Speaker 1: inside the tomb seemed to negate the second point. At
Speaker 1: least sixty five years after Carnarvan's death, High Claire Castle
Speaker 1: became the property of the fifth Earl's grandson, Henry. It
Speaker 1: having fallen to him to carry out an inventory of
Speaker 1: 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 were
Speaker 1: stored a number of sealed tints. Henry would later open them,
Speaker 1: discovering a collection of over three hundred ancient Egyptian artifacts,
Speaker 1: a secret that Lord Carnarvan had taken to his grave.
Speaker 1: Thank you as ever for listening. Unexplained as an Avy
Speaker 1: Club production podcast created by Richard McLean Smith. All other
Speaker 1: elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced
Speaker 1: by me Richard mclin Smith, Unexplained. The book and audiobook
Speaker 1: is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon,
Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. Please subscribe to
Speaker 1: and rate the show wherever you get your podcast and
Speaker 1: feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or
Speaker 1: ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps
Speaker 1: you have an explanation or a story of your own
Speaker 1: you'd like to share. You can find out more at
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com and reaches online through X and
Speaker 1: Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com,
Speaker 1: Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast