The Mummy
Of all tales of the supernatural, this one is perhaps the best documented, the most disturbing and the most difficult to explain.
The Princess of Amen-Ra
lived some 1,500 years before Christ. When she died, she was laid in an ornate
wooden coffin and buried deep in a vault at Luxor on the banks of the Nile. In
the late 1890s, four rich young Englishmen visiting the excavations at Luxor
were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains
of the Princess of Amen-Ra. They drew lots. The man who won paid several
thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his hotel. A few hours later, he was
seen walking out towards the desert. He never returned. The next day,
one of the remaining 3 men was shot by an Egyptian servant accidentally. His arm
was so severely wounded it had to be amputated. The 3rd man in the
foursome found on his return home that the bank holding his entire savings had
failed. The 4th guy suffered a severe illness, lost his job and was reduced to
selling matches in the street. Nevertheless, the coffin reached
England (causing other misfortunes along the way) where it was bought by a
London businessman. After 3 of his family members had been injured in a road
accident and his house damaged by fire, the businessman donated it to the
British Museum. As the coffin was being unloaded from a truck in the museum
courtyard, the truck suddenly went into reverse and trapped a passer-by. Then as
the casket was being lifted up the stairs by 2 workmen, 1 fell and broke his
leg. The other, apparently in perfect health, died unaccountably two days later. Once
the Princess was installed in the Egyptian Room, trouble really started.
Museum's night watchmen frequently heard frantic hammering and sobbing from the
coffin. Other exhibits in the room were also often hurled about at night. One
watchman died on duty causing the other watchmen wanting to quit. Cleaners
refused to go near the Princess too. When a visitor derisively flicked a dust cloth
at the face painted on the coffin, his child died of measles soon afterwards.
Finally, the authorities
had the mummy carried down to the basement. Figuring it could not do
any harm down there. Within a week, one of the helpers was seriously ill, and
the supervisor of the move was found dead on his desk. By now, 
the
papers had heard of it. A journalist photographer took a picture of the mummy
case and when he developed it, the painting on the coffin was of a horrifying,
human face. Soon afterwards, the museum sold the mummy to a private
collector. After continual misfortune (and deaths), the owner banished it to the
attic. A well known authority on the occult, Madame Helena Blavatsky,
visited the premises. Upon entry, she was seized with a shivering fit and
searched the house for the source of an evil influence of incredible intensity.
She finally came to the attic and found the mummy case. "Can you exorcise
this evil spirit ?" asked the owner. "There is no such thing as
exorcism. Evil remains evil forever. Nothing can be done about it. I
implore you to get rid of this evil as soon as possible."
But no British museum
would take the mummy; the fact that almost 20 people had met with misfortune,
disaster or death from handling the casket, in barely 10 yrs, was now well
known. Eventually, a hard-headed American archaeologist
(who
dismissed the happenings as quirks of circumstance), paid a handsome price for
the mummy and arranged for its removal to New York. In April 1912, the new owner
escorted its treasure aboard a sparkling, new White Star liner about to make its
maiden voyage to New York. On the night of April 14, amid scenes of
unprecedented horror, the Princess of Amen-Ra accompanied 1,500 passengers to
their deaths at the bottom of the Atlantic.
The name of the ship was Titanic.
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