A Mummy’s Curse is not the sound that a mother makes when she steps on a toy, or stubs her toes. A Mummy’s Curse is about the legendary dark spell that protects the mummified body of an ancient Egyptian entombed in its stone crypts.

One of the rare collectible cards of the latest Desert Kardtects Card Building system gives you the opportunity of including this legendary option to your designs, with a card showing a Mummy creeping through the doorway of a tomb, chasing those who either were brave enough to disturb their long sleep, or silly enough to think they could get away with stealing their treasures.

The story of the Mummy’s Curse only really became popularized following the discovery of King Tutankhamen in 1922 by Howard Carter, but it was actually started a number of years before that. The reason it came to more public notice during this time was the details of the discovery, like official information about the opening and contents of the tomb, were given exclusively to one newspaper.

As such, all the other papers had to find different things to write about the subject as public interest was in such high demand. So when reports started to come in about people dying after visiting the tomb, the newspapers sold papers on the theory that an ancient Egyptian curse was responsible.

Although, the obvious problem with this theory, which they happily ignored to report, is that the curse didn’t seem to affect the person who actually found the tomb and was the first to enter it, namely Howard Carter himself, who went on to live till he was 65 years old, as did the vast majority of those who did, and do visit. In fact, all those who did pass away did so from totally explainable reasons.

Saying that, it does appear to be common for ancient Egyptian tombs to have curses and warnings carved into them. It was reported that the one on King Tut’s one read as ‘Death Shall Come on Swift Wings to Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King.’ The reason for these have been accepted as just being warnings, as in the Egyptian religion it was important for the physical body of the dead, and the gifts left with them, to remain safe, even though their spirit had passed on. So, these inscriptions were meant to just scare them off.

Ironically though, that is not to say that a silent, almost mysterious danger CAN come from disturbing a lost and encased tomb, which modern scientists and archaeologists have to protect themselves against, but these also are explainable. Many crypts and graves contain natural things, not just the bodies of the dead, but can also have remains of dead animals and food offerings.

All of these things decay, and with places that have been sealed for thousands of years, these can mutate into really dangerous mold and bacteria, which is unlikely to cause death, but could be dangerous to someone’s health, especially to their lungs. As such, scientists wear protective medical masks when they enter a burial tomb.

Even so, the idea of an actual Mummy raising from a tomb can really capture the imagination, and continues to fascinate us. So, now you can build your card house to include this creepy guy creeping from his crypt, but don’t leave your toys out so your mum trips over them.

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