Tutankhamen, the youngest king

Tutankhamen  was, until his tomb was discovered, a fairly insignificant king of the 18th Dynasty. In spite of the incredible discoveries in his tomb people have not much infomation about Tutankhamen. Evidence indicates that he succeeded and was one of the last Amarna pharaohs. He grew up in the palace at a place called Akhetaten. During his reign, power was switched from the city back to Thebes. It was very likely that Tutankhamen didn't have many real powers at the time. When he grew up he spent the rest of his childhood days at Akhetaten, the town where they only worshipped one god ( Aten). This is probably why he had very little experience of the rest of the traditional gods.

The curse of the Pharaoh!

When Howard Carter came  home one night his servant waited for him at the door. In his hand he held a few yellow feathers. He looked really scared, he said that the canary had been killed by a cobra. Being a practical man that Carter was, he told the servant to make sure that the snake was out of the house . The servant grabbed Howard  by the sleeve. " The pharaoh's serpent ate the bird because it lead us to the secret tomb! You must not disturb the tomb!" But Carter believed this was nonsence so he sent the man home.

Carter  then sent a telegram to Lord Carvanon, and waited for his arrival.

Lord Carvanon came to Egypt by November 26th  and watched as Howard made a huge hole in the door. Howard  leaned inside holding a candle, to take a peek. Behind him was Lord Carvanon asked "can you see anything?"  "yes wonderful things" replied Howard. The tomb was  still fine, and it contained a fabulous collection of treasure , including a stone sarcophagus (coffin).
The sarcophagus had three gold coffins inside one another. Inside one was the mummy of the pharaoh Tutankhamen.

The day the tomb was discovered it was a celebration for all the people that were involved. 

No one even thought about the curse.

A few months later madness struck.

Lord Carvanon  got ill and had to be rushed  to Cairo.

He died a few days later. How he died was a mystery , but they seemed to think it was from an insect bite.

On Lord Carvanon's estate back in England , his favourite dog howled and dropped dead.  This is even more freaky, when Tutankhamen's mummy was unwrapped in 1925, it was found to have a wound on the left cheek in the same spot as  the insect bite on Lord Carvanon that lead to his death. 

By 1929 eleven people involved with the discovery  of the tomb had died really early due to unnatural causes. These people  were two of Howard Carter's relatives .  Carter's personal secretary  Richard Bethall and Richard's father Lord Westbury.  Westbury killed himself by jumping fom a bulding. He left a note and it said " I really cannot stand any more horrors, and I hardly see what I'm going to do here, so I am making my exit." 

By 1935 they had credited 21 victims to King Tut . Was there really a curse?  And does it still exist?

A king who was only nine years old when he died! Read more about his family here.

Learn more about the fabulous treasures found in his tomb.