Carter's Letter: Tutankhamun Curse Debunked

0:00On March 24, a newly discovered letter from Howard Carter reveals his harsh view of the journalists behind the Tutankhamen Curse. The British archaeologist, who found the Pharaoh's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, called the Curse an invention with no basis, that harmed archaeology. Writing in January 1934, Carter described the death of Daily Mail reporter Arthur Wagle as a real blessing. Wagle had clashed with Carter and his sponsor, Laura Carnarven, over exclusive rights given to the Times newspaper. Angry at being shut out, Wagle predicted Carnarven would not last long after entering the tomb in high spirits. Sure enough, Carnarven died six weeks later from an infected mosquito bite, fueling the Curse story that Wagle promoted in his columns. The Curse gripped the public imagination, linking deaths to the tomb's opening, but his strain relations with other reporters and Egyptian officials. Wagle, a former inspector of antiquities, believed the discovery belonged to the world and criticized Carter and Carnarven as amateurs who excluded.

1:05Locals? This three-page handwritten letter from Carter's home near Luxor, surfaced recently, and sold at auction in Boston for 12,500, 30 pounds, far exceeding estimates. It highlights ongoing tensions from the era, including changes in Egyptian laws that kept major treasures in the country. Carter spent years clearing the tomb's wonders, now housed in Giza's Grand Egyptian Museum, proving the real story was scientific triumph over. Superstition.