MicroFactzzz#0072 · ☠️ Dark Facts
The "pharaoh's curse" killed far fewer people than the legend claims
After Tutankhamun's tomb was opened in 1922, the rumor of a curse spread further than the actual death data ever did.
When Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, and the expedition's financial backer Lord Carnarvon died shortly after, the press eagerly declared a "pharaoh's curse."
Historical analysis, however, tells a different story: of the dozens of people directly involved in opening the tomb, most lived to an average age for the time — Howard Carter himself, the curse's supposed prime target, lived to 64 and died of natural causes.
The mechanism behind the rumor is well known to psychologists: people remember the few dramatic deaths (like Carnarvon's, following an infected insect bite) and ignore the dozens of "boring" cases of ordinary longevity.
The significance: this is a textbook example of how a sensational narrative can survive for decades even when the hard statistical data doesn't back it up.
Sources
- General knowledge / encyclopedic sources
This fact is based on generally available knowledge, not a single, citable source. See how we approach verification.
Krulicza Nora
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