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 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 three 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
three 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 two workmen,
one fell and broke his leg. The other, apperently in perfect health,
died unaccountably two days later.
Once the Princess was installed in the Egyptian Room trouble really
started. The 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 to want to quit. Cleaners refused to go near the Princess
too. When a visitor derisively flicked a dustcloth 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. The photographer was
said to have gone home, locked his bedroom door, and shot himself.
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 sized 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 years 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 his treasure aboard a sparkling new White Star liner
about to make its maiden voyage to New York. On the night of April
14th, 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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