The Curse of the Mummy - Truth and Rumours in the Victorian Era

This talk explores the reasons and history behind the victorian belief in mummy's curses

Before Tutankhamen, there were two stories about English gentlemen adventurers in Egypt who allegedly suffered curses from objects brought back from Egypt. Their lives have never been properly researched before. This talk recovers the case of Thomas Douglas Murray, the man who bought the fateful 'Unlucky Mummy' in 1865 and which still resides in the British Museum, and the soldier Walter Ingram, who fought in the Zulu Wars and the Gordon Relief, and was killed by an elephant in 1888, allegedly in fulfillment of a curse. This talk aims to recover the uncanny true stories of their lives. Roger Luckhurst is a professor of literature and cultural history at Birkbeck College, University of London. His book, The Mummy's Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy, appears from OUP in October 2012.

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