The Curse of the Egyptian Princess of Amen-Ra

When I first saw the story of the curse of the Egyptian Princess of Amen-Ra and why the Titanic really sunk, I thought that it was just a funny story and an obvious hoax.

I have since put considerable time and research into this and have discovered that, far from a hoax, this is a story which describes actual historical events, which really happened.

The "Unlucky Mummy".
This wooden coffin lid is the most popular exhibit in the British Museum, because of the reputation of its original owner of having sunk the Titanic.
The British Museum has repeatedly issued official denials that this coffin lid caused the death of 1500 persons in the Atlantic Ocean.
The British Museum has never satisfactorily explained what ever happened to the mummy that used to be under this coffin lid.


In the first place, this story is not the concoction of some Internet crazed cyber-freak. The story has existed since the day the first survivors of the Titanic arrived ashore. It was told by Frederic Kimber Seward and other surviving passengers. They vividly described how a passenger named William T. Stead had told them the story of the curse of the Egyptian mummy, on the night before the Titanic sank.

They also told how William T. Stead had gone down with the ship. He had just sat quietly reading a book in the First Class Smoking Room as the ocean liner sank.

In my research, I have found several errors in the most popular version of this story, which I have now corrected.

The popular version states that the coffin of the Egyptian Princess was first purchased in the late 1890s. However, this cannot be, because Madame Helena Blavatsky, who is said to have personally encountered the mummy, died in 1891.

In reality, the coffin arrived in the British Museum in 1889. Thus, it is clear that the story of the coffin dates from the 1880s, not from the late 1890s.

Another error is that the story says that the princess lived in 1500 BC. The British Museum, however, gives the date of her death as 1050 BC, which is 450 years later.

The biggest problem with the story is that the coffin lid is still in the British Museum to this day. It is known as the "Unlucky Mummy", because of the well known string of disasters associated with it.

However, the fact is that the mummy was taken out of her case because of all the trouble she was causing. The case is still on display in the British Museum and is known as the "Unlucky Mummy". Only the mummy went down with the Titanic, not her case. It was the mummy which brought on the curse, not her wooden coffin!

And what ever happened to the mummy? Where is the mummy today? The answer: The Mummy went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, along with 1500 passengers on the Titanic!

The story of the mummy on the Titanic has been published in the Washington Post , the New York Times and numerous other reputable publications. Of course, nobody can say for sure whether the deaths of 1500 people were caused by the mummy, or whether it was just another unfortunate coincidence.

The British Museum, obviously concerned about questions of legal liability for causing the Titanic disaster, has frequently issued official denials that one of their mummies was responsible.

In 1934, Wallis Budge, Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities, wrote: "... no mummy which ever did things of this kind was ever in the British Museum. .... The cover never went on the Titanic. It never went to America." (Quoted in "Treasures of the British Museum", by Marjorie Caygill, Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 1985, page 102.)

Only well behaved mummies are allowed inside the British Museum, officials say.

Nevertheless, thousands of visitors flock to the British Museum each year to see the sarcophagus which once held the mummy that sunk the Titanic.

The Story of the Mummy on the Titanic has been around ever since the Titanic went down. When research ships were searching the ocean bottom for the Titanic, they were implored to call off their search, for fear of disturbing the mummy.

Here is a story from the Washington Post about the Mummy's Curse: Research Ship May Have to Halt Effort to Locate the Titanic", The Washington Post, 17 August 1980, p. A20.

Sam Sloan

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