Tutankhamun Thursdays: In Search Of: The Mummy's Curse

I've decided to do a deep dive down the rabbithole for the last quarter of 2022 and just plunge into the phenomenom that was 1970’s Tutankhamun inspired Egyptomania, after all, for most of us my age, this is where it started.

Most likely, with In Search Of... ,the most seventies of seventies pop speculative science/history things even: Big Foot! The Bermuda Triangle! And most importantly: The Mummy's Curse!! 


Originally broadcast on May 14, 1977, the episode recreates scenes from 1920's Egypt with commentary by ''experts" and narration by Leonard Nimoy.

(Viewable here on Youtube)


This was *CRAZY* and a) it was on tv and b) it was hosted by Mr Spock, so it had to be legit, right.

Never mind the fact that I was (doing maths....) seven on the initial broadcast.

Rewatching it over three decades later... it's interesting.

First, part of the episode was filmed at Highclere Castle, home of Lord Carnarvon... or as most PBS junkies would say: Downton Abbey/  It was odd seeing the familiar front hall and gallery without out the usual cast, instead being hosted by the sixth Earl of Carnarvon, the son of Howard Carter's backer.

Second, according to the show, there was a stage reading of a play, designed to appease the spirit of Akhnaten.  This play was allegedly written by a Joseph Lindon Smith and for quite a while I was ... befuddled by the absence of information about this thing, later confusing it with Agatha Christie's Akhnaton.  Rewatching I realized the source for this information was "historian" Henry Lincoln, one of the masterminds behind the "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" hoax.  His pronouncement is given gravitas because he's filmed in the Ashmolean Museum. (cough *unreliable narrator* cough)


Also from 1977 is this jigsaw puzzle (from my childhood collection).  The "facts" on the box matched the "facts" from the show.  The final image isn't on the cover, but upon completing the puzzle, the mystery is revealed: (spoiler warning!) it was a Mummy.

There's something to be said for the sense of awe a seven year old has but honestly, even at fiftymumble, I still am amazed by the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb and just the scale of Ancient Egyptian history leaves me starry-eyed.

(Fact check tabs opened while writing this: 7!)






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