8 Bonkers Hoaxes That Actually Fooled People

5. The Curse Of King Tut

Many of us have heard of the Curse of Tutankhamun. Lord Carnarvon, the sponsor of the dig, was dead within months of the chamber being opened and the tragedy and death that surrounded the expedition is surely a hint that there was something fishy going on.

Following Carnarvon's death, which was supposedly accompanied by a dimming of the lights across the whole of Cairo, the media went into a frenzy regarding the mummy's curse, and revisited the story with renewed vigour each time it struck down another member of the team over the next decade. By just 1934, six of the original group were dead. There was even a warning inscribed over the door of the tomb, promising swift death to all who enter, for god's sake.

Except, of course, there wasn't.

Whilst it's certainly true that six of the original team died within a decade of the tomb's opening, this was no more than to be expected from a group of 22 over the course of 10 years, particularly a group that made a habit of hanging out in inhospitable, mosquito filled environments. In fact, Howard Carter himself, who King Tut should surely have been gunning for the most, lived to a ripe old age of 64. There was also an inscription above the door, but it had been mistranslated and was actually, ironically enough, a spell to eternal life.

Despite this, there are still many of us that still have at least a vague idea that the tomb of Tutankhamun is cursed, even almost 100 years on. It just goes to show the power of a good media narrative.