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Many know of the legend of the young king and the "curse" placed upon his tomb. The ruler was Tutankhamen, and once he died, he had no heir and was forgotten by his people. He ruled at the end of the 18th Dynasty when he was just 9 years old. He died due to a head injury at the age of 19. He became virtually unknown by then.

In 1992, his tomb was discovered by British archaeologist, Howard Carter. Though there was a catch...those who were involved in the excavation of Tut's tomb died in mysterious ways. Thus arose the curse of King Tut. The Valley of the Kings, located 430 miles south of Cairo, was home to the burial site of many pharoahs. In the 1800s, European archaeologists hope to study these ruins, but were beat by the looters and grave robbers.

Lord Canarvon, a wealthy businessman, funded the trip into Egypt for Howard Carter on his expedition to find King Tut.On Nov. 4, 1922, Carter and his men discovered a tunnel which led to the hidden tomb. Inside, they found golden statues, chariots, and other items. On February 17, 1923, the team enters the tomb and discovers the sarcophagus.

7 weeks later, on April 5, 1923, Lord Canarvon dies of pneumonia and the lights in Cairo went out while his dog died as well. His half-brother, Aubrey, succumbed to infection after surgery and died. Arthur Mace died of pleurisy. Georges Benedite, an Egyptologist, fell from his hotel room and died. An Egyptian prince was shot and killed after seeing the tomb. James Henry Breasted died of an infection while George Jay Gould also died from pneumonia after catching a cold. Richard Bethell died of a heart attack while his father committed suicide by jumping out a window. All in all, 20 people fell victim to the curse by 1934.

When forensics did a test on King Tut's mummy, it was believed that he was murdered by someone he knew. There were no signs of sickness, though there was a blow to the head. Rumors have it that his advisor, Aye, was the one to kill the young pharoah. Aye ascended to the throne and had Tutankhamen moved to a secret location after he was buried. By looking at his teeth, it was believed he may have been 21 when he was killed. A bone fragment had been found inside the brain cavity, yet the plates of the cranial vault showed normality.

The thing is, some of the "mysterious" deaths attributed to the so called curse, were kind of stretching it. Some were years later, some were only tenuously connected to the mummy or the tomb at all. I'll be back later with more on this. I have to dig out some of my old sources.

I was big into Egypt when I was in high school but it's been a few years since I've really done any study into it.