DID YOU KNOW

Believe it or not of all tales of the supernatural,
this one is perhaps the best documented, the most disturbing
and the most difficult to explain. The Princess of Amen-Ra
lived some 1,500 yrs before Christ. When she died, she
was laid in an ornate wooden coffin and buried deep
in a vault at Luxor, on the banks of the
Nile. In the late 1890s, 4 rich young Englishmen visiting
the excavations at Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely
fashioned mummy case containing the remains of Princess
of Amen-Ra. They drew lots. The man who won paid
several thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his
hotel. A few hours later, he was seen walking out
towards the desert. he Never returned. The next day, one
of the remaining 3 men was shot by an Egyptian
servant accidentally. His arm was so severely wounded it
had to be amputated. The 3rd man in the foursome
found on his return home that the bank holding his
entire savings had failed. The 4th guy suffered a severe
illness, lost his job and was reduced to selling matches
in the street. Nevertheless, the coffin reached England (causing
other misfortunes along the way), where it was bought by
a London businessman. After 3 of his family members had
been injured in a road accident and his house damaged
by fire, the businessman donated it to the British Museum.
As the coffin was being unloaded from a truck in
the museum courtyard, the truck suddenly went into reverse and
trapped a passerby. Then as the casket was being lifted
up the stairs by 2 workmen, 1 fell and broke
his leg. The other, apparently in perfect health, died unaccountably
two days later. Once the Princess was installed in the Egyptian
Room, trouble really started. Museum's night watchmen frequently
heard frantic hammering and sobbing from the coffin. Other exhibits
in the room were also often hurled about at night.
One watchman died on duty causing the other watchmen wanting
to quit. Cleaners refused to go near the Princess too.
When a visitor derisively flicked a dust cloth at the
face painted on the coffin, his child died of measles
soon afterwards. Finally, the authorities had the mummy carried down
to the basement. Figuring it could not do any harm
down there. Within a week, one of the helpers was
seriously ill, and the supervisor of the move was found
dead on his desk. By now, the papers had heard
of it. A journalist photographer took a picture of the
mummy case and when he developed it, the painting on
the coffin was of a horrifying, human face. The photographer
was said to have gone home, locked his bedroom door
and shot himself. Soon afterwards, the museum sold the mummy
to a private collector. After continual misfortune and deaths, the
owner banished it to the attic. A well known authority
on the occult, Madame Helena Blavatsky, visited the premises. Upon
entry, she was seized with a shivering fit and searched
the house for the source of "an evil influence of
incredible intensity." She finally came to the attic and found
the mummy case. "Can you exorcise this evil spirit?" asked
the owner. "There is no such thing as exorcism. Evil
remains evil forever. Nothing can be done about it. I
implore you to get rid of this evil as soon
as possible." But no British museum would take the mummy;
the fact that almost 20 people had met with misfortune, disaster
or death from handling the casket, in barely 10 yrs,was now
well known. Eventually, a hardheaded American archaeologist (who
dismissed the happenings as quirks of circumstance), paid a
handsome price for the mummy and arranged for its removal to
New York. In April 1912, the new owner escorted his
treasure aboard a sparkling, new White Star liner about to
make its maiden voyage to New York. On the night
of April 14, amid scenes of unprecedented horror, the Princess
of Amen-Ra accompanied 1,500 passengers to their deaths at the
bottom of the Atlantic. The name of the ship was
Titanic.