A team led by Howard Carter open King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. The disturbance of the mummy’s resting place sets off what some believe to be a Pharaoh’s curse that eventually kills eight members of the group present at the opening of the tomb. However, the other 50 people live out their lives without incident. Nevertheless, the stories — real or fictional —also set up much of what the public would come to see about Egyptian mummies through horror movies from Universal’s The Mummy in 1932 to the present.
This Day in Halloween: The disturbance of King Tut's tomb creates an alleged Pharaoh’s curse that eventually kills eight people. / Illustration by Sarah Ryan