Curse of the Mummy

September 24, 2021

Did those who entered King Tut’s tomb die gruesome, premature deaths?

Photo of Egyptian mummy — Stories of people dying because of the mummy’s curse date back nearly 100 years. But are they true? Image credit: Jose and Roxanne, via flickr Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Scientific methods can be used to see if claims are true or false– even if those claims are folk tales or horror stories. In this story, a researcher followed up on those who entered King Tut’s tomb to see if the curse had any teeth. Click on the screen shot below to visit the lesson at Science NetLinks. Discuss the research with your students (maybe for Halloween?), have them answer the study questions, and be sure to click on the For Educators section at the bottom.