S03 Episode 4: From Eternity to Here - podcast episode cover

S03 Episode 4: From Eternity to Here

May 29, 201845 min
--:--
--:--
Download Metacast podcast app
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

It's 1922 and two men are on the hunt for something so incredible, if they were to find it, it would likely be considered the greatest archeological find the world had ever known. But at what price?
S03 Episode 4: From Eternity to Here tells the extraordinary story of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvan and their hunt for the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Go to @unexplainedpod, facebook.com/unexplainedpodcast or unexplainedpodcast.com for more info. Thank you for listening.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

It is the year ten. Along the banks of the river are Sits, the majestic city of war Set, the largest in all the land, and capital of the mighty Kingdom of Karset, the world leading beacon of knowledge, industry, and culture. It is the year ten because it is the tenth year of their king's reign. It is also his last, for on the edge of the city, inside a grand stone temple, their king, a young man of nineteen,

lies dead. With his death comes great uncertainty for a nation only recently restored under the watchful eye of the great god Armun, though none of that matters for him now. It is not the end by any as is well understood by all who are gathered by his side. His death is but the first step in the ultimate journey, a journey that, with the correct preparations, will see his spirit in human form, carried to the other side and voyage into eternity to walk forever among the gods in

the golden fields of Aru. It begins with the ex cerebration, the washing of the body, followed by the puncturing of a hole through the back of the nasal cavity, into which a seven inch tool fashioned from the stem of palm leaf with a small hook carved into the end is inserted. Since the brain is thought to serve no function, the embalmer extracts what they can before pouring a solution

into the cavity to dissolve what is left. Next, the lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines are removed through a small incision cut into the left side of the torso, before being cleansed and packed into naturen salts alongside the body. Forty days later, as the sweet smoke of incense fills the room, the desiccated body is smothered in a pungent concoction of herbs, oil and resin, before being carefully wrapped in linen, into which a number of totems for the gods are inserted,

all the better to aid him in his journey. Priests solemnly chant spells read from papyrus scrolls known to day as the Book of the Dead, urging Osiris, the great god of the underworld, to take their king from this mortal realm and lead him safely to paradise. As an exquisite mask of solid gold inlaid with precious stones and glass is gent he fitted onto his head. His lifeless body now seeming almost alive, as two bright eyes of

obsidian and quartz stare back into the room. On the forehead stands the Eureus, a vigilant cobra rearing up to protect its master. Fifteen days later, and this newly bejeweled body is transferred to a coffin of solid gold, encasing the king in the flesh of the gods. This, in turn is placed in two further coffins before being lowered into a vast stone sarcophagus, all covered over in more

spells for the dead. A short time later, under the searing heat of the great orb in the sky, the very eye of the great god amun Ra, the funerary procession makes its way across the desert, the tort sinuous bodies of the king's slaves strained with the weight of

the three tons sarcophagus. As it is dragged across the sand toward the Great and Majestic acropolis, two vast giants rear into view mighty sandstone statues of the King's grandfather towering sixty feet high above the procession, their eyes following the sarcophagus as it moves across the dusty land, until finally stopping at the entrance of a small tomb carved into the rock. Here, the body of the king is delivered into the ground as the final spells are encanted,

and his body left for eternity. The tomb blocked, sealed, and filled in with rubble to prevent his body from being disturbed. For most the journey to paradise was a dangerous and terrifying ordeal, requiring the completion of a treacherous gauntlet while being chased by grotesque entities. For kings and queens, however, since they were considered virtual deities themselves, success was all but guaranteed, provided, of course, their bodies remained preserved and

undisturbed for all eternity. And so we must leave our young king in peace, or risk condemning his spirit to a lifetime of restlessness. After all, we wouldn't want to come between a king and his paradise, would we. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McClane smith. Having left our king, we returned to the surface to find three thousand,

two hundred years have passed and much has changed. The Eye of amun Ra now seemingly closed, forever known instead as merely the Sun. The once great city of war Set transformed into al Uksur, also known as luxor that Mighty River are more commonly referred to as the knee Il or River Nile. The ancient kingdom of Karset and leading seat of civilization known of course as Misron or Egypt.

Though much remains of the majestic necropolis, known today as the Valley of the Kings, the paean to a once mighty civilization is now little more than a museum, reduced to rubble and dust, a valley of lifeless things where once the effigies of Titans passed as shell would have it compelled Ye Mighty to look on their works and despair. Now only their weathered and crumbling statues remain a reminder

of distant, unknowable and long forgotten people. Even their language would have all but vanished were it not for the discovery in seventeen ninety nine of a large broken tablet etched all over in words and symbols. The stone was dug up by French soldiers stationed at the fort of kite Bay, near the city of Rashid, also known as Rosetta,

on Egypt's North Coast. The writing on the Rosetta Stone, although little more than a mundane decree, would ultimately turn out to be among the most important discoveries in archeology. Composed of three languages, hieroglyphics, ancient Greek, and Demotic, a languished thought to have evolved from hieroglyphics, the writing on the stone proved to be nothing less than the key

to unlocking the language of the ancient Egyptians. Roughly twenty years after its discovery, French linguist Jean Francois Champollion cracked the code, and with a very particular kind of magic, an entire civilization had been resurrected, and with it came a sudden resurgence of interest in this newly decipherable culture. Champollion's discovery heralded the birth of modern Egyptology, and goes

some way to explaining why. In nineteen o seven, on the outskirts of Luxor, we find an Englishman sweating profusely in a three piece suit, next to his wife in equally ill suiting clothing, her expensive jewelry glinting in the sun as they watch workers in long white thobs scrape and dig at the ground before them. The man is George Edward Stanhope Molineux Herbert, otherwise known as the fifth

Earl of Carnarvon. Born in eighteen sixty six, at the age of thirteen, George, like all Carnarvins before him, was sent to Eton College, the nation's most exclusive independent boarding school. Despite being an academic failure such as the way of things, he was nonetheless granted a place at Cambridge University in

eighteen ninety. After the death of his father at the age of twenty four, George inherited his title along with a number of properties, including the family stately home, High Claire Castle, a vast and sprawling seventeenth century mansion and five thousand acre estate in the County of Hampshire. High Claire is perhaps best known as the home of the Crawley family from the wildly accessful period drama Downton Abbey.

Within a matter of years, George, who has a ponchont for automobiles and horse racing, has spent most of his inheritance racking up vast gambling debts. In the process. Spotting a fix, Lord Carnarvon proposes to Almina Wanwell, the illegitimate daughter of the banker Alfred de Rothschid, and the couple married soon after in eighteen ninety five. The resultant settlement provided by Rothschard will be enough to keep the rakish Carnarvon from ever having to worry about anything as tiresome

as getting a job. A son, Harry and daughter Evelyn arrived soon after, in eighteen ninety eight and nineteen o one, respectively. Carnarvon's interest in Egypt had been slim at best until he is advised by a doctor to begin wintering in the newly fashionable Low after suffering a near fatal car

crash in Germany. Bored and alienated from his cars, he soon finds himself drawn to the intriguing world of archaeology and the thought of finding treasure in the desert, wondering if he too, might not be able to find some of his own. It was a decision he would not live to regret. In the early nineteenth century, there was

one Egyptian treasure more sought after than any other. What drew most archaeologists to the country at that time was the valley situated northwest of Luxor, known as the Valley of the Kings, the final resting place of over sixty pharaohs, nobles and royalty, each buried with a mountain of riches to take with them to the afterlife. By nineteen oh seven, however, the valley had been almost completely plundered, with many of

the tombs having been robbed thousands of years previously. Of all the pharaohs buried in the valley, only two tombs were thought to remain undiscovered, that of horem Heap, the last ruler of the Eighteenth dynasty, and that of a little known pharaoh, also of the eighteenth dynasty, a mysterious boy king known as two tank Armon. It is this that has brought Lord Carnarvon to the edge of the desert in his thick cotton suit, swatting flies as he

watches his workers scrape fruitlessly in the dirt. After a few years of little success, it becomes clear to the hopeless amateur that some expertise is needed, and on the advice of an acquaintance, Carnarvan decides to pair up with another Englishman named Howard Carter born in Kensington, London in eighteen seventy four. Carter had first traveled to Egypt at the age of seventeen, having fallen in love with the

idea of it as a boy. Working initially as an artist sketching ancient artifacts for archeologists to study, Carter had soon become somewhat of an expert on the subject himself, and had, by the age of twenty five, risen to the position of Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt. However, in nineteen o five, Carter was forced to resign, having taken the side of local site guards, allowing them to

defend themselves against a group of drunk tourists. Cut adrift, Carter feared his days as an archeologist were over when Lord Carnarvon approached him in nineteen oh seven. Instantly taken by the young archeologist, perhaps recognizing something of his roguish self, Carnavin offered Carter the chance to work for him. Any hope of finding a pharaoh's tomb, however, was hampered by the fact that only one person was permitted to dig

in the Valley of the Kings. Like Carnarvon, Theodore Davies had been lured to Egypt by the thrill of the chase. The wealthy American lawyer had secured the permit for the valley back in nineteen o two and had shown little sign of giving it up since, convinced that the undiscovered tombs of teutunk Aamen and hoream Heap were lurking there. In nineteen o eight, Carnarvon and Carter perceived the devastating

news that hoream Heep's tomb has been discovered. Though little is lost when it is found to have been plundered many years before. Worse is to follow, however, with news of tutank Aarmon's tomb being discovered a short time later. Davies's team had been excavating a sight near the tomb of the nineteenth dynasty pharaoh SETI the First when they came across it. After careful excavations, a dozen sealed jars were discovered, containing, amongst other minor treasures, a series of

linen bandages bearing the name of tutank Aarmen. Everything else, according to Davies, had likely been stolen by tomb robbers shortly after the king had first been laid to rest. Davies promptly made an announcement to the press, and in nineteen fourteen published a detailed account of his findings, but something needles at Carter. Davies had undoubtedly found artifacts related to tutank Aarmen, and those such objects were often found near a tomb, they tended to be buried in a

separate room, away from the main body. Believing he had discovered everything of any significance in the valley, in nineteen fourteen, a victorious but exhausted Davies relinquished his permit and returned to his home in the United States. Perhaps at this point Carter and Lord Carnarvon should have taken heed. Although he may not have found Teuton Carmen's body, those rags of linen had been buried close to it since, having come into contact with it during the burial process. They

were considered a part of it. To disturb them was to disturb the body as a whole, and within a year the man who found them would be dead. Believing Davies to be mistaken about his find Carter convinced to take on his permit so they can look for the tomb themselves. Within weeks of securing it, however, dark clouds were gathering two gunshots on the streets of Sarajevo start a diplomatic cascade that culminates in the outbreak of war, the brutal and bloody, likes of which the world has

never seen. Almost as if it were a warning, Carter and Carnarvon are forced to put their efforts on hold. Carnarvon returns home to manage his estate, though in truth his wife Almina shoulders the brunt of it, helping to transform High Clear Castle into a military hospital, working as a nurse for the duration of the war. Carter is also fortunate to escape the fighting, being employed as a diplomatic courier and translator for the British government in Egypt.

In fifteen, Carter contacts the New York Metropolitan Museums Director of Egyptology, Herbert Winlock, to discuss his theory about Davies's mistake. Winlock is convinced too it isn't the tomb that he has discovered that is still out there. A desperate Carter and Carnarvin can only sit back and wait in frustration.

Back at High Claire, invigorated by his adventures abroad, Lord Carnarvon is becoming increasingly fascinated with the occult The mythology of ancient Egypt had long held a fascination for purveyors of esotericism, which was only intensified by the resurgent interest in Egyptology. Many secret orders, most notably the Freemasons, were influenced by the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians, incorporating many of their spells and beliefs into their rights and symbolism.

It was the mythology of the great Egyptian gods of Osiris, Isis and Horus that Alister Crowley would draw on when establishing his own esoteric order, having apparently communicated with an ancient Egyptian entity in Cairo in nineteen o five. It is unlikely that Lord Carnarvon, being a man of high society,

was unaware of such connections. For his part, Carnarvon, who was thought to have been a member of the London Spiritual Alliance, would regularly hold seances in his grand family home, dedicating one room, the East Anglia Room, especially for the practice. Carnarvon's son Henry, spoke of one story that occurred in the spring of nineteen nineteen, whilst he was home from military duty in Mesopotamia. Having invited to attend a seance along with his sister Evelyn and Howard Carter, amongst others.

Henry had watched in astonishment as one of the guests entered into a trance and began to speak a strange, unrecognizable language. It wasn't strange to Carter, however, who slightly unnerved, recognized it as Coptic, the language of modern Egypt. Only the woman speaking it had never before uttered a word of it herself. Later, the group would witness a vase of flowers levitating above the table, with a form of peace being declared. In nineteen eighteen, Carnarvon and Carter reconvene

their work in the Valley of the Kings. Four years later, having diligently and meticulously supervised the clearing of most of the valley, Carter had found nothing, and carnarvin money was beginning to run out by the end of an especially barren season of excavations. Having long ago grown bored by the laborious, mundane realities of his exotic hobby, Lord Carnarvan

summons Carter to a meeting at Hyclair. On arrival, Carnarvin informs the tired and broken Carter that he no longer wishes to finance this fool's errand in desperation, Carter requests the lord's permission to dig for one final season, with only a small section of the valley left to investigate,

offering to cover all costs himself. Stirred by his friend's commitment, and perhaps hearing the voice of his father, who had never thought his son would amount to anything, Carnarvin changes his mind and agrees to one more year, and so it is that Carter returns to Egypt in October nineteen

twenty two for one final push. In late October, with digging due to start again the following week, Carter travels to Cairo to help an antique dealer friend inspect a number of antiques that have recently come into his possession. He has just arrived at the shop when his attention is caught by the sweet, lilting sound of bird song.

Strangely uplifted and moved by the melody, Carter finds himself stepping into the cafe next door to locate its source, discovering it to be a bright yellow canary in an ornate cage. Unable to forget the bird's song, that night, He returns to the cafe the following morning, and with the help of the antique dealer's assistant, convinces the proprietor

to say him the melodious canary. Arriving back at his home in Luxor, Carter is greeted by his house staff, who declare the bird a welcome addition to the house and a sure sign of good fortune. The next morning, Carter rode up to the Valley of Kings, its silent majesty and hidden secrets, never failing to move him there. Gazing out across the pale, low lying peaks before him,

he knew this was his last chance. After five years of excavations, Carter and his team had only one small area left to investigate, a triangle of land to the northeast corner of the tomb of Rameses the Sixth, mostly taken up by the ruins of some stone huts that

had housed the slaves who built Rameses' tomb. Work began on November first, and by the third the last remnants of the huts had been removed, leaving only the three feet of earth they were constructed on, and below that the bedrock of the valley At some point the following day, having eventually cleared away the mounds of earth, one of the workers noticed something strange about the ground, how oddly

flat it seemed compared to the surrounding bedrock. Scraping away at the dirt and sand, he couldn't believe what he was looking at. It wasn't just bedrock, it was carved stone. As Carter rode up to the sight that morning, he sensed immediately that something was up. The bustle and clanking of picks and spades was conspicuous by its absence, and up ahead he saw his team excitedly huddled around a small section of the dick. Carter dismounted and made his

way to where the men had gathered. The circle of workmen opened up, and they smiled at the Englishman as he drew near. Removing his hat, he squatted to the floor and ran his hand over the exposed stone, feeling his way around the edges. It wasn't just carved stone, it was a step. Further excavation soon after unveiled the clear outline of a stairwell, and as the men labored into the evening, one step after another was revealed, descending further into the ground. As a bright full moon rose

into the sky. It was time to call it a night. That evening, an elated Carter returned home to find his canary strangely subdued. The bird had ceased its singing. Are you always taking care of your family? Do you often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself. To make time for you. You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak

to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy Appointments are available seven days a week from seven a m. To nine p m. Local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a personal or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers.

Download the app or visit teledoc dot com. Forward slash Unexplained podcast to day to get started that t e la DC dot com Slash Unexplained podcast. The following day, twelve steps down, a short passage is discovered and an

entrance way that has clearly been officially sealed off. Carter stoops down into the chamber and shining a torch onto the plaster, finds the mark of the Royal Necropolis stamped into it the clear image of a Nubis, the jackal god of the dead, with nine characters kneeling below, their arms held back and bound by rope. Whatever this was, at the very least it had been created by royal appointment.

That it was found hidden under the tomb of a twentieth dynasty pharaoh would suggest it hadn't been seen for at least three thousand years. Taking a small chisel and hammer, Carter made a slight peep hole through the plaster and peered through it to the passageway beyond. Though full of rubble, he could clearly see its stretching some way into the rock, but that was as far as he could go. With

darkness approaching. Having made his most exciting discovery in over twenty years of work, Carter ordered the stairwell to be filled in once more, and instructed his most trusted workmen to guard their find. Unable to proceed any further without Carnarvon and the supervision of the egypt Antiquities Department, Carter composes a telegram to his friend and benefactor the next day, accompanied once again by the bright melodies of his pet Canary,

almost as if it had become reanimated. At the returning of the earth to the excavated tomb. Back at High Claire, Carnarvon has just returned from walking his beloved dog, Susy, when he is greeted by his butler carrying Carter's telegram. At last have made wonderful discovery in the valley, It reads, A magnificent tomb with seals intact. Congratulations. Carter is forced to wait over two weeks before Carnarvon can make it back to Luxor, arriving with his daughter Evelyn on November

the twenty third. Two days later, under the watchful eye of Carnarvon and the Chief Inspector of Antiquities, Carter breaks through the first entrance to expose the passageway beyond. Over the next few days, the excavators work tirelessly to clear out the tunnel, until finally, twenty five feet in they hit another sealed entrance that also appears to be intact

and marked with the seal of Tooton Carmen. Moments later, Carter, Carnavin and his daughter Evelyn stand on the precipice of quite possibly one of the greatest rediscoveries in the history of human kind. Barely able to keep his hands steady, a trembling Carter positions his chisel to the upper left hand corner and makes a tiny breach in the plaster. Holding a candle up to the hole, he tests for any toxic gases before widening it just enough so that

he might peer through it. Taking the candle, he extends his arm, pulls himself up to take a look, and gasps, well, can you see anything, asks Carnavin. Yes, replies Carter, wonderful things. It had taken a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, the candle flame almost going out as a sudden rush of warm air escaped from the chamber.

Having adapted to the light, Carter had stood completely dumb struck as there on the other side of the wall, strange figures were beginning to emerge from the darkness, life size statues of men, bizarrely shaped animals, and everywhere the unrelenting glint of gold. They had at last rediscovered the untouched tomb of King tutank Carmen. Moments later, a young boy descends into the tunnel to deliver a message to

the archeologist. Just as Carter had been making his hole in the wall, a cobra had made its way into his house, upper table, leg and into the cage of his canary, killing it instantly and swallowing it whole. The boy was terrified. It was a clear sign, he said, the cobra, representing royalty and protection as symbolized by the eureus as worn on the crown of all pharaohs, had

killed the lucky bird. Though Carter were later write that he and Carnarvon choose this moment to halt the excavation until an antiquities official could be alerted, as was required by Egyptian law at the time, in truth, they did no such thing. Undeterred by the ominous omen, Carter proceeded to make the whole wide enough for himself, Carnarvon, and Evelyn to slip through it into the next chamber so

they could examine their find at closer quarters. Moving into the sacred space, it was as if they had stepped back three thousand years. A half filled bowl of mortar had been left on the side, ancient finger prints still marked the walls, and all about was filled with hundreds of extraordinary statues and other bejeweled and golden objects, but there was no sign of the king's body, meaning they

had only reached the antechamber. Carter walked to the far side of the room that was flanked by two life size statues, presumably of the king, made from ebony and gold, effigies placed to guard the entranceway to his burial chamber. Carter held up the candle light to their faces, illuminating the sacred cobras set into their crowns right under their gaze.

He made another small hole, just large enough to squeeze through, and then Carter, Carnarvon, and Evelyn made their way into the next room, a cramped space taken up by what seemed like a vast golden box. They had found it, the king's final resting place, with the seal to its entrance still intact. This now being highly illegal. The three of them slipped back into the ante chamber and covered

up the hole. Returning to the surface, an exhilarated Carter and Carnarvin congratulated each other on their find, but found themselves strangely subdued as they made their way to their respective beds that night. With the moment they had craved for so many years having finally arrived, it was as if something of the wander in the world had vanished forever.

Within days, news of the find had made its way around the globe, and Carter and Lord Carnarvon became overnight celebrities, their extraordinary rediscovery roundly heralded as one of the greatest in history. As protocol dictated, it would be some months before Carter was able to access the burial chamber, as all objects in the first room needed to be removed and documented first. Over the next few weeks, a number of dignitaries would come from far and wide to view

the tomb for themselves. On December third, Lord Carnarvon returned home to wait out the next phase, where he found

a bizarre message waiting for him. It had been sent by the self styled Count Louis l Warner Hammon, otherwise known as world renowned fortune teller, self described clairvoyant Kiro, the apparent psychic, born William John Warner in Ireland in eighteen sixty six, had made quite a name for himself, having apparently successfully foretold a number of recent events, from the signing of the Bowful Declaration to the failure of

Sir Ernest Shackleton's second expedition to the Antarctic. His message to Carnarvon was a warning delivered to him, he maintained, in the form of automatic writing from one of King tutank Aarman's sisters. It was a plea that he not remove anything from the king's tomb, or else he would suffer an injury, a sickness from which he would never recover,

and that death would claim him in Egypt. Undoubtedly shaken by the message, Carnarvin nonetheless returned to Egypt in January to witness the formal opening of the burial chamber, which took place on February the sixteenth. Soon after, proceedings were halted again when Carter and Carnarvin had a falling out

over the management of the site. Since the tomb's initial rediscovery the treasure within it had become the subject of much diplomatic wrangling over who in fact owned it, with it eventually being declared the property of the Egyptian state. The pair were later reconciled after Carnarvon apologized to Carter. One month later, Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito. He had all but forgotten the bite until he cut himself on it shortly after whilst shaving. Within days, the

cut became infected and he developed sepsis. Over the next few weeks, his body struggled to fight the infection, and by early April, the Lord was complete ely bedridden. At his suite in the Savoy Hotel in Cairo. At shortly after midnight on April fifth, a strong gust of wind swept through the city of Cairo, rattling the shutters outside

the Lord's bedroom. Inside, a weary Carnavin watched with concern as the lights of his suite flickered out, as did all the lights in fact in the city, plunging it into total darkness. By the time they had come back on barely minutes later, Lord Carnarvon was dead. Electricians working the city's power terminal the following day, will fail to

find any obvious cause for the blackout. On hearing of the death, Author Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the first to suggest that Carnavin had been the victim of a curse, having broken into the sanctity of a pharaoh's tomb. He will not be the last, and nor would Lord Carnarvon be the only apparent victim of such a curse.

Over the next few months, a number of people linked to the discovery of the tomb died in strange or unexpected circumstances, such as twenty three year old Prince Ali Camel Farmi Bay, who was shot dead by his wife Marie Marguerite on July tenth, shortly after he had visited the tomb. Aubrey Herbert Carnarvon's half brother, had also visited the tomb, surely before a routine dental operation led to a fatal blood poisoning. He also died that same year.

In September. The following month, Captain Richard Bethel, Howard Carter's forty six year old secretary, was found dead in bed of a suspected heart attack, the cause of death ultimately being unconfirmed. Over the next ten years, as many as eleven people would die apparent victims of the curse. Howard Carter, who had no patience for superstition and wild talk of ancient curses, would live for another sixteen years before dying

of Hodgkin's disease at the age of sixty four. Those who knew about the ominous warning sent to Lord Carnarvon by the psychic Key Roe were left to wander if there had been any truth to his claim. Perhaps they had unsettled the pharaoh's spirit after all by disturbing his grave, or perhaps by taking something that wasn't theirs to take. Carnarvin and Howard's insistence that they didn't at any point steal anything from inside the tomb seemed to negate the

second point. At least sixty five years after Carnavin's death, High Claire Castle became the property of the fifth Earl's grandson, Henry. It having fallen to him to carry out an inventory of the family estate. He called in his father's retired butler, Robert Taylor, to help with the review. Having finally detailed every last item in the house, Henry assumed that everything had been accounted for. Well, that is everything, said Taylor,

except for the Egyptian stuff. I'm sure just what Taylor meant. The former butler proceeded to lead Henry to a pair of small, ornate doors that had long ago been blocked off with furniture. After removing the tables and chairs, Taylor opened the doors to reveal a long forgotten, dark and dusty passageway. Henry followed Taylor inside, who stopped in front of a set of panels in the wall, opening them to reveal a secret storage space behind inside, which was

stored a number of sealed tins. Henry would later open them, discovering a collection of over three hundred ancient Egyptian artifacts, a secret that Lord Carnarvon had taken to his grave. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can now go to Unexplained podcast us dot com forward slash support. All donations, no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements of Unexplained

are produced by me, Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, but feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained pod. Now. It's time to take care of yourself. To make time for you, Tell a doc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back

to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained Podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained Podcast

Transcript source: Provided by creator in RSS feed: download file
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android
Open in Metacast