Tag Archives: Curse

The Presidential Death Curse?

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In 1811, General William Henry Harrison fought Tecumseh’s Confederacy to a draw at the Battle of Tippecanoe, thus putting an end to the Native American military movement. According to legend, Tecumseh responded by setting a curse upon Harrison and the office of the President of the United States. What was this mysterious Curse of Tecumseh?

The Curse of Tecumseh (aka The Curse of Tippecanoe or the Presidential Death Curse)?

The Curse of Tecumseh (also known as the Curse of Tippecanoe) is shrouded in mystery, its exact origin having been lost to time. Perhaps the most popular version of the story is that Tecumseh sent an oral message to General Harrison via released prisoners, stating that, “Harrison will not win this year to be the great chief. But he may win next year. If he does … he will not finish his term. He will die in office.” When informed that no President had ever died in office (the United States was only on its fourth President at the time), Tecumseh supposedly said:

“Harrison will die, I tell you. And when he dies you will remember the deaths of my people. You think that I have lost my powers: I who caused the sun to darken and red men to give up firewater. But I tell you Harrison will die. And after him, every great chief chosen every twenty years thereafter will die. And when each one dies, let everyone remember the death of our people.” ~ Tecumseh, 1811

Another version of the legend is that the Curse of Tecumseh was actually uttered by Tecumseh’s brother Tenskwatawa. Tenskwatawa was known as the Shawnee Prophet, in part for correctly predicting a solar eclipse in 1806. That prophecy humiliated General Harrison, who’d staked his reputation with other Native American leaders on Tenskwatawa being a fraud. Supposedly, Tenskwatawa uttered the Curse of Tecumseh in 1836, just months before his passing.

There is also a third version of the story. In this telling, Tecumseh realized that he would die at the 1813 Battle of Thames. Before he left to meet his fate, he gave away his things and stated one final prophecy to his brother:

“Brother, be of good cheer. Before one winter shall pass, the chance will yet come to build our nation and drive the Americans from our land. If this should fail, then a curse shall be upon the great chief of the Americans, if they shall ever pick Harrison to lead them.

His days in power shall be cut short. And for every twenty winters following, the days in power of the great chief which they shall select shall be cut short. Our people shall not be the instrument to shorten their time. Either the Great Spirit shall shorten their days or their own people shall shoot them.

This is not all. Each contest to select their great chief shall be marked by sharp divisions within their nation. Within seven winters of each contest, there shall be a war among their people, either within their nation or with other nations, I know not which. Our people shall prosper only if they can avoid these wars.” ~ Tecumseh, 1813

The Curse of Tecumseh…120 Years Later

Three decades later, William Henry Harrison won the 1840 U.S. Presidential election. One month later, he was dead, a victim of pneumonia. The Curse of Tecumseh had begun. And for the next 120 years, every U.S. President elected at the end of a 20-year cycle (and during a year ending in “0”) died tragically while still in office.

  • 1840: William Henry Harrison, Pneumonia (1841)
  • 1860: Abraham Lincoln, Assassination (1865)
  • 1880: James Garfield, Assassination (1881)
  • 1900: William McKinley, Assassination (1901)
  • 1920: Warren Harding, Heart Attack, Stroke, Possible Assassination (1923)
  • 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cerebral Hemorrhage (1945)
  • 1960: John F. Kennedy, Assassination (1963)

In the 1980 U.S. Presidential election, Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter. 69 days later, on March 31, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded him, puncturing his lung. But unlike his predecessors, Reagan survived the attempt and lived out two full terms in office. Twenty years later, George Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election. In 2005, he survived an assassination attempt of his own when Vladimir Arutyunian’s hand grenades failed to detonate.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

The Curse of Tecumseh is a modern-day example of dating mining and numerology. For centuries, people have attempted to create models linking up number sequences with real world events. But while such models look promising when backtesting old data, they tend to fall apart when subjected to new information.

In 1980, the Library of Congress supposedly researched the Curse of Tecumseh story and concluded that “although the story has been well-known for years, there are no documented sources and no published mentions of it.” (On a side note, I was unable to find any confirmation of this study so take it with a grain of salt).

In the unlikely event that the Curse of Tecumseh was something tangible, it appears that it was lifted with President Reagan’s term of office. But some observers believe differently. They claim that the Curse of Tecumseh encompasses both death as well as mere assassination attempts. Thus, they think that future presidents could very well suffer from the curse, either with deaths or near-death experiences.

So, has the Curse of Tecumseh been extinguished? Or will more lives feel its wrath?

Only time will tell.

The Curse of Tutankhamun?

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On November 26, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter breached the tomb of Tutankhamun, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Almost immediately, whispers of a curse began spreading throughout the region. And then the deaths began. Was the curse of Tutankhamun real? Or just a myth?

The Curse of King Tut?

Soon after entering the tomb, Carter sent a messenger to his house. The messenger discovered that a cobra had killed Carter’s pet canary. Since the Royal Cobra was seen as a symbol of the ancient Egyptian government, the canary’s death was interpreted by the locals as evidence of a curse.

“The pharaoh’s serpent ate the bird because it led us to the hidden tomb! You must not disturb the tomb!” ~ Servant to Howard Carter

A few months later, on April 5, 1923, Lord Carnarvon died from an infected mosquito bite. Since Carnarvon had provided the financial backing for Carter’s excavation, his death was seen as part of the curse. The media reported extensively on the story and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, gave an interview in which he stated his opinion that the death might have been caused by “elementals” or “curses.” Hence, the curse of Tutankhamun was born.

A series of strange deaths followed over the next few years. Captain Richard Bethell (Carter’s personal secretary) died under suspicious circumstances while sleeping at a Mayfair Club. Bethell’s father committed suicide by jumping from his seventh floor apartment. Edgar Steele, who handled the artifacts from London’s British Museum, passed away during a minor operation. All in all, a grand total of eleven people connected to the tomb’s discovery and excavation died seemingly unnatural deaths by 1929. By 1935, this number was up to twenty-one.

Was the Curse of Tutankhamun caused by Murder?

So, what caused these deaths? A true curse of Tutankhamun? Coincidence? An ancient plague? Well, in his new book, London’s Curse: Murder, Black Magic and Tutankhamun in the 1920s West End, author Mark Beynon speculates that the various murders were indeed connected…but not by a supernatural force. Instead, he believes that the murders were “ritualistic killings” masterminded by the infamous Aleister Crowley…aka, “the wickedest man in the world.”

Crowley was a well-known occultist, mystic, astrologist, and magician. He was also a prolific writer, leaving behind an impressive collection of diaries, books, and essays. After reviewing these works, along with various inquest reports, Beynon believes we should add another occupation to Crowley’s long resume…murderer.

Beynon believes that Crowley was motivated by revenge. Specifically, Crowley might’ve considered Carter’s excavation “sacrilegious” since he’d used ancient Egypt’s gods and goddesses to help formulate his own religion, known as Thelema. Also, many of the deceased individuals considered to have been “cursed” died in ways that suggested murder. For example, Captain Bethell’s symptoms matched that of one who’d been smothered to death. And the ability of Bethell’s father to climb out onto the window ledge and commit suicide seems questionable, indicating that he might’ve had help.

Beynon speculates that Crowley, who supposedly “murdered his servants in India,” was obsessed with Jack the Ripper and may have used Jack as an inspiration for his own murders of Carter’s excavation team. However, Beynon’s evidence seems pretty skimpy. Crowley’s connections to the various victims is tenuous at best. Also, he was absent from London for at least two of these deaths. Finally, the fact that Howard Carter – the primary man behind the excavation – survived 17 years after opening the tomb is damning. If Crowley really wished to punish Carter’s team, it seems that he would’ve wanted to do the same to Carter himself. Instead, Carter lived until 1939 before finally succumbing to lymphoma at the age of 65.

Was the Curse of Tutankhamun caused by Disease?

So, what caused “The Curse of Tutankhamun?” One possibility is an ancient disease. In 1962, Dr. Ezzeddin Taha announced that many of the archaeologists and museum employees who worked with ancient Egyptian artifacts suffered from exposure to Aspergillus niger, a fungus that causes skins rashes and respiratory problems. He believed that this fungus might’ve been sealed in Egyptian tombs many centuries ago only to rear it’s ugly head when the tombs were reopened. Another possibility is mold spores. Intriguingly, a 1999 study conducted by microbiologist Gotthard Kramer showed that as many as 40 recovered Egyptian mummies were covered with bits of mold spores. Some mold spores, which can survive for long periods of time, are extremely deadly.

“When spores enter the body through the nose, mouth or eye mucous membranes they can lead to organ failure or even death, particularly in individuals with weakened immune systems.” ~ Gotthard Kramer

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Personally, I think ancient fungal spores may have caused some of the deaths associated with the curse, particularly that of Lord Carnarvon. However, I also believe there was a conspiracy afoot. But not the type of conspiracy brought about by a murderous mystic. No, I think we’re dealing with an entirely different type of conspiracy…a media conspiracy.

The reality of the matter is that many of the curse’s so-called victims played only incidental roles in the discovery and opening of the tomb. According to an analysis prepared by Herbert Winlock, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, 54 total people were present for the opening of the tomb (1922), the opening of the sarcophagus (1924), and the unveiling of King Tut’s mummy (1925). Out of those 54 people, only 8 had died by 1934 (6 from the opening of the tomb and 2 from the opening of the sarcophagus).

The truth is that much of the hype surrounding the curse was overblown. Many of the so-called victims were only vaguely connected to King Tut’s tomb. In reality, it wasn’t much of a curse at all.

But it sure made one hell of a story.