The Curse of Tutankhamen’s Tomb – Part 1 On 29th November, 1922, Egyptologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were confronted by the tomb of King Tutankhamen apparentely guarded by a stone inscribed with the ominous threat: “Death Shall Come on Swift Wings to Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King." Undeterred, they later opened the tomb and discovered the famous pharaoh along with a wealth of treasures, launching the world into the modern era of Egyptology. The first incident fuelling local rumours of a curse occurred on the very day that the King’s tomb was broken into when Carter came home and found his bird cage occupied by a cobra, the symbol of Egyptian monarchy. Carter’s canary had died in its mouth and the story was reported in the New York Times with claims that the Royal Cobra, the same as that worn on the King’s head to strike enemies, was the first sign of a curse in action.