Random Horrifying Story Behind 'The Screaming Mummy' (12 items)

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  (#2) He May Have Been A Prince Executed For Involvement In 'The Harem Conspiracy'

   

  A post shared by Travel Mate (@travel_mate00) on Feb 4, 2018 at 6:01am PST

  Scholars think they might have identified Unknown Man E. There was once a man named Prince Pentawere, a son of Pharaoh Ramesses III, who participated in a conspiracy to remove his father from the throne. One of Ramesses's minor wives, a member of his harem named Tiy, wanted her husband off the throne. She aimed to oust the king and put her son, Pentawere, in his place. The plan also involved removing Ramesses's chosen heir.

  Pentawere's plan didn't make it and he was labeled a traitor, disgraced like Man E, who fit the physical profile of the prince. Interestingly, the Screaming Mummy has similar DNA markers and Y chromosomes to Ramesses III. It's likely that Man E and Ramesses III were father and son.
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  (#4) Prince Pentawere Took His Own Life After Being Condemned By A Court

  The Turin Judicial Papyrus also records the fate of Pentawere, the would-be pharaoh. Apprehended for colluding with his mother, he "was placed before the butlers, in order to examine him; they found him guilty; they left him in his place; he took his own life."

  But by what means? How exactly did Unknown Man E expire? Perhaps by poison. 

  In 1886, Gaston Maspero, the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, hypothesized:

  All those who saw him first hand thought that [he] looked as though he had been poisoned. The contraction of the abdomen and stomach, the desperate movement with which the head is thrown back, the expression of excruciating pain spread over the face hardly allow for any other explanation.

  A chemist who analyzed the body also suggested the man was perhaps entombed alive or hung, which would back out the suggestion that Pentawere took his own life.
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  (#11) The Screaming Mummy Brought In Over 20,000 Visitors To The Egyptian Museum

  Once the Screaming Mummy made its debut at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, it proved a popular attraction. The museum director noted that the mummy, once abandoned in the basement, brought in over 20,000 visitors to the museum. These guests were both Egyptian and foreign visitors; it also received international press coverage, drawing attention from around the world.
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  (#5) The 'Scream' Only Resulted From The Head Falling Back Post-Mortem

  At first glance, one might think that the screaming expression exhibited by the Screaming Mummy came from him experiencing an agonizing pain. In actuality, it probably happened rather naturally. As it turns out, his head fell back after he passed. His jaw fell open postmortem, leaving him "screaming" for all eternity.
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  (#3) The Harem Conspiracy Involved More Than Just Prince Pentawere And His Mother

  Along with Queen Tiy and Prince Pentawere, a group of important noblemen conspired to get rid of Ramesses III. A record of their trial, called the Turin Judicial Papyrus, still survives. As a result, we know the names of the chief conspirators. One was "Pebekkamen, formerly chief of the chamber" who stirred up resentment against the Pharaoh. Pebekkamen conspired with ex-butler Mesedsure,  ex-overseer of the royal harem Peynok, and the scribe Pendua. The conspiracy went all the way to the top. Top-level conspirators included Peyes, the former commander of the army, Oneney, the chief of police, Hori, the head of the infantry bearers, and more.

  As it turns out, the conspirators didn't entirely fail. Examination of the mummy of Ramesses III revealed a seven-centimeter-wide slash on his throat that went deep to the bone.  
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  (#1) His Hands And Feet Are Bound And He Wasn't Properly Mummified

   

  A post shared by Ramy Romany (@ramyromany) on Feb 12, 2018 at 3:45pm PST

   

  The Screaming Mummy was notably different from others mummies Egyptologists have found previously, which raised red flags for scientists. One notable difference was that rather than linen, he was wrapped in sheepskin, which the purity-obsessed Egyptians regarded as unclean. Only offenders or people damned for eternity would have been entombed in such a manner.

  Also, his coffin was unmarked - no one could recite his name in the afterlife, which was a big deal - and his hands and feet were bound, as if he had perished a prisoner. He wasn't even truly mummified properly (it's a long, drawn-out process), just dried out in natron with resin placed in his mouth.

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