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Abbott Costello Mummy Curse Spinning Statue Egyptian Manchester Museum Neb-Sanu

Ancient Egyptian Statue Spins In A Circle… By Itself!

By Rick MGon

Something strange is going on at the Manchester Museum, where an ancient Egyptian statue moves by itself. Remaining still at night, the statue can clearly be seen turning in a perfect circle during daylight hours. Dating back to 1800 BC, it was found in the tomb of Neb-Sanu, and has some museum staff speaking in hushed tones of ancient curses. Egyptologist & curator Campbell Price is perplexed:

“I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key. I put it back but then the next day it had moved again. We set up a time-lapse video and, although the naked eye can’t see it, you can clearly see it rotate on the film.

The statuette is something that used to go in the tomb along with the mummy… In Ancient Egypt they believed that if the mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative vessel for the spirit. Maybe that is what is causing the movement.”

Is it a possessed statue, a very cheeky hoax, or can Professor Brian Cox explain it with science & a Moog synthesiser? The statue has more spin than Zahi Hawass. While you ponder the mystery, we’ve sent two Grail investigators to the museum for answers. Stay tuned!

Update: Who Forted may have cracked the case. Good work Scooby!

Rick MG
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27 Comments

  1. Mummy hi-jinks
    This reminds me of a story which circulated around the Field Museum here in Chicago many years ago which involved a late-night guard claiming he heard a scream from the Egyptian exhibit, and when he went to check, an upright mummy in a sealed glass case had turned on its base. They weren’t able to find any mundane cause (like an earthquake), and it remained a mystery.

    1. p.s.
      I did a quick google, and found the story! (I had a couple details wrong–the mummy didn’t spin on its base but fell over–but it was essentially as I remembered it):

      The Shrieking Mummy of the Field Museum

      On night, during roughly the 1930s, a museum guard at the Field Museum heard a blood curdling scream coming from the Egyptian wing. He found no one there, but one of the mummies had fallen from its base and was lying face down inside of its case.

      When the story is repeated today, it’s usually said that the mummy was that of Harwa, The Doorkeeper of the Temple of Amun which has been in the museum’s collection since 1904. However, the earliest known mention of the incident (a Bulletin from the Field Museum reprinting an older piece by Henry Field from 1953) says it was naked, and Harwa is still covered, like a DECENT mummy.

      Field, an anthropologist and grand-nephew of Marshall Field, wrote that he studied it carefully, but could find no possible explanation for why the thing fell over, and no way a person could have knocked it down – the locked case was filled with poison fumes to keep bugs out.

      Field wrote::

      “The base extended at least four inches on each side of the dried skin and bones. No living person could have entered the poisoned case. No vibration in the building could have knocked it off the base without rending the walls, for the museum floats on an island of concrete, there being no hardpan on the filled-in land along the lake front.

      “There is still no explanation of the scream or of the fallen mummy. It is just one more example of things we cannot explain.”

      http://www.chicagounbelievable.com/2011/10/shrieking-mummy-of-field-museum.html

      1. Museum Shenanigans
        Thanks Jupiter! Very interesting story. I wonder if the museum has a cat — statues are always mysteriously falling down around my house in the wee hours of the night. I can’t explain the scream though, but cats have been known to make strange noises.

    1. Whether or not this Egyptian
      Whether or not this Egyptian thing is a hoax, there is a ton of evidence that this sort of thing happens all the time in haunted homes. Psychokinetics is well supported now – the most notable example being random number generators being statistically deviated just prior to large emotionally intense world events. My Dad’s haunted ranch was infamous for invisible entities sitting on beds and causing the bedding to depress in front of one’s eyes.
      I brought all of this activity to a screeching halt by “gifting” the ranch with orgonite. The ranch foreman was very, very grateful because there was one spirit that kept setting off the main house alarm in the middle of the night which required he get up and reset it. As soon as he arrived at the main house the television set would start going on and off too. Poor lonely spirit – he has gone to the light now. RIP.

  3. Watching the video carefully,
    Watching the video carefully, I seem to have noticed the same person (or many similarly dressed individuals)wearing a white t-shirt showing up immediately to the left of the statue several times a day, each day on the video.

    Not really enough to prove a hoax, but I found it strange.

    2. Who has the key?

      Only the curator, Campbell Price, has the key to the display case; suspect numero uno! The guy in the white shirt (who might be Price) is probably just checking the statue's progress, as they were trying to film the phenomenon that day. He doesn't seem to be opening the display case, although it'd be a lot of effort to remove those frames from the video.

      PS Love your avatar photo, Leentoon. Welcome to the Grail. 🙂

      1. This
        [quote=Rick MG]

        Only the curator, Campbell Price, has the key to the display case; suspect numero uno! The guy in the white shirt (who might be Price) is probably just checking the statue's progress, as they were trying to film the phenomenon that day. He doesn't seem to be opening the display case, although it'd be a lot of effort to remove those frames from the video.

        PS Love your avatar photo, Leentoon. Welcome to the Grail. 🙂

        [/quote]

        …or solar power statues 😛

      2. others have key too
        the curator mentioned others had key as well, it may be a hoax.
        plus the video was done over a term period of a week, so if it is a hoax alot of staff may be involved if not all, including editing of the film.

        plus the number of the piece 9325. seeing 93 may mean nothing but it really hits a cord with me, as in flight 93 in 911, makes me think of a bs story that they gave to public and hide the truth.

        but if by chance it not a hoax,
        it seems to move even when no one around,
        plus appears no visible vibration on shelf and with other pieces.

        till proven what is causing, i wont rule out magnetism,
        some strange lights in daytime, orbs ?, energy flowing ?.

        sun been more active, in that i mean solar activity,
        i recall one time driving home from cottage and saw the northern lights – aurora, in the daytime,wild stuff.

        i know everyone thinks northern lights is pretty but its a bad sign when it gets stronger and gets bigger,
        because it means our magnetic shield weakens.

        ciao clemente

  4. It only revolves when the
    It only revolves when the place is open and people are moving in and out of the area. My thought is that the pounding of feet on the floor vibrate the case and statue minutely throughout the day and thus it rotates. I would take a look at the base of the statue and see if it is propped on a couple of small points rather than a solid, flat surface.

    1. You would think though that
      You would think though that visitors would notice an askew statue and report it to the floor people. I vote for hoax perhaps done on a day when the museum was closed.

  5. Exactly
    I had the same thoughts as creox. It’s pretty obviously due to the vibrations caused by the day long crowds of stomping tourists and the way the statue meets the floor. I used to work in a mineral shop that sold up to 11 foot tall amethyst geodes that stood on flat bases, they would swivel similarly over the course of a week or two.

      1. I don’t think you would
        I don’t think you would notice as the movement is time lapsed and would be quite incremental throughout the day. It’s not something I would notice unless I was looking for it tbh.

    2. the video
      it moves during times when no crowds around it as well,
      take a closer look at video.but who knows maybe some editing was done if it was a hoax.

      i find the guy comments about saying he lied about him having the only key interesting.
      heres quote
      “I lied – others do have a key to the case, and it is just possible that someone is playing a trick. ”

      from this link
      http://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/the-mystery-of-the-spinning-statuette/

      ciao clemente

      1. Could be a hoax to be sure
        Could be a hoax to be sure but it could also be moving back to equilibrium after the crowds leave…I certainly don’t think it’s anything supernatural. to add…I don’t see it move at all when there are no crowds (ie: operating hours). The movement is very noticeable when there are crowds of people walking by the camera, close to the statue. The last two days there is no movement despite the crowds and imo is due to the statue being unable to rotate..perhaps because the base has met resistance with the case.

        1. yup it moves when noone the – 2 sec mark 16.28 to 23.0
          yup it moves when noone around – the first example i see is 2 second in video – at top right it gives lapse time of 16.28 to 23.00 is movement when noone around. too long of a period suggests something more than equilibrium.

          one thing is certain, if not a hoax campbell is not talking to his people correctly to know the whats going on at the workplace, example keys, no movement for a couple of months prior,making video, then his talk and wording to press.

          ciao clemente

          1. No one around
            I’ve noticed that too, though looking at the video for a 3rd time, it may be a trick of the light (the movement at night).

          2. no one around – angle
            angle at base appears to show a difference, just
            enlarge couple of stills there appears to be different angle on shelf near the base of statue (i look away from the shadow area).

            speaking of angle, perhaps all this was mr price angle to
            get some public interest to his tourism attraction 🙂

            ciao clemente

  6. spinning statue
    I want to believe this is real, honest, but it really looks like a hoax (and a particularly clever one, too). A lot of time elapses on that security camera, but there are relatively few revealed moments in time on the video — plenty of time for someone to quickly turn the statue incrementally. Btw, very much enjoyed the gratuitously snarky Hawass reference!

    1. A Hoax?
      It would be a very clever one, given the incredibly smooth movement of the statue. It doesn’t seem to show any jerky movements or changes in its rate of spin.

      BTW, welcome to the Grail 🙂

    2. Levitating Cats
      [quote=jim3000]Btw, very much enjoyed the gratuitously snarky Hawass reference![/quote]

      Cheers! I couldn’t let that golden opportunity slide by. 😉

      It took me ages to work out how my cat was levitating. Until recently, I lived in a house with a tram line directly out front. The average Melbourne tram can weigh as much as 30 rhinos. So with those beasts shaking the earth every 5 – 10 minutes directly in front of the house, it didn’t take Prof Cox and his fancy pants Science to work out how my cat was floating several feet off the floor.

      Until I moved to a house in the country where there are no trams, and she still does it.

      Not sure what traffic is like outside the museum. The statue only turns during the day, so could cars, trucks, buses, and stampeding rhinos be the cause of the mystery?

      1. angles at base,
        statue only turns during the day? nope look at angles at base.

        but hey who knows perhaps the statue
        isnt turning at all in day or at night

        🙂

        ciao clemente

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