London Cotton to Gold Exhibit Displays Cursed Peruvian Mummy

An 800-year-old haunted Peruvian mummy is currently on display in London for the Cotton to Gold exhibit, which showcases the extraordinary treasures of 19th century Lancashire cotton magnates.

Mummy of an Incan Nobleman from Chaplanca, Peru, 12th Century

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, cotton was booming in Lancashire. Industrialists and entrepreneurs were pouring their fortunes into priceless relics, art and oddities that ended up in the collections of local museums.

Many of these items can currently be seen on display as part of the Winter Exhibition at Two Temple Place in London called Cotton to Gold. The exhibit includes rare Roman coins, priceless medieval manuscripts, JMW Turner watercolours, Tiffany glass, Japanese prints, Byzantine icons, ivory sculptures, stuffed birds, preserved beetles and…a Peruvian mummy.

An electrical engineer by the name of William T Taylor unearthed the mummy, a 12th century Peruvian nobleman, during his travels in 1913. In his llama fur-bound diary, Taylor details the perilous journey into the dark, bat-and-bone-filled cave in the Andes to extract the mummy, crate it and send it to Towneley Hall.

It is there that the supposedly haunted remains still normally reside, tucked away in a cardboard box. It is rumored that there is bloodshed every time the mummy is moved.

Due to budget cuts, many of these extraordinary items are rarely ever seen anymore. Curators of Cotton to Gold hope to renew interest in them, and save the languishing institutions that house them. Find more info at www.twotempleplace.org

via The Guardian