On Jan 1, 8:01 pm, Lee Ayrton <layr...@panix.com.nul> wrote:
> On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:58:18 -0600, Mary wrote:
>
> > Most pyramids were used for something, though. Teotihuacan was a temple
> > of sorts, and the Egyptian ones were funerary containers, weren't they?
>
> I was musing about the Egyptian pyramids -- and nuclear waste bunkers --
> just the other day. 20 centuries on how do we know what was supposed to
> keep something out, and what was supposed to keep something in?
>
> Lee "Cue: Tubular Bells" Ayrton
#5. The Cursed Tomb
Of course, if you want a true, large-scale Mummy-type curse, you need
a really horrifying backstory. Which brings us to the cursed tomb of
Timur.
After assuming the title of Great Khan in 1369, Timur launched a
horrific campaign from Persia to Southern Russia that would have made
his great grandfather Genghis proud -- right down to the pyramid of
70,000 human skulls he built in north India, presumably because he was
tired of carrying them around.
"Just pile them all here. Somebody will get them."
When Timur died in 1405, he was interred in the Gur-e Amir complex of
Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A huge green jade slab which had once served as
the throne for Kabek Khan was placed over his tomb and covered with
Arabic text about how awesome it is to be Mongol, and, just to make
sure nobody messed with Timur's bones down the road, the words "When I
arise from the grave, the world will tremble", which is eerily
reminiscent of Vigo's prophecy in Ghostbusters II.
Sure enough, in 1941, Stalin dispatched Soviet archeologist Mikhail
Mikhaylovich Gerasimov to excavate Timur's gravesite, we're guessing
to one-up the Nazis' recent archeological breakthroughs at Tanis and
Iskenderun.
According to Kaumov, local Uzbek elders were understandably upset
about the excavation: "These old men showed me a book saying that the
tomb of Timur should not be opened, otherwise a war could be provoked.
I was young at the time and not too wise. I did not pay too much
attention to this event. On 21 June we removed the skull of Timur.
Then, on the 22 June the war with the Germans began."
In other words, less than 24 hours after opening the tomb that
threatened to "make the world tremble" if disturbed, Stalin's men saw
Hitler launch Operation Barbarossa: the largest and most brutal
invasion of WWII.
After losing millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians, the Russians
finally returned Timur to his tomb with full Islamic burial rights on
December 20, 1942. At the same time on the opposite side of the
country, Operation Winter Storm, the last German attempt to escape
destruction at Stalingrad, failed decisively.
To be clear, it is the official position of Cracked.com that curses do
not exist. Still, to be safe, stay the hell away from Timur's tomb.
Oh, and maybe send some flowers to the archeologist who had the
brilliant idea of restoring Timur's remains just in time to prevent
the Nazis from winning WWII... whoever he may be.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18809_the-6-most-strangely-convincing-real-life-curses.html