The Pharaohs’ Curse Might Be True After All

Bright Side

Those old, rundown buildings seem like they've got a story to tell. Well, turns out, they might actually be hiding some seriously spooky secrets! Think about it – those creaky floors and crumbling walls? Plus, who knows what kind of creepy crawlies have made those places their home over the years? And let's not forget about the possibility of cursed artifacts or ancient spirits lurking in the shadows, just waiting to unleash their wrath on unsuspecting intruders! So, if you ever stumble upon an old building that looks like it's seen better days, my advice? Proceed with caution, or better yet, steer clear altogether!  Credit: Lead pipe: Andrew Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lead_pipe_-_Bath_Roman_Baths.jpg  Lead Paint: Thester11, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lead_Paint2.JPG CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: Roman lead pipe: Chris 73, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_lead_pipe_ostia_antica_03.jpg  HomeEarthRodAustralia: Ali K, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HomeEarthRodAustralia1.jpg CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: Aspergillus: Vyzhdova V,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aspergillus_spp.jpg  Aspergillus: Alexander Klepnev, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B8_aspergillus_niger_5.tif  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00During the early 1920s, the world was mesmerized by King Tut.

00:07A British archaeologist, Howard Carter, discovered the young pharaoh's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, 1922.

00:14But the public wasn't only interested in gold and jewelry.

00:18The press wrote about the curse of the pharaohs, but was it true?

00:21Was an ancient curse really the reason everyone entering the pyramids lost their lives?

00:25At the time, this was the only explanation for a series of unexplained passings.

00:30The man present at the opening of King Tut's burial chamber, George Herbert V Earl of Carnarvon, lived only five more months after the discovery.

00:38He had also sponsored the dig.

00:40In comes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

00:42You probably know of him, the English writer behind Sherlock Holmes.

00:47He claimed that an evil elemental caused the explorer's demise.

00:51He must have been joking, right?

00:54Unfortunately, no.

00:56The newspapers continued to blame the pharaoh's curse after every Egyptologist left this world.

01:01These are the scientists who study the ancient cultures of Egypt.

01:05The archaeologist who opened King Tutankhamun's tomb passed away full 17 years after the discovery.

01:12The reason for it wasn't a secret, Hodgkin's disease.

01:16Yet again, journalists around the world wrote of a curse.

01:20This was getting ridiculous.

01:22But science must have had a rational explanation, right?

01:25Well, it did.

01:26And that explanation was common mold.

01:29Harmful fungi, Aspergillus, can survive for ages in sealed tombs.

01:34When humans inhale them, there is a high risk of infection in people who have a weakened immune system.

01:39Today, doctors believe this is what happened to the unfortunate explorer more than a century ago.

01:45Scientists now know that this type of fungi grows especially well on grain.

01:51And King Tut's tomb was full of offerings in the form of baskets full of raw grain and bread.

01:57Researchers discovered other varieties of fungi on ancient Egyptian mummies.

02:01These molds can easily cause some nasty consequences for humans.

02:05The danger of rotting organic material is real.

02:08Just look inside your fridge.

02:10Any food leftovers you have there start to go off after just three to four days.

02:15You can imagine what happens to food in a sealed chamber after thousands of years.

02:20Food is just one kind of organic material. There is also wood.

02:24If you expose it to water or even moisture in the air, it starts to deteriorate.

02:28You don't have to travel to Egypt to see the effects of this process.

02:31Any abandoned building in your neighborhood can serve as an example.

02:35When a piece of wood gets wet and has no way of drying out, there is going to be damage.

02:40From fungi to wood-boring insects, the list is long.

02:45Rotten wood presents a huge structural issue.

02:48Beams and floor panels are all made of timber, so you better not go inside a failing building.

02:53You can easily lose your footing.

02:55But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

02:57The building materials since the time of the pharaohs have changed, but so have the dangers.

03:02One of the best examples is asbestos.

03:05Until the 1970s, most home insulation materials contained this substance.

03:10It was in everything from boilers to soundproofing.

03:13This microfiber provided excellent heat insulation.

03:17But then, the United States banned asbestos in 1989.

03:21The UK did the same a decade later.

03:24The reason for it is that asbestos becomes a health hazard when it gets damaged.

03:29When humans inhale asbestos fibers, they can get seriously sick.

03:33Abandoned strictures are full of this material, and there is no one to maintain them.

03:37You see the danger now.

03:39Another material is also common in old buildings, lead.

03:43Ancient Romans used lead piping to channel spring water into their homes.

03:48They also cooked in lead vessels, which was probably not the wisest of choices.

03:53You see, lead and water don't go well together because of something called corrosion.

03:58But this problem isn't ancient.

04:00U.S. officials banned lead piping only in 1986.

04:04That means that 7% of American households still have lead service lines.

04:09And this is not the only source of poisoning.

04:12Until the mid-1960s, builders used lead paint to coat woodwork.

04:17In abandoned buildings, this lead coating snapped a long time ago.

04:21Anyone who touches doors and windows will disturb this lead dust and inhale it.

04:25The dust particles are at least visible to an unaided eye.

04:29This is not the case for carbon monoxide.

04:31This gas has no color, so you can't see it.

04:34It has no odor, so you can't smell it.

04:37No way to detect a carbon monoxide leak at all.

04:40And how does this dangerous gas usually escape?

04:43Poor maintenance.

04:44Well, abandoned buildings have zero maintenance.

04:47One second, you could be exploring an old factory,

04:50and the next you could feel dizzy with and have a terrible headache.

04:53These are just some of the symptoms of CO poisoning, the less severe ones.

04:57But what is the source?

04:58All it takes is for an old boiler to finally give way after years of neglect.

05:03We've reached an important question.

05:06What is the main factor in air quality inside a room?

05:09If you are thinking the level of oxygen, try again.

05:12It turns out that oxygen levels drop by only 0.3% in 8 hours inside an airtight room.

05:19This is a room in which doors and windows are sealed with tape,

05:22so the decrease is even smaller in normal conditions.

05:25Oxygen isn't the main problem.

05:27The levels of carbon dioxide rise sharply inside a sealed room.

05:31This is the direct result of human breathing.

05:33We inhale oxygen and exhale CO2.

05:36Think of it as a waste gas.

05:38Normally, it's only a tiny portion of the air we breathe 0.04%.

05:42But in a sealed room, high levels of carbon dioxide will make you feel drowsy.

05:48And that's the last thing you need when inside a dilapidated building.

05:52Carbon dioxide will decrease your ability to think clearly.

05:56Researchers from Harvard did an interesting study in 2016.

06:00They had office workers come in 6 days in a row to complete a problem-solving test.

06:05During the week, they gradually raised the carbon dioxide levels in the mock-up office.

06:10The results of the same test kept getting worse over time.

06:13There are many factors at play,

06:15but CO2 levels definitely had an impact on the workers' problem-solving ability.

06:20The test took place inside a typical office environment,

06:23not inside a crumbling building where visitors must watch their every step.

06:30When I say visitors, I really mean trespassers.

06:33And trespassing is a criminal offense in the United States.

06:36This goes both for private and public property.

06:39If you defy the law, you can be fined up to $5,000 or even face lock-up time.

06:44That should make you think twice before jumping over a fence with a no-trespassing sign.

06:48But again, you might not be the only one inside.

06:51You can never know who else is in the building.

06:53Perhaps a person up to no good?

06:57It doesn't have to be a person at all.

06:59Animals can pose a threat as well.

07:01You would be startled if you saw a rat, for example.

07:04But the poor animal would be scared as well.

07:06It might bite you.

07:08The list of diseases rats carry is pretty long.

07:10But rodents' teeth can cause other forms of damage.

07:13They grow constantly,

07:15so the animal has to constantly nibble on something to stop them from overgrowing.

07:19If you ever felt peckish at 1 a.m., you know the feeling.

07:23Electric cables are high on the rodent's menu.

07:25Abandoned buildings have plenty of those.

07:29Old wiring is dangerous on its own.

07:31Structures erected before 1984 often used wires made out of aluminum.

07:35Today, copper is the standard

07:37because an aluminum wire is 55 times more likely to catch on fire than a copper one.

07:42Flipping a switch in a run-down building can cost you your life.

07:45Be on alert for telltale signs that something is wrong.

07:48Lights that flicker, sparks from sockets, and the smell of smoke.

07:52And yeah, don't count on an earth cable to protect you from electrocution.

07:56Ground cables became standard only in the 1960s.

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