The British Museum in Bloomsbury, one of the world's great repositories of human civilization, houses artifacts from every continent and era. Among its millions of objects, a handful have acquired reputations for supernatural malevolence — none more so than the painted inner coffin lid of an unnamed priestess of Amun-Ra, catalog number EA 22542, known popularly as the "Unlucky Mummy."
The object — not actually a mummy but a decorated coffin board from approximately 950 BCE — has been associated with misfortune since it was acquired by the museum in the 1880s. According to legend, which grew through newspaper accounts and word of mouth, everyone who came into significant contact with the artifact suffered tragedy: photographers died, porters fell ill, and a journalist who wrote about it lost a child. The stories were largely embellished or invented, but they proved remarkably durable. A persistent myth claims the Unlucky Mummy was being transported aboard the Titanic when it sank — a story the museum has repeatedly debunked, as the object has never left the building.
Beyond the Unlucky Mummy, night security staff at the museum have reported a range of unexplained phenomena over the decades. Footsteps have been heard in the Egyptian sculpture galleries after hours, and the shadowy figure of a man in early 20th-century dress has been seen near the Reading Room. Staff in the basement storage areas have described the sensation of being watched, sudden temperature drops, and objects displaced from their positions overnight. The museum itself has never officially acknowledged any paranormal activity, but among London's ghost enthusiasts, it remains a location of persistent interest.