Valley of the Kings — phantom pharaohs in Egypt's ancient royal necropolis

The Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, served as the burial ground for pharaohs and nobles of the New Kingdom for nearly 500 years, from the 16th to the 11th century BCE. The valley contains 63 known tombs, including that of Tutankhamun, discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing the vision of an Egyptian pharaoh — a regal figure in ancient royal regalia — walking among the tombs at dusk when the last tourists have departed. Security guards stationed at the valley overnight have described hearing chanting in an ancient language echoing through the narrow defiles, seeing lights inside sealed tombs, and feeling an overwhelming sense of authority emanating from certain burial chambers. The ancient Egyptians believed that the ka (spirit) of the deceased remained connected to the burial site, and elaborate rituals were performed to ensure the dead could navigate the afterlife. The disturbance of so many royal tombs by archaeologists and tomb robbers over millennia has, according to local belief, angered the spirits of the pharaohs. The valley's stark desert landscape, enclosed by towering limestone cliffs that glow gold at sunrise and deep red at sunset, creates one of the most atmospherically charged landscapes on Earth.