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Curators Film Egyptian Statue Eerily Turning Itself in Display Case

Curators at the UK's Manchester Museum are puzzled by video tapes of an Egyptian statue that is seen turning itself around a full 180 degrees in its display case.

The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that a statue of Neb-Sanu, which was made around 1800 B.C. to honor Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, can be seen in a time-lapse video turning itself completely around in its case during the course of the day.

"I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key," said Campbell Price, an Egyptologist at the museum, to the Manchester Evening News. I put it back but then the next day it had moved again. We set up a time-lapse video and, although the naked eye can’t see it, you can clearly see it rotate on the film."

He explained that the statuette is something that used to be put into a tomb along with the mummy.

"Mourners would lay offerings at its feet," he said.

A possible explanation for this mysterious occurrence?

“In Ancient Egypt they believed that if the mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative vessel for the spirit," Campbell suggests. "Maybe that is what is causing the movement.”

However, Brian Cox, a physics professor at a local university, thinks it's due to what is known as "differential friction" which occurs when two surfaces cause a subtle vibration that can make an object slowly turn.

Campbel isn't so sure. “But it has been on those surfaces since we have had it and it has never moved before. And why would it go around in a perfect circle?”

It's anyone's guess what's going on at this museum. IMHO, it could be anything from a demonic infestation of the object to a publicity gimmick by the museum to attract more patrons.

 

 

 

 

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