WATCH: The Egyptian statue that's mysteriously moving all by itself
Security cameras catch a 4,000-year-old offering to the god Osiris spinning 180 degrees
Security cameras in England's Manchester Museum have caught this 4,000-year-old Egyptian statue of Neb Sanu — ostensibly an offering to the god Osiris, lord of the dead — mysteriously spinning in its display case, completely untouched.
Is it a ghostly pharaoh's curse, the likes of which are rumored to have sentenced the excavators of King Tutankhamun's tomb to an early death? Or is it something even more sinister, as initially proposed by the museum's resident Egyptologist, Campbell Price, when he discovered the stone figure was somehow moving on its own?
"I noticed one day that it had turned around," Price told the Manchester Evening News. "I thought it was strange because it is in a case, and I am the only one who has a key."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
To find out, officials set up a security camera to record time-lapse footage of the statue, which has been in the museum's possession for 80 years. After a week, they think they've found their answer: The movement may be due to a less-chilling phenomenon called "differential friction."
If you look closely, the statue is only moving during the day. Speaking with the Daily Mail, physicist Brian Cox says he thinks that the subtle vibrations caused by museum goers, coupled with the stone bottom of the statue and the glass surface of the casing, are what has been triggering its slow-motion pivot.
Price, however, still has his doubts. "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?"
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - February 1, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - broken eggs, contagious lies, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 humorously unhealthy cartoons about RFK Jr.
Cartoons Artists take on medical innovation, disease spreading, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Brodet (fish stew) recipe
The Week Recommends This hearty dish is best accompanied by a bowl of polenta
By The Week UK Published