{"id":19686,"date":"2013-06-26T17:15:41","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T13:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/?p=19686"},"modified":"2013-06-26T17:17:06","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T13:17:06","slug":"museum-mystery-spinning-statue-turns-heads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/en\/?p=19686","title":{"rendered":"Museum mystery: Spinning statue turns heads"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"130625083346-newday-pkg-cursed-egyptian-statue-00012219-story-top\"<\/a>The museum officials were stumped. A statue is supposed to stand still, not rotate all by itself.<\/p>\n

But this one at the Manchester Museum seemed to have done just that. Turned around 180 degrees — revealing an inscription on its back asking for beer.<\/p>\n

No other figure in the display had moved — nor had any other in the museum.<\/p>\n

For the staff, it was a bona fide mystery. One that called for some serious sleuthing.<\/p>\n

A simple statue<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"Spinning statue stumps museum officials<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Statuette no. 9325 doesn’t appear to go by any proper name. It’s a prefabricated figure — an off-the-shelf product — that was placed into a small tomb around 1800 B.C.<\/p>\n

A private collector in Britain donated it to the museum in 1933. The inscription on the back, requesting a sacrifice of beer, bread and animals, was a standard prayer for the deceased.<\/p>\n

For decades, the figurine stood perfectly still — until museum workers moved its case a few feet from its original position.<\/p>\n

Turn, turn, turn<\/strong><\/p>\n

In February, curator Campbell Price noticed something curious was afoot.<\/p>\n

The statue seemed to have slightly turned.<\/p>\n

When he looked next, it was facing another direction. A day later, another.<\/p>\n

The turns were subtle. But at the end of each day, you could tell the statue was angled differently.<\/p>\n

Caught in the act<\/strong><\/p>\n

In April, museum officials installed a time-lapse camera that snapped an image of the statue every minute of every day for a week.<\/p>\n

When they ran\u00a0the images in fast motion<\/a>, they came across a surprising revelation: the statue only moved during the day, when visitors were walking past.<\/p>\n

It seemed,\u00a0Price wrote<\/a>, that vibrations caused by foot traffic in room was the culprit.<\/p>\n

Mysterious structure found at bottom of ancient lake<\/a><\/p>\n

Mystery solved?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though officials now have a logical explanation, it still seems a bit mysterious.<\/p>\n

“What is very strange is that the statue has spun in a perfect circle,” Price said. “It hasn’t wobbled off in any particular direction.”<\/p>\n

Some are in awe of the spirit nature of the figurine, and don’t quite accept Price’s explanation.<\/p>\n

One of the blog’s readers left his own theory for no. 9325’s movements in the comments section: “The statue is cursed,” wrote benabrahamse.<\/p>\n

A museum guide has suggested saying a prayer for the statue.<\/p>\n

But Price is unmoved.<\/p>\n

“Most Egyptologists are not superstitious people,” he said.<\/p>\n

No one has bought the statue a beer.<\/p>\n

After all, they don’t want it wobbling.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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