WE are all familiar with the legendary “curse” of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

But not many people can say they were on hand for a scene which could have come from a Mummy movie.

Despite being a fairly cynical newspaper reporter I had a few butterflies in my stomach when I went along to witness a mummy’s coffin being opened up for the first time since 1993 on Tuesday evening.

But myself and members of Bournemouth Natural Science Society got a nasty turn when the lights mysteriously went off and on as curator Stephanie Roberts delivered a talk about the mummy Tahemaa – a 26 dynasty priestess who died aged 28.

Interestingly Southern Electric was unable to find any evidence of a power cut that night.

Afterwards Stephanie told me: “After you left, everyone was saying that it was weird. And no-one admitted to it afterwards.

“I don’t know what caused it but I’m really convinced it was nothing to do with any spooky stuff. There is no evidence at all that there was ever a curse on the mummy (Tutankhamun). It was invented by some journalist shortly after Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered.”

The Tutankhamun curse was eagerly seized upon by journalists of the era after expedition financier Lord Carnarvon died after being bitten by a mosquito – allegedly in the same place as a blemish on the mask of Tutankhamun.

When he died, just over four months after entering the tomb ,all the lights in Cairo reputedly went out for five minutes and his dog howled and died back home in England.

On the day the tomb was opened, archaeologist Howard Carter’s pet canary was allegedly eaten by a cobra – the symbol of the ancient pharaohs.

Other members of the 1922 expedition who had contact with the mummy also died earlier than expected.

The tomb was rumoured to contain the curse that “death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of the pharaoh”.

Sceptics point out that Carter himself, the man who opened the tomb, lived to be 65.

But his career never reached the heights expected of someone who had made such a momentous archaeological discovery.

Tahemaa is known to have come from Luxor, like King Tutankhamun, but lived 600 years later.

She was acquired by Bournemouth Natural Science Society in 1920 from Salisbury Museum, which got the mummy from Salisbury MP John Passmore Edwards in 1880. Nothing is known of how she arrived in England.

Tahemaa will be transported to City University in London to be CT-scanned in an attempt to find out more about her and why she died as part of research by Bournemouth University student David Cockcroft.

The curse of Tutankhamun has inspired a host of movies about cursed Egyptian mummies. Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee have both played mummified corpses who returned to life. And in 1999’s The Mummy, starring Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser the mummy of a high priest awakes and goes on the rampage.

Dave Shead of Dorset Earth Mysteries Group, said the incident may have a paranormal explanation.

“I wasn’t there. But it could be that it is the other world coming through and making its presence felt,” he remarked.

And was it a sign that Tahemaa’s mummy is planning to unleash a terrible curse?

Stephanie joked: “I think Tahemaa would be more than happy to know were looking after her. We like to consider her as the oldest member of the society.”