Mummy Dearest

[seneschal]

I don't know how often Egyptian mummies appear in a typical Call of Cthulhu game but here are a couple of inspirations from authors other than Lovecraft. Both are set in England and involve British university students behaving badly with the aid of ancient magic:

Arthur Conan Doyle, Lot No. 249 (1892)

This may be the great-grandaddy of all mummy tales. It clearly influenced Boris Karloff's debut in the 1932 movie The Mummy as well as Christopher Lee's athletic performance as the titular monster in the 1959 version. A medical student begins to suspect that his artifact-obsessed dorm neighbor is behind a series of attempted murders on campus. No shambling, slow-as-Christmas 1940s-style monster here. This baby could win Olympic gold medals.

Sax Rohmer, Brood of the Witch-Queen (1918)

Again, weird happenings, strange deaths, and "accidents" on campus, centering around a famed archeologist's son. It develops that Junior is the reincarnation of a sorcerer-king whose mummy the archeologist dug up some 20 years ago. Oh, and he remembers or has re-learned all his old magic tricks. No child left behind, indeed!

If you've got a good mummy yarn to add, chime in.

Edited January 16, 2012 by seneschal

[rust]

For a very different mummy, a wise and friendly one, you could try:

Jane C. Loudon, The Mummy ! (1827)

Of course, a wise and friendly mummy could just as well be our old

friend Nyarlathotep in a new disguise ...

[seneschal]

You neglected to mention the subtitle, A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century. Mrs. Loudon's novel was a science fiction story as well as a monster story, featuring advanced technology and a changed society. It would be like Buck Rogers arriving in the 25th Century as a 500-year-old man instead of retaining his youth.

I'll have to see if I can hunt that one down. Reading an earlier generation's take on the future is always intriguing, with or without mummies. It costs about $25 on Amazon.com; didn't see a Project Gutenburg version.

Also,

Bram Stoker, The Jewel of the Seven Stars (1903)

An archeologist attempts to revive an ancient queen's mummy with disastrous results. The novel's ending was considered so gruesome that Stoker was required by the publishers to change it for the 1912 second edition.

http://www.bramstoker.org/novels/08stars.html

Edited January 16, 2012 by seneschal

[fmitchell]

(The Jewel of the Seven Stars)'s ending was considered so gruesome that Stoker was required by the publishers to change it for the 1912 second edition.

I must have read the lame 1912 ending, because I remember the whole story literally going up in smoke.

BTW, the Hammer film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) is hard to find, but well worth it. (And not just for Valerie Leon.) It's loosely based on The Jewel of 7 Stars, but with twists that largely improve the story.

[tedopon]

BTW, the Hammer film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) is hard to find, but well worth it. (And not just for Valerie Leon.)

It IS worth watching just for Valerie Leon.

[seneschal]

Here's the audio version, in case you don't have time to read or hunt down hard-to-find films:

http://librivox.org/the-jewel-of-seven-stars-by-bram-stoker/

Also, The Mysterious Mummy by Sax Rohmer:

http://librivox.org/short-mystery-story-collection-002/