North East: ‘Cursed’ Egyptian mummy buried under course

An Egyptian mummy that carries an ancient and deadly curse is believed to be buried under a 9-hole golf course, it has been alleged.

An Egyptian princess is buried in the grounds of Low Hall, near Scarborough, the former home of the Rowntree Chocolate family.

The home’s former boss, Peter Aldridge, said that he is the only person left alive who knows where the mummy has been buried, but added that digging the body up to remove the curse would ruin a golf course and bowling green.

“I never believed in ghosts until I worked at Low Hall,” said the 79-year-old. “Now I sometimes think this thing will never leave me alone until it finds peace.”

The mummy was brought to Scarborough in 1904 by John Wilhelm Rowntree, and myth has it that he brought a curse back with him.

‘At first I just thought it was someone buggering about’ Rowntree died just a year after returning from Egypt, while his son was also killed during World War One.

Aldridge took over Low Hall in the early 1990s when it was a convalescent home for pitmen and their families.

He said: “At first I just thought it was someone buggering about but then I realised there was something eerie about the place.

“It was worse in winter when it was closed and I was the only one there. I used to walk from room to room with my dog Rocky every night but he refused to go in the library where the mummy had stood. He would just run off the other way.”

Mr Aldridge has offered to help find the remains so they can be returned to Egypt, but National Union of Miners general secretary Chris Kitchen said: “I doubt the current manager would be right happy about the pitch and putt being dug up.”