The reanimated remains of an ancient Egyptian priest are loose in Puget Sound after a theft at the Washington State Natural History Museum triggered a deadly rampage Thursday night.
The reanimated mummy of Meryre, High Priest of the Aten under the Pharaoh Akhenaten, escaped the Washington State Natural History Museum in Tacoma late Thursday after thieves removed a protective amulet from his sarcophagus, triggering his reanimation.
Two museum security guards are dead. Chief curator Dr. Edward Sullivan, 42, is missing. The crew of a Seattle-registered yacht was found dead Friday morning in Commencement Bay, their bodies withered and desiccated. The yacht, the Nefertiti, is gone.
Tacoma Supernatural Police Department is investigating. The US Coast Guard has been notified.
“We are treating this as an active supernatural threat,” said TSPD Officer Elisa Martinez at a Friday morning briefing. “The subject is mobile. He is no longer contained.”
The subject is 3,300 years old.
A Mummy … Reanimated
The theft happened between 9 and 11 p.m. Thursday. Security footage shows at least three individuals entering the Ancient Egypt wing using staff credentials. They removed gold ceremonial objects, death rite scrolls, and four canopic jars (which hold human remains). The last item taken was a small golden amulet from Meryre’s chest.
That removal is what woke him up.
“That amulet was a containment seal,” said Dr. Priya Carnarvon, chair of ancient Mediterranean studies at Olympia State University and a supernatural crime consultant for Pacific Northwest law enforcement. “It was not a funerary ornament. It was the only thing keeping him in that case.”
Two security guards, Dominic Ferreira, 34, and Yuki Tanaka, 28, were on duty when Meryre reanimated. TSPD says they attempted to stop him. Witnesses in an adjacent corridor observed the encounter through an exhibit window.
Meryre drained both men of their life force. He did not damage the exhibit.
“He stepped around everything,” said Dr. Amara Osei, the museum’s Egyptian collection specialist, who was among the witnesses. “The guards were throwing things trying to stop him. He protected the artifacts.”
Building services technician Roy Costello was working nearby when it happened. He described hearing glass breaking, then a sound he could not name. Like jackals howling, beetles chittering, and a sirocco wailing … all blended together.
“Like wind through a pipe,” he said. “Except it was coming from them.”
Death Follows A Mummy
From the museum, Meryre moved to the waterfront.
At a dock near the port, TSPD investigators found what remained of Dr. Sullivan. A pile of sand. His blazer, shoes, watch, wallet, and keys. No body. No blood.
The amulet was not there.
One hundred yards south, the yacht Nefertiti had been moored since Thursday evening. Her owners were at the Pantages Theater. Their crew was not. TSPD found four crew members dead in the cabin, their bodies in the same condition as the museum guards. The Nefertiti was gone.
A Coast Guard radar signature placed the vessel heading northwest into the Salish Sea at 4:17 a.m. Friday.
Left In The Mummy’s Wake
Museum administrator Patricia Huang confirmed the museum is cooperating fully with TSPD. She said Sullivan had worked at the institution since 2021 with no prior concerns raised about his conduct.
“He was brilliant,” she said. “He knew that collection better than anyone.”
TSPD would not confirm Sullivan’s connection to the theft on the record. The investigation is ongoing.
Dr. Carnarvon said Meryre is not operating without purpose.
“Mummies do not wander,” she said. “They pursue objectives.”
What that objective is, and where the amulet is now, remains unknown.
The Nefertiti has not been located as of press time.
Monster Bureau will stay on this story … and, you gentle readers, be on the look out for monsters.
Jacob Rice is a reporter for Monster Bureau, MNN Olympia. Report monster incidents and tips to the Monster Bureau tip line or contact your regional MNN affiliate.
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