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- Somebody asked me because I had an interest in ancient architecture, but I can find no reference anywhere I have looked: has there ever been an archaeological site constructed so as to bring harm to intruders? As far as I can find, usually tombs and the like were simply hidden and forgotten, or more often, surrounded by live natives who aren’t fond of live foreigners. ~ Has there ever been an instance of an ancient temple/tomb being boobytrapped in any way, or is this just a comic-book invention?
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Well, the closest thing that i know for certain is the pyramids. Remember how a lot of archeologists raided “cursed” tombs got sick and died? Well, in some instances it was due to a spore that grows in bat feces. This spore was airborn, and breathing it gave you this nasty fatal infection. Sorry, i don’t remember all the particulars, but it was something i saw a long time ago on a PBS special about bats. I’m not sure if the builders of said pyramids/tombs were aware of this little “feature” or if it was just something that just happened on it’s own. 
God WAS my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and i had to eat him.
I think I read somewhere that the tomb of the first Chinese emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, was reputed to have been boobytrapped. That’s the tomb with all the terracotta soldiers; they haven’t come even close to opening that tomb, and it may be decades before they do so. If intact, it must be magnificent: according to legend, a scale model of the entire Empire of the times was enclosed within, complete with model seas and rivers made of mercury.
DHR
I’ve heard a similar tale. Also, part of the danger would be the mercury vapor within the tomb. Perhaps the mercury vapor has also preserved the emperor?
I myself am an incorrigible conlang slut. I love oral lex.
Not only are there no booby traps, there’s hardly any orcs sitting on piles of copper coins. How’s an archeologist supposed to get any XP?
Since the builders believed in such things, then things like curses, the roaming spirits of slain laborers/soldiers, etc. probably do apply here … they are things “built-in” specifically to harm intruders.
I’m a loner, Dottie … a rebel.
Not that I have any amount of expertise on the subject, but it seems that funky pit on Oak Island in N.C. would be a likely candidate.
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
Olentzero:
I was going to mention this. Instead I’ll just correct you: The “Money Pit” was in Canada, not North Carolina.
Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@kozmo.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
D’ohh! Nova Scotia it is. Musta gotten it confused with a recent article I read on Blackbeard. I wanna be a pirate now!
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
Wow, you never know stuff you’ve reasearched will come in handy, in this case my sixth grade report on the Egyptian pyramids.
From what I remember (and it’s a from long time ago), the Pyramids in Egypt were constructed so that there were numerous traps and tricks to prevent grave robbers from getting to the treasures inside. They had all sorts of false paths and trap doors to fool (or kill) intruders. The traps weren’t fully effective, because all of the pyramids were robbed of anything really worthwhile long ago, I do recall that they found lots of pits with skeletons and the like inside.
I thought the whole concept was really neat as a sixth-grader, and It’s still pretty neat today.
hahahahahahahahahaha.
what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox
I would definitely count the Money Pit’s flood tunnels as a booby trap. They’ve successfully kept out all intruders for over 200 years, killing six people and wasting fortunes in the process.
–It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
All right, this has been bugging me since I saw a PBS special on it when I was about six. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS IN THE MONEY PIT, DAMMIT!!!
That’s going to be the one question I ask God when I die. If I get two, the second one will be, “What really happened on Earth?” meaning, tell me the whole entire history of the planet, beginning to end, in EXACTING detail. Atlantis, the Roman ships found in the Gulf of Mexico, who was on N and S America first, stonehenge, aliens, ancient visitors, ancient superadvanced civilizations, ALL OF IT! Don’t leave a SINGLE thing out. Then, I’m gonna sit on my heaven chair and watch my heaven TV with the Heaven History channel on, some HeavenBS (heaven’s PBS), maybe a little heaven Learning Channel, and keep a heaven notepad by my heaven chair so I can write down all my questions. I’ll do this for a millennia or two, and if any questions arrive, I’ll go talk to Mr. Big again. Then, I’ll ask if I can have all Superman’s powers for a while, and go back to elementary and high school and impress the cute girls who never looked at me twice. Then, since I’m fantasizing, I’ll ask for a pony. I’ll name him Wildfire. Wildfire’s such a beautiful name, don’t you think? And he’s all mine. Aww, just give me a tall glass of warm gin with a human hair in it.
I will mail one American dollar to whoever can tell me where these final five lines come from.
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
Hey, there’s already enough of that in GD 
Gypsy: Tom, I don’t get you.
Tom Servo: Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.
The Clarence Thomas hearings?
I eagerly await my dollar.
The latest issue of Skeptical Enquirer has an analysis of the “Money Pit”. Anyone care to guess the author’s “final answer”?
A) It is a pirate treasure hole with incredibly sophisticated and effective booby traps.
b) It is a Masonic ritual site with incredibly sophisticated and effective booby traps.
c) It is a hoax with incredibly sophisticated and effective booby traps concocted by a series of treasure hunting companies who used excavations to funnel cash and noteriety into a struggling economy.
d) It is a naturally occuring sinkhole phenomenon that has been interpreted in a number of ways by a number of people.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Using mercury for preservation: I remember reading somewhere (possibly Natl. Geographic or Scientific American) in the past few years about a Chinese empress or noblewoman who was entombed with mercury in the tomb. It did indeed keep her body very well preserved.
Pyramid curse: There was a news item about this some time in the past year. The Egyptians who are now responsible for the pyramids said there never was any curse and they knew it, but they let the rumors go on to keep people away. Of course, it keeps people interested, too.
“No,” he replied, and smiled seraphically, as was his wont.
AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!
I’ve read this whole thing, and nobody has explained what the “Money Pit” is, except that it is in Nova Scotia.
So what gives? What’s the big deal about a sink hole?
Milord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I sought to make them better. --G.F. Handel
Ye Ghods, man. Check the archives. Cecil on the Money Pit . A thread in this very forum about the Money Pit . A thread in "Comments on Cecil’s Columns about the Money Pit . Another thread in "Comments on Cecil’s Columns about the Money Pit .
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Homer:
Rustler’s Rhapsody?