A 4,000-year-old Egyptian statue of Osiris housed at the Manchester Museum has left curators and experts puzzled as it slow turns by itself while inside a glass casing.
The ancient 10-inch relic of the god of the dead has a prayer inscribed on its back that is shown to museum visitors after it completes its turn inside the locked casing after three days.
The mystery of the turning statue has been one of the strangest in Egyptology cases in recent decades. The said Osiris statue was made in 1800BC by a certain Neb-Senu and donated to the museum back in 1933.
It has not been reported to spin before. Recently, it has been spinning during daytime and does not go beyond 180 degrees.
Seeking explanations, British physicist Brian Cox said that it can be differential friction caused by the foot traffic in the museum. The stone statue's surface reacts to the vibration when visitors pass by and slides over the glass surface of the casing.
However, the museum said that the explanation of the science expert cannot clarify why the Osiris statue has not been turning in the past while being housed in the same casing since it was turned over to the museum.
"I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key. I put it back but then the next day it had moved again. We set up a time-lapse video and, although the naked eye can't see it, you can clearly see it rotate on the film," related Campbell Price who serves as the curator and Egyptologist of the museum in an interview with Daily Mail.
"The statuette is something that used to go in the tomb along with the mummy... In Ancient Egypt they believed that if the mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative vessel for the spirit. Maybe that is what is causing the movement," he added.
The prayer translates to a request for oxen, fowl, bread and beer.
Is it really just vibration and friction or does the statue carry the mummy's curse?
Watch a time-lapse video of the turning Egyptian statue below:
