In the 19th century, when such things were possible and even acceptable, an Englishman named Mr. Ingram bought an ancient Egyptian mummy and had it sent back to England. It came with an inscription that took some effort to translate. It said that whoever disturbs this body would meet a violent end and be deprived of a decent burial as his remains would be “carried down by a rush of water to the sea.” This apparently did not bother Mr. Ingram all that much, as he carried on his adventures with a hunting trip to Africa. On a hunt to find the largest elephant in the world in Somaliland (now mostly considered a part of Somalia), in a series of events that may conjure up a comedy scene, Ingram was trampled to death by an enormous elephant, who would not surrender the man's body for several days.
A violent end, certainly, but what about being swept away by water? Ingram's body was buried near the site, with the intention of retrieving it later. But by the time an expedition returned, nothing was left but one bone and a sock. Flooding from the rainy season had taken the body away, in what appeared to be a rush of water. Is the story true? We don't know, but it was printed in the Oahu newspaper The Evening Bulletin in 1896. Read the full account of Mr. Ingram's curse at Strange Ago. -via Strange Company