“The Eyes of the Mummy” (Weird Tales, April 1938)

Bloch, Robert. “The Eyes of the Mummy.” Weird Tales, April 1938, pp. 424-434.
​https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tales_v30n05_1937-11_ATLPM-Urf/page/n65/mode/2up 

Surprisingly enough, the protagonist from “The Secret of Sebek” returns in this story which was published only five months later. Remember that he is an Egyptologist who travels to New Orleans to do some writing and is caught up in Mardi Gras. He meets a few strangers who turn out to be acolytes of the Egyptian god, Sebek, who have a fresh mummy that they want the protagonist to tell them about. Curses being what they are, Sebek arrives to exact vengeance on those who defiled his burial place. Despite the evidence of his eyes and hands, which touched the reptilian snout of the crocodile go, he still does not completely believe in the curse or anything else supernatural. He speculates early in “The Eyes of the Mummy” about how the realistic crocodile mask might have been constructed, how the jaws might have been built to open and close as he saw that they did. He blames alcohol from clouding his senses and confusing his judgment. When one of the survivors comes to him soon thereafter with an offer to travel to Egypt for an easy in and out plunder of ancient riches, the protagonist cannot say no. They arrive with no fanfare and venture out into the desert where they find the crypt entrance exactly as predicted. 

They enter the crypt and find not treasure but images of the mummy itself, strangely depicted with eyes having been plucked out. When they open the sarcophagus, the eyes of the mummy—yellow and terrifying—take hold of the protagonist’s imagination, he feels himself falling inward as if his consciousness were being transferred into the mummy’s. In the moment that the transfer of consciousness took place, the newly reanimated mummy kills the narrator’s companion. With great difficulty, the narrator is able to free himself of the possession. He takes the strangely glowing yellow gems and escapes from the crypt. he moves the boulders back in front of the cave entrance and covers their entry as best as he can. In the tent, he unwraps the gems and again finds himself falling inward, helpless against the hypnotic power of the jewels. he feels his consciousness being transferred once again into the body of the mummy that is still buried under sand and boulder. He struggles but eventually loses his hold on his body as the ancient priest of Sebek completes the consciousness transfer.

​This story continues the Bloch practice when it comes to his Egypt stories of centering an overconfident American or European who makes the fatal mistake of ignoring the many warnings about disturbing a mummy’s resting place. Unique to this story is the return of the character from “The Secret of Sebek” who vowed only five months previously in the pages of Weird Tales, not to have anything more to do with the terrifying cult of Sebek. But here we see a man driven by compulsion and greed to jump right back in. I have the pleasure of reading The Opener of the Way—Bloch's first book, put out by Arkham House in 1945—in the newly published Valancourt Books edition. In 2025, James Jenkins, the beating heart of Valancourt, released six books by Bloch, with introductions by Ramsey Campbell, David J, Schow, Joe R. Lansdale, and me. I can’t tell you how humbling and what a thrill it is for me to see my name on the cover of Midnight Pleasures, a book written by the great Robert Bloch! I recommend these books highly, especially the hardcovers. They are easy to read and well made. Great job, Valancourt!