The Great Pyramid Hoax
An analysis of the private journal entries made by
Col. Howard Vyse on 14-17 th June, 1837 at the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Howard Vyse Journal © Howard Vyse Estate
Relevant journal page reproduced here under ‘Fair Use’
Analysis © Scott Creighton 2014
The private journal of Col. Howard Vyse, 1837.
The Vyse journal can be viewed at the Centre for
Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury, England

The Great Pyramid Hoax
Reconstructing the sequence of entries
Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17 th June, 1837.

The Great Pyramid Hoax
Reconstructing the sequence of entries
Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17 th June, 1837.
This sequence shows how Vyse comes to realise that the Khufu cartouche (with blank disc) he believed was the correct spelling and thus had fraudulently placed in Campbell’s Chamber 3 weeks earlier, around 27 th May, needed to be changed.

The Great Pyramid Hoax
Reconstructing the sequence of entries
Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17 th June, 1837.
This sequence shows how Vyse comes to realise that the Khufu cartouche (with blank disc) he believed was the correct spelling and thus had fraudulently placed in Campbell’s Chamber 3 weeks earlier, around 27 th May, needed to be changed.
This is a suggested sequence only, following the natural flow of time and the logical flow of text wrapping around graphics etc. Some parts of the sequence may not be exactly correct but do not alter the end outcome or conclusion.

The Great Pyramid Hoax
Reconstructing the sequence of entries
Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17 th June, 1837.
This sequence shows how Vyse comes to realise that the Khufu cartouche (with blank disc) he believed was the correct spelling and thus had fraudulently placed in Campbell’s Chamber 3 weeks earlier, around 27 th May, needed to be changed.
This is a suggested sequence only, following the natural flow of time and the logical flow of text wrapping around graphics etc. Some parts of the sequence may not be exactly correct but do not alter the end outcome or conclusion.
(Note: it is not essential in this reconstruction to be able to read Vyse’s actual handwriting which is extremely difficult to read.
Where any actual handwriting is being quoted from
Vyse’s journal it will appear in yellow. All other comments in white are my own ).

The Great Pyramid Hoax
Let us begin….

First of all it is important to know that the hieroglyphs under examination in this presentation are to be found in
Campbell’s Chamber of the Great
Pyramid. These chambers had been sealed from the time of their construction until 1837 when Col. Vyse opened them with explosive charges.

First of all it is important to know that the hieroglyphs under examination in this presentation are to be found in
Campbell’s Chamber of the Great
Pyramid. These chambers had been sealed from the time of their construction until 1837 when Col. Vyse opened them with explosive charges.
In the upper-most chamber which Vyse named ‘ Campbell’s Chamber ’ there was found a cartouche bearing the name
‘Khufu’ (along with many other glyphs), a king of the 4 th dynasty whom
Egyptologists believe was the builder of the Great Pyramid.

First of all it is important to know that the hieroglyphs under examination in this presentation are to be found in
Campbell’s Chamber of the Great
Pyramid. These chambers had been sealed from the time of their construction until 1837 when Col. Vyse opened them with explosive charges.
In the upper-most chamber which Vyse named ‘ Campbell’s Chamber ’ there was found a cartouche bearing the name
‘Khufu’ (along with many other glyphs), a king of the 4 th dynasty whom
Egyptologists believe was the builder of the Great Pyramid.
For a number of reasons which need not be repeated here, many believe that it was Vyse himself who placed these glyphs into this chamber (and others).

Khufu Cartouche as seen today, vertically aligned, in the Great Pyramid.
(Note the disc with 3 lines at the foot of the image)

This page from Col. Howard Vyse’s journal covers the entries of 14-17 th
June, 1837.
This page presents a contradiction.

Here we see Vyse drawing the disc in the Khufu cartouche without any of the hatched lines we observe in the disc in the actual chamber. Alongside this cartouche Vyse writes “in Campbell’s
Chamber”.

Vyse had drawn a similar disc without the hatched lines in his journal entry of
27 th May (3 weeks earlier).

Why would Vyse draw a disc twice in his journal without any of the hatched lines we see in the disc today?

And then, at the foot of the same page
Vyse then presents the Khufu cartouche with a hatched disc (i.e. with 3 lines) and writes underneath “Cartouche in
Campbell’s Chamber”.

And so, on this page of Vyse’s journal, we are presented with a plain disc and hatched disc cartouche of Khufu, both of which Vyse claims to have come from
Campbell’s Chamber.

However, they cannot both be right as there is only one Khufu cartouche in this chamber. So how can we explain this apparent contradiction?

Let us now try to reconstruct the sequence of 14-17 th June journal entries to see if we can make sense of Vyse’s contradictory drawings and statements.

Vyse journal entry continued from 14 th June

Vyse journal entry of 15 th June

Vyse journal entry of 16 th June at Tomb of the Trades.

“Cartouches in tomb to the W.
[west] of first pyramid are different than Suphis [Khufu].”

“Cartouches in tomb to the W.
[west] of first pyramid are different than Suphis [Khufu].”
With this comment Vyse indicates that he knows (or thinks he knows) how the
Suphis [Khufu] cartouche should be written.

In what way are the Khufu cartouches (plural) in this tomb different to how Vyse believes they should be?

In what way are the Khufu cartouches (plural) in this tomb different to how Vyse believes they should be?
The Khufu cartouches (plural) in the Tomb of the Trades actually have hatched lines in the discs, a difference that
Vyse notes in his journal page here and will later publish in his finished book (see next slide).

Khufu cartouches (plural) with hatched discs from
Tomb of the Trades

Note: The discs in the above Khufu cartouches are reproduced using a printer’s font and do not reflect the lines Vyse would have actually seen here.

Since Vyse has drawn the disc of the Khufu cartouche twice in his journal without the 3 hatched lines, it seems clear that is how Vyse believed the disc of the Khufu cartouche should , in fact, be written —i.e. with just a plain disc. And why he would have had it written like this in
Campbell’s Chamber.

This is to say that, were the disc in Campbell’s Chamber to have had the hatched lines we see in the chamber today, Vyse would have said here the cartouches in this tomb were the same (since they have the hatched lines) as
Suphis (in Campbell’s Chamber) and not that they were “different”.

And so, after his visit to the
Tomb of the Trades around 16 th
June where he sees for himself the disc of the Khufu cartouche written with hatched lines, Vyse now begins to have doubts about the cartouche with just a plain disc he had earlier placed into
Campbell’s Chamber (around
May 27 th) .

Journal entry of 16 th June

Around 16 th June
Vyse returns from Tomb of the
Trades having now verified
Perring’s drawings and seen for himself the discs of the
Khufu cartouches with hatched lines.

Journal entry of 17 th June

Around 17 th June.
Having mulled things over,
Vyse now acts on his new awareness.

Around 17 th June.
Vyse draws copy of cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber. Note that the disc in this cartouche has no hatched lines. This was placed by Vyse into Campbell’s chamber around 27 th May.

Around 17 th June.
This is his ‘master’, his reference drawing of what had been placed weeks earlier in
Campbell’s Chamber. Vyse has decided it needs to be changed.

Around 17 th June.
Vyse realises the plain disc in this cartouche is wrong.

Around 17 th June.
Vyse realises the plain disc in this cartouche is wrong.
It requires hatched lines like those he observed in the
Tomb of the Trades.

Around 17 th June.
He redraws a larger cartouche here (note: initially with a blank disc as it would have been in Campbell’s Chamber at this time.).

Around 17 th June.
He writes underneath
“Cartouche in Campbell’s
Chamber”. There is no contradiction at this point as both cartouches agree with each other.

Around 17 th June.
At this point the cartouche at the foot of the page (left) is simply a working enlargement of Vyse’s ‘master’ cartouche
(above).

But Vyse has decided the cartouche with the plain, blank disc is wrong and he marks his enlarged version with an ‘X’ (wrong) at the foot of the cartouche (see above enlargement).

More specifically, Vyse places an ‘X’ (wrong) above the two blank discs just outside the two cartouches on this page.

Vyse now inserts a 3 lined disc inside the (hitherto) plain disc, creating a ‘composite’ doublelined disc (see next slide).

Vyse neglects to remove the
(now) redundant and now contradictory ‘X’ marks from the corrected disc/cartouche.

The comment “in Campbell’s
Chamber” is also now incorrect as there is no longer a blank disc in the chamber.

All of these are redundant legacy marks of Vyse’s thought process and the edits he had to make to this cartouche.

Having now completed the change, Vyse now places a small vertical line ‘I’ to crossreference his edit.

All the page entries are now complete.

Having now decided to change his journal entry, all that is left for Vyse to do now is add 3 lines to the cartouche in the actual chamber and to update Mr. Hill’s facsimile drawing before sending it off to the British Museum in
London 2 days later.

Having now decided to change his journal entry, all that is left for Vyse to do now is add 3 lines to the cartouche in the actual chamber and to update Mr. Hill’s facsimile drawing before sending it off to the British Museum in
London 2 days later.
The deception is complete.