James Gandolfini Viewed Egyptian ‘Book Of The Dead’ Hours Before Passing [Report]

Ready for a creepy throwaway from the sad passing of Sopranos star James Gandolfini? He apparently viewed the Egyptian Book of the Dead just hours before his death.

Two newlyweds were visiting the Vatican Museum at the same time as Gandolfini last Wednesday, mere hours before the 51-year-old actor passed away. He was reportedly visiting with his son and checking out mummies when he happened upon a macabre display: The Book of the Dead.

He examined hieroglyphics in the text while Egyptian coffin lids “flanked” him on either side.

Priscilla and John McGlaughlin snapped a picture of the celeb, possibly the last picture of him while he was still alive, and sent it to the New York Daily News along with their story.

“It’s eerie because she took the picture through a glass case and on either side of him he’s flanked by coffin lids with hieroglyphics from the Book of the Dead,” John recalled.

“We didn’t think anything of it at the time. Then we got back from our honeymoon and found out he was dead.”

He also said that he approached Gandolfini to pat him on the back.

“I thought he was going to knock me out. But he gave me a sort of smile. I felt bad afterward, like a total fanboy.”

The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text. Sometimes called the “Book of Coming Forth by Day” and “Book of emerging forth into the Light,” the text contains a number of magic spells meant to assist a dead person’s journey through the underworld and into the afterlife.

You can check out a photo of James Gandolfini looking at the Book of the Dead here. Creepy, no?

[Image via: DFree / Shutterstock]