Made from Silver, with a weight of about 4 pounds (~2 kg), and created around the 15th
Century: the vase looked like nothing special. If you saw it somewhere in an antique store,
you’d hardly give it a second glance. And still, for such an inconspicuous object, the
Basano Vase supposedly carries a horrible curse…
The vase itself is a paradox. Even though numerous websites list it as one of the most
haunted objects in history, people know almost nothing about the vase itself or its whereabouts.
However, there IS something that is known…
The first mention of the vase goes back to the 15th century. Legend has it that this
piece of art was crafted in a small Italian town to the north of Napoli. It was supposed
to be a wedding gift for a beautiful young bride delivered to her anonymously the night
before the wedding. The woman believed it was a sign of good luck, but the vase turned
out to be quite the opposite. The bride never appeared at her own wedding – she was found
lying on the floor in her room, dead, the vase clutched tightly in her cold hands. Her
untimely demise was never explained.
And that's how an inexplicable chain of tragic events got started. Not long after the incident
with the bride, another family member got hold of the Basano Vase. Unfortunately, that
person didn't have much time to enjoy the exquisite silver jar because they passed away
shortly afterwards. The vase was given to yet another relative, but the shocking outcome
didn't change – loss struck this unfortunate family once again. So it’s no wonder they
came to believe that the reason for all these tragic occurrences was the one thing they
all had in common: the vase – it had to be cursed! To prevent any more misfortune,
whether to themselves or any other poor soul in the future, the family decided to hide
the Basano Vase away.
And that's where the story gets even more puzzling because apparently, nobody knows
for sure how, when, and where the vase was hidden. According to some records, an enigmatic
priest was the one to lock the artifact away. Other people believe that the family simply
buried the vase and tried to forget about this nightmare. I guess we’ll never know
how exactly it went down since nothing was heard about the vase for several centuries.
That is, until one fateful day in 1988, when the cursed object reared its ugly head again,
bringing along its familiar friends: mystery and tragedy.
There’s no specific location or even name, but it's said that a young man dug the vase
up in his back yard. The details of this discovery vary from story to story, but they say that
when he picked up the silver jar, there was a grim note warning: “Beware! This vase
brings death." Little did the man know that these were not just empty threats. He ignored
them completely and decided to sell the treasure at an auction. I guess he needed money more
than he feared old cryptic prophecies. Anyway, the vase sold quickly at a price of 4 million
Italian lire, which equaled approximately $3,000 at the time.
Its new owner was a pharmacist who, at the moment of purchase, believed that he was a
very lucky man to get such a fine piece of art for a relatively modest sum. But the mysterious
curse had already found its next victim. Only three months later, the pharmacist fell to
some mysterious ailment. His relatives sold the vase to another unsuspecting art lover,
this time a young doctor whose fate was just the same!
The next owner of the Basano Vase was an archeologist, who bought it enthusiastically in hopes of
adding it to his vast collection of precious artifacts. Only, a mysterious illness a mere
three months later would have him joining the morbid ranks of the young 15th-century
bride, her unfortunate relatives, the pharmacist, and the doctor. And the horrific story just
goes on. The vase continued to change hands, leaving a seemingly endless trail of death
in its wake. It's unclear how many more lives the vase claimed, but one sale seemed to put
an end to it all!
At first, things went as usual: the new owner succumbed to some quick and mysterious illness
after coming into possession of the vase. But this time, their family didn’t sell
it. Its horrifying reputation had finally come to light, and no one wanted to risk their
life to obtain something that dangerous. Seems like a repetition of the story with the bride,
but here’s where it takes an unexpected turn: the last victim's relative was so eager
to get rid of the vase and break the curse that they just chucked the thing out the window!
So, it shattered on the ground and the curse was broken forever, right? Oh, you should
know better by now! (Plus, it was made of silver, mind you!) Sure, the family didn’t
have any more losses, but the vase almost hit a police officer on the head as it flew
from the window! The man picked it up and entered the house to return it to the family
and issue a fine for littering. The family happily paid the fine but refused to take
their “litter” back.
So, the police did what anyone else would: they offered it to a museum. But the vase’s
reputation was already well known, so no museum would take it. Imagine, this is a 15th-century
artifact full of history (and, yeah, mysterious tragedy) that could pull in all kinds of curious
tourists and really add to any museum’s vast collection of ancient trinkets and exhibits…yet
no institution wanted anything to do with it!
In any case, after museums refused to take the vase, it's said that the police got rid
of it. But again, opinions differ and the details are unclear. Some people are sure
that one police officer buried the cursed jar, having locked it in a lead box, in some
remote location. Others state that the vase was hidden in a cemetery. And that seems to
be the end of this evil vase.
But besides tragedy, the Basano Vase also left tons of unanswered questions in its wake,
which kinda makes the whole legend a little questionable. First of all, it’s nearly
impossible to identify all the people involved or verify the exact locations. To add to that,
there’s only one photo of the cursed object, despite all the different people and tales
connected to it. Even now, many sources mention the Basano Vase among the most famous cursed
objects – if it’s so famous and had managed to scare so many people and even museums,
why are the details so fuzzy? Any sources you find have the same vague descriptions
of the bride, the anonymous 1988 man, pharmacist, doctor, archeologist, police officer – all
unnamed.
The design of the vase itself doesn’t really match with its origin story either. It has
a rather plain design, which wasn’t the style back in the 15th century. Vases of that
time were mostly porcelain, colorful, and adorned with all kinds of intricate details.
Besides, the style and shape of the silver jar seriously differ from those that were
widespread during the Renaissance. Unlike any other vase of the period, the artifact
doesn't have a flat bottom. It looks more like a bottle vase with a wide opening, pottery
qualities that were neither Italian nor 15th-century.
And finally, how exactly did this curse work? It obviously wasn’t anyone who simply touched
the vase (remember the man who found and sold it in 1988, the police officer who tried to
return it to the family that threw it out the window). It seemed to be just those who
called it their own. Did the curse know when a person officially “owned” it? There
is one theory that the curse was “activated” whenever the top was opened, but, again, that’s
unverifiable. Plus, the one and only photo of the vase doesn’t show a top that opens
and closes, albeit the picture is blurry and it’s hard to tell for sure.
It's obvious that there is much more to the Basano Vase than the stories tell us. Its
inexplicable origin and untimely demise of those who owned the object look like something
of either sheer coincidence or pure legend. But researchers do take the whole ordeal seriously
enough to investigate and try to find more information about the perplexing artifact.
But until then, it seems the Basano Vase still remains an unsolved mystery that leaves us
with more questions than answers!
Or perhaps, The Basano Vase was simply a crock of… “something else”.
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