From a Pharaoh’s tomb to a gigantic diamond here are 9 famous historical curses
9. Rasputin
Born over a century ago in Siberia, Grigori Rasputin came from a poor family with poor
prospects. However, over the course of his life, he won the respect and patronage of
the Russian Tsarina, Alexandra, and became her personal adviser.
Rasputin was able to get into her good graces by being a self-proclaimed magician. He claimed
he used his mystical healing powers to treat the Tsarina’s sick son, Alexei, who suffered
from hemophilia. Historians speculate that Rasputin used hypnotism and herbs to keep
Alexei calm and forbade doctors from messing with him too much.
Aristocrats in Saint Petersburg at first were fascinated by the mysterious monk but Rasputin’s
peasant heritage was not good. The nobles found the idea of a peasant advising a Tsar
and Tsarina as unacceptable, so they tried to assassinate him. The story goes that Prince
Felix Yusupov, who was married to the Tsarina’s niece, invited Rasputin over for dinner.
He laced the food with cyanide and when that didn’t work, he shot him multiple times.
When he tried to get away, the prince and his friends shot him again and beat him, castrated
him and finally threw his body into the river.
However, before any of that happened, he supposedly had sent the tsar a letter that prophesied
that with his demise, the Russian royal family would also fall.
Rasputin warned that if a family member were to kill him, the tsar and his family wouldn’t
live to see more than 2 years. Some interpreted this to mean that he had placed a curse on
them. Regardless, it came true. Less than a year later, the tsar, his wife, and their
five young children were brutally murdered by the revolutionaries.
8. Tutankhamun’s Tomb
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb was one of the most incredible finds of the 20th
century. Outside of the tomb, a stone was found inscribed with an ominous threat. "Death
Shall Come on Swift Wings to Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King."
If this stone actually existed, it didn’t stop Egyptologists Howard Carter and Lord
Carnarvon car-nar-vin from opening the tomb to worldwide fanfare in 1922.
Lord Carnarvon, who had been in poor health before going to Egypt, died four months later
from an infected mosquito bite he made worse from shaving. Back in England, a few hours
after his death, Carnarvon's beloved dog Susie yelped and died. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, upon
hearing about the death, declared it was because of the curse. Six months after visiting the
tomb, financier George Jay Gould I died of a fever. Other deaths associated with the
tomb are Woolf Joel, a South African millionaire, and A. C. Mace, a member of Howard Carter's
archaeological team. Carter's personal secretary was found smothered in his bed in 1929.
However, the majority of people who came in contact with the tomb survived to old age.
In fact, Howard Carter himself lived to age 64 before dying of cancer. The man who guarded
the burial chamber for seven years, Sergeant Richard Adamson, also lived into old age,
dying in 1982.
Historians say the reality is that the curse is mostly fiction. While it’s likely that
all royal tombs in Egypt had a curse on them, Carter himself circulated the story out about
the curse to prevent potential grave robberies.
7. The Templars’ Curse
By the 12th century AD, the Knights Templar had become one of the most powerful organizations
in Europe. They began as one of many militaristic orders in the Catholic Church, protecting
pilgrims in the Middle East and establishing hospitals. As time progressed, however, they
amassed a fortune, which they used in an early form of banking. A persistent rumor suggested
a lot of their wealth came from the lost treasure of King Solomon. Emboldened by this rumor,
King Philip IV of France began borrowing heavily from the Templars but with no intention to
pay back the debt.
In, 1307 Philip IV conspired with Pope Clement V, to destroy the Templars. The Pope stripped
the Grand Master Jacques de Molay of his duties and he was imprisoned for seven years, and
tortured. He and other Knights of his order were burned alive in 1314. His death, though,
was slightly different.
The pyres of his fellow knights were built so that the victims died quickly. However,
De Molay’s pyre was built in such a way so that he died a slow and horrible death.
That allowed him a chance at revenge. According to legend, as De Molay died, he cursed each
and every one of the people there who had voted for his death and said they would die
within the year.
Within a year, King Philip IV died of a stroke and Pope Clement succumbed to a fatal disease.
By 1328, all of Philip’s sons and grandsons were also dead. People became so afraid of
the curse that rulers refused to collaborate with the cursed royal family.
In June 2011, Pope Benedict XVI (remember him?) apologized for the murder of De Molay
and acknowledged that he had been a victim of false accusations.
6. Cursed Sarcophagus
In 1923, during excavations of the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos, the heavy rain
caused a hill to collapse. This natural disaster actually allowed archaeologists to find nine
rock-cut tombs of Phoenician kings. One of them was the cursed sarcophagus of King Ahiram.
Dated back to roughly 1000 BC, Ahiram’s limestone sarcophagus is the only evidence
of this mysterious king. No records exist of him in Phoenician literature. What little
we know comes from the inscription on the sarcophagus, which has fascinated scholars
for decades. It is incredibly significant because the inscription is considered to be
the oldest known example of the fully developed Phoenician alphabet. Also, despite the heavy
influence of Egyptian culture and religion in Byblos, the bas reliefs on the sarcophagus
reflect a uniquely Phoenician style.
But back to why we are here, the curse of course!!
The text itself reveals that Ahiram’s son, Ittobaal, constructed the sarcophagus. The
rest of it is a curse to protect the tomb from grave robbers Unfortunately, it didn’t
work. By the time archaeologists stumbled upon the find, looters had already picked
the tomb clean. BUT, we don’t know what sort of terrible things may have befallen
the looters.
5. Pella Curse Tablet
Curse tablets were texts from ancient Greece scratched onto thin pieces of lead. People
would ask a specific god or deceased person to do something to the person being cursed
or make that person do something, for example fall in love or not get married. (Because
haven’t we all done that at some point?)
In 1986, archaeologists were excavating Pella, which was the ancient capital of Macedonia.
During the excavations, they found a curse tablet written in Doric Greek that dated back
to 375 and 350 BC. The ancient Greeks not only believed in multiple gods but also in
magic and spells. These curse tablets were quite popular and made to last. About 1,600
Greek tablets inscribed with curses have been discovered and they were written on metals
and baked clay because it was believed that the curse would last as long as the object
did.
The Pella tablet is an inscribed scroll and is the oldest of all the tablets discovered
so far. The text of the curse reveals not only the purpose but also the writer. Linguists
studying the text says the writer, a woman named Dagina, was probably from the lower-class
in western Greece. Dagina was in love with a man named Dionysophon. (Di-o-nie-sifon)
Unfortunately, Dionysophon was going to marry another woman. To prevent that from happening,
Dagina created the scroll pleading the gods of the underworld to make it so that Dionysophon
loved only her. Whether or not her curse worked is, sadly, lost to history. Too bad they didn’t
inscribe the result on the tablet!
4. Timur’s Tomb
Timur, also known as Tamerlane, was a nobleman, warlord, and renowned military tactician who
controlled a vast swath of Asia during the 14th century. He is known as one of the most
ruthless invaders ever! While his warfare killed 17 million people, he was also a patron
of architecture and the arts.
In 1941, Joseph Stalin sent a team of archaeologists to open Timur's tomb in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Local residents and Muslim clergy were horrified—and for good reason. Upon opening Timur's coffin,
the team discovered an inscription: "Whoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more
terrible than I." Two days later, Adolf Hitler's troops invaded Russia. Approximately 26 million
people died as a result. After a few months, Stalin started believing
in the curse. In 1942, Stalin ordered Timur's remains reinterred in Samarkand in accordance
with Islamic tradition. Soon afterward, the Germans surrendered at Stalingrad, thus ending
their campaign against the Russians.
3. The Hope Diamond
Legend says that French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier stole a 115-carat blue diamond from
the eye of a Hindu idol in India. The diamond was first called the Tavernier Blue. One version
of the story claims that the priests, upon finding the gem missing, cursed whoever possessed
it.
Tavernier sold the gem to King Louis XIV of France in 1669 and retired a wealthy man.
Tavernier was later mauled to death by dogs because of this sacrilege.
The diamond was recut, and it became known as “the French Blue”. King Louis XIV would
eventually die of gangrene and all of his legitimate children died, except for one.
When King Louis XVI inherited the diamond, he and his wife, Marie Antoinette, would eventually
be beheaded during the French Revolution. Between Louis XIV and Louis XVI, other people
who wore the diamond died or suffered extreme misfortune.
Eventually, Lord Francis Hope of England came into possession of the diamond and renamed
it. He married an American showgirl and the pair squandered their fortune. Eventually,
they sold the diamond but died in poverty.
Evalyn Walsh McLean bought the stone in 1912. Soon after, her son was killed in a car accident,
her daughter committed suicide and her husband left her for another woman. After she died,
her children sold the diamond to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1958.
The postman who delivered the diamond lost his leg soon after the delivery. His wife
and dog died and his house caught fire, as well. This is one diamond that’s better
to see from afar.
2. The Curse of Tippecanoe
This curse is known by several names: Tecumseh’s Curse, Zero-Year Curse, Twenty-Year Curse,
the Presidential Curse and the Twenty-Year Presidential Jinx.
There are two versions of the story. One version says that the Native American leader Tecumseh
cursed William Henry Harrison after Harrison's troops emerged victorious at the Battle of
Tippecanoe. The curse was that every president elected every twenty years would die in office.
Ever since Harrison became president in 1840, every president elected to office in 20-year
intervals has died while serving as president. Harrison died of pneumonia. Four presidents
were assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F.
Kennedy. Both Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt died of natural causes in office.
If the pattern held, Ronald Reagan was supposed to be the next victim of the curse. He was,
in fact, the target of an assassination attempt. However, he survived and the curse was apparently
lifted.
1. Dead Man’s Chair
According to local legend, anyone who sits in the chair that once belonged to Thomas
Busby will die. Busby was a thug, thief and a drunk who lived in North Yorkshire in the
latter part of the 1600s. Busby married Elizabeth Awety, the daughter of a criminal who lived
in a nearby village. Busby and her father, Daniel Awety quickly became partners-in-crime.
In 1702, Busby and Daniel argued. The details are kind of vague so no one really knows what
happened. Later that day, Busby returned to the inn he owned, drunk and angry, to find
Daniel sitting in his favorite chair. Awety was there to take Elizabeth away. Busby threw
him out and that night, Busby murdered him.
Busby was arrested, tried, and sentenced to die. Here, versions of the story vary.
One version claims Busby was granted his last wish to have a final drink at his own inn
and sit in his favorite chair. On leaving, Busby declared anyone who sat in his chair
would die. A second version claims Busby shouted out the curse while being taken to his execution.
Various deaths have been attributed to the chair, ranging from murders and car accidents
to airmen in World War II never returning from their missions. Eventually, the body
count grew so high, the pub owner hung the chair on the wall so that no one would ever
sit in the Chair of Death again.
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