Curse – “A solemn inference intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something”
Curses are an interesting topic to discuss since there are so many kinds of curses and such a large history of supposed curses. There are curses placed on individuals, curses places on families, curses placed on objects and even curses placed on pieces of land. Although curses are a pretty far-fetched idea, there are plenty that are believed to still be going on today.
Curse of Ötzi – “The Iceman Curse”
“The Iceman” was found on a mountain by tourists in 1991 and is recognised as one of the most significant archaeological finds of the last century. He was discovered 10 530ft above sea level and the mummy is believed to be from around 3 300BCE. Archaeologists are not entirely sure how he died but it is suspected that he died as a ritual sacrifice since the genitals were missing from the corpse. Since the excavation of “The Iceman” many people involved have died. Helmut Simon went missing in 2004 and it was later discovered that he had fallen 300 feet off of a mountain peak. The forensic pathologist who handled the mummy died a year later in a freak car accident. An avalanche killed the original mountain guide who took the police to the corpse. The molecular archaeologist who tested Ötzi died of an extremely rare blood disease.
Tutankhamun’s Curse
In late 1922 a man named Harvard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. Tutankhamun died in 1323 BC at around 18 years old. It is the first Egyptian tomb to be discovered entirely undisturbed. There was worldwide coverage of the discovery and almost all channels of the media mentioned “The Pharaoh’s Curse”. The deaths associated with the tomb include Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey of Egypt. He was shot by his wife in 1923. Sir Archibald Douglas Reid who x-rayed the mummy died mysteriously in 1924. Sir Lee Stack, the governor-general of Sudan also lost his life when he was assassinated in 1924. Arthur Mace of Carter’s excavation team died of arsenic poisoning in 1928. Harvard Carter’s secretary Richard Bethel died in 1929, he was smothered in his bed under unusual circumstances. In 1930 Bethel’s father committed suicide. Each of these people were linked to the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Curse of the Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond was a massive diamond of 45.52 carats. The diamond remained in the French royal family until it was stolen in 1792 during the French revolution. It has in the meantime moved around a lot and been cut into smaller diamonds. There is a curse attached to this diamond, a curse that those who wear the diamond will soon experience a terrible misfortune or death. There are so many people connected to the Hope Diamond Curse that it is ridiculous for me to list them here. Some of the misfortune experienced includes financial ruin, suicide, beheadings, being eaten by wild dogs, and sever tragedy due to illness.
Grimaldi Family Curse
The Grimaldi family have been putting up with about 700 years of love troubles. The legend goes that in 1297 a Genovese nobleman, Francesco Grimaldi, entered the fortress and seized Monaco’s castle. Allowing his excitement to get the better of him he went on a killing spree murdering those thought to be heretics and witches as he went along. The killings were not merciful and were documented to be rather cruel. He could not stop himself and even his beloved died at the stake. Upon her death she cursed the Grimaldi Family saying “Never will a Grimaldi find true happiness in marriage”. So far every member of the Grimaldi family over the past 700 years has been struggling with divorce and death in their marriages. Spouses die unexpectedly (Princess Grace being the most famous death), marriages ended in nasty divorces and the rest of the marriages in the family are clouded by unfaithfulness. Most of the members of the Grimaldi family have been married multiple times which all ended in failure. To this day the Grimaldi family is shrinking rapidly due to the many failed marriages associated with their family curse.
The Dybbuk Box
The Dybbuk Box is easily one of the coolest curses ever. The Dybbuk Box is an antique wine cabinet that was bought by antiques collector Mannis at an estate sale. The seller claimed that the box was owned by her grandmother who was the only holocaust survivor in her family. After her ordeal she made her way to Spain which is where she bought the mysterious wine cabinet. The seller had been warned by family never to open the box because it held a demon called a “Dybbuk” inside it, and if it was opened the demon would be released. Mannis ignored this far-fetched warning and opened the box anyway. Inside he found some really peculiar items. The items inside the box included a wine goblet, small granite dlab with “Shalom” engraved into it, a dried rosebud, a candlestick, two pennies from the 1920s and locks of human hair bound with a cord.
On the same day that Mannis opened the box he left his shop to run an errand and came back to find it completely ransacked. There were, however, no signs of a break in and nothing had been stolen. The shop assistant claimed that she had seen the lightbulbs blow and could hear loud cursing coming from inside the shop. After checking the area she could find no one. Not realising the connection between the box and the ransacking of his shop, Mannis gave the box to his mother as a gift. She suffered a stroke about 5 minutes after receiving the box. After claiming that the box made her uncomfortable, she returned it to Mannis.
A few days after having the box back, FBI agents raided his shop removing a bunch of electronics and leaving without any explanation as to what they were doing, what they were looking for or what they needed the electronics for.
Mannis then gifted the box to his sister who witnessed the doors opening on their own and complained that she had been experiencing terrible nightmares of an old hag that became more and more evil. After a few days she could not take it anymore and blamed the box, giving it back to Mannis. Shortly after having the box in his possession once again Mannis started experiencing the worst nightmares he had ever had in his life and would often wake up with cuts and bruises all over his body. He also started to see darting shadow figures in his home and after his guests started experiencing the same figures he decided to sell the box on e-Bay. Once he sold the box all the nightmares and odd occurrences stopped. The new owner has had similar experiences but to dive into The Dybbuk Box further requires a blog post on its own. The Dybbuk Box is easily the most cursed item in the world.
Dealing with curses is a tricky subject. It is entirely possible that a curse stems from belief. If we believe that we are plagues by a curse of bad luck, we will start to notice things as “bad luck” when they are just random occurrences. Quite possibly, curses become an excuse for all that has gone wrong in one’s life. I have often heard people saying “I must be cursed”. This is most likely how all curses were born.
