5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
Pharaoh's Curse
It is believed that anyone who disturbs the mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh is placed under a curse resulting in bad luck, illness or death.
Pharaoh's Curse
Belief in the curse was popularized by the 1922 discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen by English archaeologist Howard Carter.
Pharaoh's Curse
Strange things began to happen the day the tomb was opened, with a cobra, a symbol of Eygptian royalty, breaking into Carter's home and eating his pet canary.
Pharaoh's Curse
Shortly thereafter, members of Carter's team and prominent visitors to the tomb began to die under mysterious circumstances...
Pharaoh's Curse
...including Cater's financier Lord Carnarvon, who died of rare blood poisoning only months after being the first person to open the tomb's inner door.
Pharaoh's Curse
5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
Otzi the Iceman
Otzi the Iceman is Europe's oldest mummy. He succumbed to an arrow wound and head injury before being frozen in the Otzal Alps.
Otzi the Iceman
The 5,300 year-old remains were discovered frozen in a glacier on the border between Austria and Italy by two German hikers in 1991.
Otzi the Iceman
Possibly influenced by the Egyptian Pharaoh's curse, many believe the mummy of Otzi to be cursed...
Otzi the Iceman
...a conclusion seemingly validated by the viloent deaths of seven people associated with the Iceman and his discovery...
Otzi the Iceman
...such as Rainer Henn, a forensic pathologist who moved the mummy with his bare hands and later dies in a car accident on the way to a conference to discuss his research.
Otzi the Iceman
5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
The Cursed Ring of Silvanius
Dating to the 4th or 5th century, the gold ring of Silvanius was discovered just outside a former Roman settlement in England in 1785.
The Cursed Ring of Silvanius
The large ring bears an image of the goddess Venus and the Latin phrase "Senicianus vivas in Deo" meaning "Senicianus lives in God."
The Cursed Ring of Silvanius
The ring would be largely unremarkable if not for a lead Roman curse tablet unearthed in the temple of a neighboring village in 1805.
The Cursed Ring of Silvanius
The tablet calls for the deity Nodens to inflict sickness on a man named Senicianus if he does not return a ring lost by Silvanius to the temple.
The Cursed Ring of Silvanius
The ring, thought to be an inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," was likely never returned as the Latin word "redivivia" was added to the end of the tablet to renew the curse.
The Cursed Ring of Silvanius
5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is one of the world's greatest treasures, awash in a deep blue color due to the presence of boron in its crystal structure.
Hope Diamond
According to legend, the gem was plucked from the eye of a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita by a French merchant named Jean Baptiste Tavernier.
Hope Diamond
Soon after, Tavernier was mauled to death by a pack of wolves, with the diamond passing to French king Louis XIV...
Hope Diamond
...who later died of gangrene. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette then inherited the diamond, only to be beheaded during the French Revolution.
Hope Diamond
Tragedy and misfortune continued to befall those associated with the diamond, all the way up to its eventual donation to the Smithsonian Museum...
Hope Diamond
...with the mailman who delivered the diamond to the museum suffering a series of bizarre accidents shortly thereafter.
Hope Diamond
5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
Bjorketorp Runestone
One of the tallest runestones in the world, the Bjorketorp Runestone in Blekinge, Sweden dates to 500-700 AD.
Bjorketorp Runestone
The 4.2 meter tall stone is part of a stone circle believed to be an ancient memorial or grave marker.
Bjorketorp Runestone
The translated runes read "I, master of the runes conceal here runes of power. Incessantly plagues by maleficence, doomed to insideous death is he who breaks this monument."
Bjorketorp Runestone
A farmer once tested this curse by building a fire around the runestone in order the heat it up so that it could be cracked and removed.
Bjorketorp Runestone
Despite the calm weather, a great gust of wind blew the flames away from the runestone, causing them to consume the farmer.
Bjorketorp Runestone
Dare you be the next to tempt a curse?
5 Ancient Curses Still Haunting People Today
