(ORDO NEWS) — The idea of a cursed tomb or burial site has so many origins, many of which are so popularized by Hollywood, that it’s hard to remember that they are actually based on any truth.
The Mummy is arguably the most popular film adaptation based on the concept of curses coming from, as the name suggests, a mummy.
But these types of curses are not unique to Egypt. It just so happened that it was in Egypt that the curses were the most obvious, they were written directly on the sarcophagi, where it is impossible not to notice them.
The effects of construction on Native American burial sites are also known. Reader’s Digest embarks on an American journey through the cursed places, and, not surprisingly, many of them involve the fact that the Native Americans took some revenge after death on the colonial brutes who took their land from them and did not respect the sacred places.
According to the World Historical Encyclopedia, the cursed inscriptions existed simply to prevent grave robbers.
The dead and buried should have been fully aware that no curses really exist. But for the robber, this could be enough to send him to another grave, at best, to another profession.
But that doesn’t explain all the cursed tombs. There are those who have brought death, destruction, and warnings of more that cannot be explained by coincidence. Here are the most cursed tombs in history.
Tutankhamun
It is impossible to say “cursed tombs” without immediately thinking about the godfather of all cursed tombs – Tutankhamen. Better known as King Tut.
A lot happened when King Tut’s tomb was excavated by an archaeological team in 1923, and it all went beyond the two people responsible for starting this story. The two men were the archaeologist Howard Carter and his friend George Herbert, Lord Carnarvon.
According to history, just two months after the opening of the tomb, George Herbert died of blood poisoning caused by a mosquito bite on the cheek.
The media of the time offered their own brand of clickbait, stating that Herbert was the victim of a curse that warned of death for those who disturbed the royal graves in the valley.
However, the deaths did not end with Herbert. His half-brother also died of blood poisoning. Others, such as Sir Archibald Douglas-Read, the radiologist who examined the mummy, and George Jay Gould, who visited the tomb, died early.
And others suffered misfortune – Carter’s friend, Sir Bruce Ingram, burned down the house, and then flooded it, thanks to a gift he received from the tomb.
While a medical study by the National Library of Medicine has attempted to disprove the curse, it’s hard not to notice a common thread in these deaths.
Tamerlan
Mikhail Gerasimov, a Soviet scientist, wanted to dig up Tamerlane the conqueror to restore his face. It was, in a way, his business as a physician. He became a pioneer in the field of paleoanthropology, which is otherwise called “reconstruction of the dead.”
Despite the strong disagreement of religious leaders, he dug up the body, ignoring two consecutive warnings on the tomb itself.
The first warning was written in a prominent place and is well known: “When I rise from the dead, the world will tremble.” The second was unexpected and was hidden in the tomb itself: “Whoever opens my tomb will release an invader more terrible than me.”
Three days later, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded Russia. Few will argue that Adolf Hitler can be considered an invader more terrible than Tamerlane.
Those who dispute this curse point out that Operation Barbarossa had already been planned, and Hitler’s terror was launched long before the invasion of Russia.
This is all well and good, but in 1942, when the body was finally returned and buried in accordance with all Islamic rites, the Battle of Stalingrad changed the course of the war in favor of the Russians. The curse has been lifted, right?
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang’s tomb is interesting because it has never been opened. But if the records of his burial are any indication, there are enough traps inside to make a reasonably effective curse despite the supposed curse cast by the emperor himself.
In the end, it took 700,000 workers 36 years to build the tomb. Presumably, many of these workers were buried alive inside the tomb to keep what was inside a secret. And it worked. No one really knows everything that is there.
However, a cosmic ray scan of the surface of the grave was recently done to see what’s inside, but needless to say, no curses will be found in the scan. You will have to open the grave to see what awaits in this department.
There is also the question of the potentially cursed Terracotta Army. According to an interview with one of those who accidentally discovered the imperial army, there was a widespread belief that these statues were never meant to be seen by other people, and that doing so would bring great misfortune to the surrounding village – all because it severely violated the feng shui of the dead emperor.
Although the Chinese government continues to guard the real tomb of Qin Shi Huang, it remains a mystery what kind of protection the emperor took with him to the grave.
Casimir IV Jagiellon
The history of Poland as a state was not quite ordinary, but one of the brightest periods in it came partly thanks to King Casimir IV Jagiellon.
He is famous for having once and for all conquered the knights of the Teutonic Order, and also stubbornly fought to maintain the alliance between Poland and Lithuania, while returning the lost lands taken from previous kings.
His efforts were crowned with success, allowing him to become one of Poland’s most prominent leaders. His grave also had a certain influence on him.
Forty years after the mysterious circumstances surrounding the exhumation of King Tut, a similar incident took place in Poland at Jagiellon’s tomb.
Although Poland was a socialist country at the time, the researchers were eager to learn more about the death of the king almost 500 years after his funeral, and they immediately set to work.
Unfortunately, the excavations were not successful. It was easy enough to find the king under the Wawel Chapel, but it was the examination that caused the death of many people.
Even during the examination, all participants began to die from strokes and infections. Four people died within a few days. Within a few years, about 15 people died.
Although later, according to history, it was proved that the cause of death was a fungus inside the coffin, there is always the possibility that perhaps it was something more sinister.
Jonathan Buck
While most curses deal with death and at least a little random destruction or the threat of such, Bax’s curse is somewhat timid by comparison.
And yet, while other curses have been proven by medicine and science, this curse still has no simple explanation as to why it continues to occur.
The story takes place in the town of Bucksport, Maine, named after the most cursed man, Colonel Jonathan Buck.
Buck, a hero of the revolutionary war, sentenced the witch to death, and she pronounced a very specific curse that her mark would forever remain on the monument over his grave.
It is the specificity of the curse that makes it so interesting, because the curse was applied specifically to the monument erected over his grave, which was actually built only 75 years after his death.
Of course, once it was built by the Buck family, the curse began. Right in the center of the monument, you can see the black outlines of a leg and a pointed foot that no wash can wash off.
And while this leg does not pose an active danger to anyone, it is perhaps one of the best examples of an inexplicable curse.
Shakespir
William Shakespeare is known to many. He is perhaps the most famous writer of all time, his characters are household names, and his plays have been staged and remade by theaters around the world.
This makes him an odd candidate for a cursed tomb, as she doesn’t have any reason to, but she does, no matter what.
It all starts with the inscription on the tomb itself. The name of Shakespeare himself, according to Reuters, does not appear on the tomb, but this inscription: “Good friend, for the sake of Jesus, do not try to dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed is the one who protects these stones, and cursed is the one who moves my bones “.
And yet someone moved his bones. After examining the tomb, it became obvious that someone at some point in time, approximately 400 years after his death, dug up the coffin and took something as a keepsake.
According to archaeologist Kevin Colles, there is reason to believe that this memento was a bard’s skull. Of course, not to draw parallels with Hamlet.
Who took it remains unrevealed, but if Shakespeare’s inscription means anything, then this thief is cursed. And perhaps that is why they were never found.
Björkethorp Runestone
According to the National Museum of Denmark, the Vikings regularly used runes in runic magic. By writing inscriptions on stones, they could use the magical power of words. This magic could take the form of blessings or curses.
The Björkethorp Runestone is one such example of what is no doubt rather nasty runic magic. This stone, located in Bleking, Sweden, is shrouded in mystery, both because of the inscription itself and why it was needed. But one has only to read the inscription a little, and you will understand that he is not here to cause good weather.
It has a much darker purpose. It is most likely attached to some kind of burial and contains a warning: “I, the master of runes, hide here the runes of power. Incessantly (tormented) by malice, (doomed to) insidious death (will be) the one who breaks this (monument). I prophesy destruction/prophecy of destruction.”
Sounds pretty terrible. Fortunately, no one managed to destroy the monument, no matter what it protected.
Tomb Of Sakkar
Saqqara, the ancient Egyptian city of the dead, ranks alongside King Tut as the most popular burial site in Egypt. It dates back to the First Dynasty, when burials took place here for more than 3,000 years.
In the rich history of Egypt, 3,000 years of royal burials can accumulate quite a lot of characters, many of whom wanted to protect themselves and their wealth in the afterlife.
It all goes to show that this is a massive chamber with curses all over the place. In fact, there is so much buried there that over 160 different sarcophagi have been discovered. And no sarcophagus would be complete without a few curses inscribed on it to ward off grave robbers or sincerely curse them.
His sarcophagus warns that whatever is done against his tomb “the same will be done to your property”. He also warns that any “impure” intruder will be filled with the fear of seeing ghosts.
It doesn’t sound so terrible compared to the death and destruction of other curses, but a curse is a curse. In terms of the number of curses per square foot, there can’t be anything higher than Saqqara, the City of the Dead.
Taira No Masakado
Taira no Masakado, the very first samurai, also seems to be the standard bearer of Japan‘s age-old warrior class. The story of Masakado’s life is no less exciting than his death. His head is his Achilles heel.
This is the only place his snake mother forgot to lick. But otherwise, according to legend, he was completely invulnerable. Therefore, the enemies cut off his head – the only thing that remained buried. And that’s just his life.
When the Ministry of Finance burned down during an earthquake in 1923, the superstitious Japanese emperor blamed Masakado, a dead man who is more than 1000 years old.
The government planned to build a ministry on Masakado’s grave, but then people began to die. Within five years, fourteen people died in this territory, and after the death of the Minister of Finance himself, the plans were abandoned.
The incidents continued. So much so that even the occupation army of the United States in 1945 refused to touch it. When the bank built a branch on the site, it quickly discovered that it filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and opened an account in Masakado’s name as a final attempt. It did not help.
At present, a small garden has been laid out here in memory of Masakado, and you can be sure that no one will build here in the near future.
Nostradamus
No wonder a man who could predict the future sought to protect his resting place with a curse – as well as a prediction of when his tomb would be raided. After all, nothing about Nostradamus is complete without a good prediction or two.
In a characteristic quatrain for Nostradamus, he calls on the one who dares to disturb his tomb: “The one who opens the found tomb / And will come to close it quickly / Evil will come to him, and he will not be able to prove / Is it better to be a Breton or Norman king.”
A York University report details what may or may not have happened when Nostradamus’s tomb was disturbed in 1793.
At the height of the French Revolution, French soldiers went after the legendary tomb, ignoring rumors that whoever opened the tomb would be killed. And this is not even counting what Nostradamus threatened in his prediction poems.
But this is where the story gets a little fantastical. It is said that the soldier who opened the tomb found a sign on the neck of Nostradamus that predicted this particular date.
After the soldier drank the wine from the skull (which is usually never a good idea), he was killed by a stray bullet. While all of this is incredibly unlikely, the legends surrounding the tomb and its curses still circulate to this day.
Sit Mor Skorfhiaklakh
Far off the beaten path, in the dense Scottish forest of Rothiemurchus, lies a grave with a rather unusual and macabre history.
This is the final resting place (if he rested at all) of Seath Mor Sgorfhiaclach, a 14th century Scottish Shaw chief. The leader was a formidable warrior, with the temperament of a battle-hardened soldier, and he carried these traits into death.
The story goes that a giant figure is waiting for anyone who approaches, challenging them to a fight. If they agree, he lets them go ahead. But those who show fear, he never sees again. However, this is not all that this grave can do.
According to Jack Strange’s Stranger Scotland, the five stones that sit on top of the grave are also part of the curse. It is said that over the years, visitors who moved the stones suffered a not very pleasant fate. Namely, death.
And, apparently, things got to the point that the caretakers of the cemetery were fed up with the fact that visitors were trying to stir up the dead leader, so they installed a metal grate over the grave and stones so that no one else could touch them.
Ceramikos
The cemetery of Kerameikos belongs to the Bronze Age (2700-2000 BC), according to the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Considering how widespread the Greeks were during the heyday of their empire, it is not surprising that this burial site became the most important site in ancient Athens.
Newsweek reports that in 2020, a collection of 30 inscribed tablets was found at the bottom of a 2,500-year-old Athenian well in the ancient cemetery of Kerameikos.
It already sounds cursed, but the tablets contain separate curses and prayers to the Greek gods of the underworld.
Jutta Stroszek, who led the excavations, said that the one who ordered the curses to be inscribed on the tablets was not named, but black magic is present and visible to everyone, despite the fact that black magic was forbidden in Greece at that time.
While the well was only found in 2016, the cemetery itself was first excavated in 1870, according to the Greek Ministry.
Work stopped after the outbreak of World War II, and everyone who participated in the excavations died during the war.
While this curse is difficult to attribute to the curse itself, it follows a trend set by King Tut. Death overtakes those who disturb these tombs.
Corn Stalk
Native American graves have a long history of corruption, but when it comes to specific graves, it was Chief Kornstalk who cast one of the most formidable curses.
Chief of the Shawnee tribe, Cornstalk played a huge role in the creation of West Virginia, but revenge was also at stake. When American soldiers killed him, Kornstalk managed to utter a curse on the ground before his death.
That land, of course, is Point Pleasant. His words sounded like this: “For this, let the curse of the Great Spirit fall on this place. Let it be cursed by nature. Let its hopes be forever darkened …”.
Plague and disaster struck Point Pleasant and the surrounding area. And the monument of the battle itself, where Kornstalk is also buried, was struck by lightning.
And if the name Point Pleasant sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the site of Mothman’s infamous sightings and all the related incidents. Kornstalk and Mothman are mentioned in combination with each other, as if this cryptid is the return of the age-old curse of Kornstalk (corn stalk).
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