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Curses

Tomb and family curses

After Tutankhamun's tomb was opened in 1922, newspapers around the world wrote about the 'curse of the pharaoh' as members of the expedition died one after another. Poland has its own version: after the tomb of Casimir IV Jagiellon was opened at Wawel in 1973, more than a dozen researchers died. There are also curses on families, cities and sports teams. Scientists point to coincidence, selective memory and – in the case of tombs – a real danger: moulds and fungi.

cases
14
years
630–2026

Disputed: 2 Legend: 10 Explained: 2

  1. 7th century

    1. c. 630–present Tomb and family curses · Legend Hegra (Mada'in Salih) – City of a Punished People Hegra (al-Hijr), AlUla, Medina Province, Saudi Arabia For centuries people avoided the rock-cut Nabataean tombs of Arabia as a place of divine punishment told of in the Quran. Today Hegra is Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO site.

  2. 10th century

    1. 940–present Tomb and family curses · Legend The Mound of Masakado's Head, Tokyo Masakado-zuka, Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan Among Tokyo's financial-district towers lies the grave of a 10th-century rebel's head. Disturb it and a curse follows – or so people believed well into the 1900s.

  3. 14th century

    1. 1314 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of the Last Templar Grand Master Former Île aux Juifs (now Square du Vert-Galant), Paris, France Burning at the stake, Jacques de Molay is said to have summoned the king and the pope before God's judgement. Both died that same year.

  4. 16th century

    1. c. 1550 Tomb and family curses · Legend Cantuña and the Devil of San Francisco's Atrium Church and Convent of San Francisco, Quito, Ecuador Quito's most famous legend tells how Cantuña sold his soul to the devil to build a church atrium in one night – and saved himself by hiding a single stone.

  5. 17th century

    1. 1616 Tomb and family curses · Disputed The Curse on Shakespeare's Grave Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, United Kingdom Shakespeare's gravestone curses anyone who moves his bones. A radar survey in 2016 suggested someone may not have listened.

  6. 19th century

    1. 1811 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of Tippecanoe Tippecanoe Battlefield, Battle Ground, Indiana, United States Legend says the Prophet Tenskwatawa, defeated by Harrison, cursed US presidents – so that every one elected in a year ending in zero would die in office.
    2. 1825–present Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of Oiwa from Yotsuya Kaidan Oiwa Inari Tamiya Shrine, Yotsuya Samon-chō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan Before staging Japan's most famous ghost story, casts and crews visit Oiwa's shrine or grave. Skip the visit, it is said, and misfortune follows.

  7. 1920–1929

    1. 1920–2004 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of the Bambino Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts, United States The Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees – and did not win the World Series for 86 years. Fans were sure a curse hung over them.
    2. 1922 Tomb and family curses · Explained The Curse of Tutankhamun Tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt A few months after Tutankhamun's tomb was opened, Lord Carnarvon died – and newspapers around the world announced that the “pharaoh's curse” had struck.

  8. 1940–1949

    1. 1941 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of Tamerlane Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum, Samarkand, Uzbekistan Soviet scientists opened Timur's tomb in Samarkand – and moments later Germany invaded the USSR. So began the legend of the conqueror's curse.

  9. 1950–1959

    1. c. 1950–present Tomb and family curses · Legend Pele's Curse Kīlauea Visitor Center, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, United States Take a lava rock from Hawaiʻi and you bring the volcano goddess's wrath upon yourself. Tourists still mail back the rocks they took – with letters of apology.

  10. 1970–1979

    1. 1973 Tomb and family curses · Disputed The Curse of King Casimir IV Jagiellon Holy Cross Chapel, Wawel Cathedral, Kraków, Poland After the tomb of King Casimir IV Jagiellon was opened in 1973, people who had worked in the crypt began to die. Many spoke of a Polish “pharaoh's curse.”

  11. 1980–1989

    1. 1985–2023 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of the Colonel Ebisu Bridge over the Dōtonbori canal, Osaka, Japan Hanshin Tigers fans threw a statue of the KFC founder into a canal – and the team's luck ran out for 38 years. So began a Japanese curse.

  12. 1990–1999

    1. 1991 Tomb and family curses · Explained The Curse of Ötzi the Iceman Ötzi find site near the Tisenjoch pass, Ötztal Alps, Italy The 5,000-year-old mummy from the glacier was said to bring death to those who found and studied him. The media counted seven victims of the “Iceman's curse.”