Stories about cursed treasures are popular as they have severally been portrayed by Hollywood and other movie industries across the globe. From the curse of the Aztec Gold in Pirates of the Caribbean to the multitude of movie plots out there twisted around forbidden treasures, one would imagine that humanity has made up its mind on what to believe about cursed treasures. While it’s a fact for many, tales about treasures that are cursed are absolute gibberish for others.
When we think of treasures, what comes to mind are beautiful, valuable, and precious items such as gems and precious stones. What we don’t realize is that treasures can also be cursed. Yeah, you read right, CURSED!
Over the centuries, several items have been adjudged ‘cursed’ for varying reasons including disappearances and mysterious deaths of their handlers or discoverers.
Here are 10 Cursed Treasures of The World
1. A Cursed Mummy
Almost everyone has heard of, read, or seen the movie Titanic. On the 15th of April, 1912, the Titanic sustained a 200-foot gash while traveling at a speed of 23 knots. On its launch, it was claimed that not even god Himself could make it sink.
While many people may resolve to say men went overboard to dare the gods with a careless statement, thereby causing the unfortunate tragedy, a different myth resurfaced of a passenger who had the cursed mummy on the Titanic.
Prior to the Titanic crash, a British Museum was having trouble with an Egyptian artifact called the Cursed mummy. The cursed mummy was alleged to hate being disturbed so her coffin kept producing ‘eering’ sounds in the museum.
The museum decided to sell the artifact otherwise known as the cursed mummy or Princess of Amen-Ra to an American archaeologist who carried the mummy alongside himself into the Titanic. Was the Cursed mummy responsible for sinking the titanic? Well, maybe and maybe not.
2. The eye of Brahma Diamond
So we know that gloves are essential for people of certain professions. Do we also know that they might be essential if we were to touch the ‘The Eye of Brahma Diamond’? Notable among its associated misfortunes is the death of J.W. Paris, the man who brought it to the US in 1932 and jumped to his death from a skyscraper. His death and several others could be due to a curse from the Hindu god, Brahma, from whose eye it was ripped.
3. Oak Island Money Pit Curse
Let’s talk about a bottomless pit. In 1795, some teenage boys came across a freshly dug hole near the tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The digging began and lower and lower they went believing that they will come upon the buried two million pounds worth of treasure. They didn’t. With several deaths recorded and centuries after, not one penny has been found. Yet, people are still searching for hidden treasures.
4. Oetzi’s Curse
The phrase ‘trouble came knocking’ came true for the Simons in September 1991, when they accidentally discovered an archaeological treasure dated about 5,300 years back. The mummified iceman began its killings 14 years after the strange death of Helmut Simon to that of a Mountain Guide, Scientist, Journalist, and Archeologist. So much for an adventure!
If we are to believe everything said about Oetzi, the last life he claimed was in 2005 when Tom Loy, a scientist who studied the frozen corpse was mysteriously found dead at his home.
5. Treasure from Central America
Apparently, money has always been the ‘root of all evil’. In 1857, a hoard of 45 gold ingots, 3,100 gold coins, and 36 kg of gold dust was carried along the coast of North Carolina and it was cursed! Several innocent indigenous communities had been looted. Explorers seeking to find and keep this loot lost their lives. A boat even disappeared and hasn’t been seen to date.
6. The Koh-I-Noor Damond
Deprecophobia, the fear of curses, has kept the British monarch from wearing this 105.6-carat stone since Queen Victoria’s death in 1901. The diamond is said to have strung along a series of violent happenings upon its being ‘gifted’ to the Queen by the Sikh Chief in 1851.
7. The Gold of Tolosa
Apollo is widely known as the ‘god of music’ among other qualities. What isn’t widely known is that the plundering of his sanctuary in Delphi, Greece by the Gallic tribe, led to the suicide of their chief, plagues ravaging the city of Tolosa (modern-day Toulouse), and the treasure is lost forever.
See Also: Virginities for Sale: 11 of The World’s Most Expensive Offers
8. Timu’s Curse
Timur a.k.a Tamerlane, the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty died way back in 1405. In 1941, his remains were exhumed by Soviet Anthropologists who found the inscription “When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble.” in his tomb. It is also alleged that his casket bore the words “Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I.” Three days after his exhumation began; Adolf Hitler launched an attack on the Soviet Union, the largest military invasion of all time. Just after his re-burial in November 1942, the Soviet gained its victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.
9. The Amber room
The amber room dubbed ‘the eighth wonder of the world was a gift to Peter the Great in 1716. In 1943, the Amber Room disappeared closely followed by the mysterious deaths of people associated with it.
10. The Ark of The Covenant
The ark was a means of communication between God and the Israelites at the time. It held tremendous power; however, with one of its rules being ‘whoever touches the ark shall die’, records of such deaths were recorded. Regardless, the missing Ark is still being sought after.
Are these curses or merely happenstance? You tell us!
