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Introduction
Humans can be a superstitious mint , but some historical condemnation seem too real to be mere coincidence or unproblematic superstition . From King Tutankhamun to the Chicago Cubs , check out these six celebrated historical curses .
The Curse of Ötzi
The frozen body ofÖtzi " the Iceman"was name in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps on the Austrian - Italian borderline , some 5,300 year after the Bronze Age man died ( probably during an opposition attack ) . Rainer Henn , a forensic pathologist who examined Ötzi , die in an auto fortuity one year later . Kurt Fritz , the scout who led Henn to Ötzi ’s organic structure , die in an avalanche concisely thereafter . Helmut Simon , who first discovered the body , died from a drop while hike in 2004 . Dieter Warnecke , who headed the rescue team count for Simon ’s body , give way of a heart attack just hours after Simon ’s funeral . That may seem like quite a serial publication of coincidences , but given the C of people who have been involved in enquiry on Ötzi , the telephone number of deaths is actually not unusual .
The Mummy’s Curse
According to some reports , the grave ofKing Tutankhamunwas guard by a Edward Durell Stone inscribed with the threatening scourge : " Death Shall derive on Swift Wings to Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King . " Undeterred , Egyptologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon start the tomb to worldwide flourish in 1922 . short thereafter , however , strange fates befell those who had entered the tomb . Lord Carnarvon died four months later while in Egypt from an infected mosquito raciness ( he was already be intimate to be in inadequate health ) . A few hour after his end , back in England , Carnarvon ’s dear detent Susie let out a yelping and died . Financier George Jay Gould I died of a fever six months after visiting the tomb . Woolf Joel , a South African millionaire , was murder a few months after his visit to the tomb . A. C. Mace , a member of Carter ’s archeologic squad , was killed by arsenic intoxication . Carter ’s personal secretarial assistant was find put out in his bottom in 1929 . But researchers have determined that , of the dozens of people unite with the opening of the grave , the vast bulk lived long and healthy lives . Others have speculated that some of the deaths may be attributed to toxic molds or bacterium that were disturb when the grave was opened .
The Curse of Timur’s Tomb
The Curse of the Hope Diamond
French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier , according to legend , stole a 115 - carat blue infield from the eye of a Hindu idol in India — for this sacrilege , Tavernier was supposedly mauled to decease by andiron . But in reality , he sold the jewel to King Louis XIV of France in 1669 and retired a affluent man . All went well until the ball field fall into the hands of King Louis XVI and his wife , Marie Antoinette , who were beheaded during the French Revolution . After Lord Francis Hope of England inherited the rhomb , he married an American chorine . The brace squander their fortune , sold the diamond and were eventually reduced to poverty . After Evalyn Walsh McLean bought the Harlan Fiske Stone in 1912 , her son was kill in a car fortuity , her daughter institutionalise self-destruction and her husband allow for her for another woman ( he eventually terminate up in an harebrained asylum ) . The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History buy theHope Diamondin 1958 and has n’t suffered from owning it — but a motortruck strike the postman who delivered the jewel ( he pull through ) . His wife and dog snuff it not long after , however , and his home caught fire .
The Curse of Tippecanoe
Did Native American loss leader Tecumseh whammy William Henry Harrison after Harrison ’s troop emerge triumphant at the Battle of Tippecanoe ? Perhaps , as historiographer have noted that ever since Harrison became president in 1840 , every person elect to the office in 20 - twelvemonth musical interval has died while serving as Chief Executive . Harrison died of pneumonia after just one calendar month in office . Abraham Lincoln , elected in 1860 , was assassinated , as were James A. Garfield ( elected in 1880 ) and William McKinley ( 1900 ) . Both Warren G. Harding ( 1920 ) and Franklin D. Roosevelt ( 1940 ) fail of natural cause in situation , while John F. Kennedy ( 1960 ) was assassinated . Ronald Reagan ( 1980 ) was the target of an bravo ’s smoke in 1981 , but he survived , and the whammy was apparently lifted .
The Goat and the Curse of the Chicago Cubs
In 1945 , a man diagnose Bill " Billy Goat " Sianis was ejected from aChicago Cubsgame because he brought with him a pet Capricorn . Outraged , Sianis reportedly cursed the nine with the words , " The Cubs ai n’t gon na win no more ! " Sure enough , the Cubs lose the next game and have n’t make headway a World Series in more than a one C , despite many attempts over the years to airlift the curse ( some of them involving goats ) . While most regard the curse as a dizzy superstition , many longtime buff take it very seriously . This April , police in Cook County , Ill. , find a decapitated caprine animal tie to a tree near a golf course . A few days later , an unknown man delivered a smelly box addressed to Tom Ricketts , the current proprietor of the Chicago Cubs baseball game team ; at bottom was a decompose goat ’s head .
The discovery of jars of wine in King Tuts tomb prompted a team of Spanish scientists to try and determine if the boy king preferred red or white wine. An analysis of residues in 2005 revealed that the jars contained syringic acid, which implied that the wine was made with red grapes.
The mummified body of Ötzi.
The gold burial death mask of Tutankhamun honored the young pharaoh after his untimely death.
The Gur Emir mausoleum, site of the tomb of Timur, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The Hope Diamond at the National Museum of Natural History.
Photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken in November 1863. Public domain image.
Wrigley Field in Chicago, Ill., home of the Chicago Cubs.
