Is there
such a thing as a place that's cursed?
Yes; we've
gone over this before. There are plenty of locales that are the scene of too
many accidents, sinful instances, or reported spiritual activity. Ask any
exorcist.
But what
about things taken from certain places?
There's the
legend of King Tut's tomb in Egypt: Many are those who have reported
misfortunes through the centuries and have connected this to breaching or
taking something from the Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. You can find copious
accounts on the internet. Some of the stories are compelling. Others are
negligible. We'll leave that up to your acumen. The tomb was discovered in
1922; by 1929, eleven people associated
with the tomb had died of unexpected causes. Happenstance?
There are
accounts of things going badly for artifacts taken or breached at other places:
Indian sites, graveyards, museums.
There are
entire plots of land, and this we'll focus upon: supposedly accursed turf over
a widespread area.
Prominent
in this regard is the Big Island of Hawaii, where it's said those who take
volcanic rocks at Volcano National Park suffer consequences from
"Pele," the goddess of fire. A curse, paganism, or just imagining?
"Everyday
as we are walking, we are picking up extremely small traces of dirt, concrete,
and dust from abrasion caused by our shoes rubbing into the ground," notes
a teacher there. "If we were to walk into the Hawaiian Volcanoes National
Park, we would inevitably pick up small traces of lava rock in our shoes or
socks. So, unless Pele has a size requirement for cursed rocks, everyone who
has ever stepped into the park would be cursed by now… but they aren’t."
His
argument: those who believe in curses will think back in their lives and relate
what they will to a "curse," anything bad whatsoever. And of course
there's truth to this. Curses -- and many other things -- can be in the eye of
the beholder.
But there
certainly are compelling stories -- Hawaii and elsewhere.
As The Los
Angeles Times noted about the supposed curse, "thousands of pounds of
mail," returning items taken, arrive in Hawaii every year. The
correspondents plead for the offending item to be returned to Pele, so the
"curse" will be lifted "and they can have their lives
back."
See
Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution
version available."Timothy Murray had a comfortable life: a college
education, good jobs, fulfilling relationships," reported the newspaper.
"'I've always had real good luck.' That was before he crossed paths with
Pele. Murray's luck went south in 1997 after he went to Hawaii to accept a new
job. When the job fell through, Murray consoled himself with a trip to the Big
Island and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Entranced by the island's black sand
beaches, Murray did what tourists often do. He took home a memento, scooping up
the sand in a pop bottle. When he returned home to Port St. Lucie, Fla.,
Murray's good fortune had fled. His beloved pet died. The five-year
relationship with the woman he was to marry fell apart. He began to drink
heavily. Finally, FBI agents, who said they had been tracking him from Hawaii,
arrested him in a computer copyright infringement case. 'My life literally fell
apart,' Murray, 32, says of the three years after he took the sand."
Others take shells.
"Pray
over your shells and plead the Blood of Jesus over them if you believe you
brought back a curse," noted one comment on a blog about the situation.
"He has the Power to break every curse."
And so He
does.
Are there
curses? There are. Jesus Himself cursed a tree.
But as
Proverbs points out: a curse without cause cannot alight (26:2). It flits about
like a sparrow. In other words, it has to have an entry.
In this
regard it behooves us always to "close" portals for darkness from
whatever source, ridding ourselves not only of activity that is sinful but of
bad habits. There can be "entries" through pride, sloth,
prevarication, anger, obsession, depression, selfishness, lewd thoughts,
gossip, sexual sin, and so many other ill-advised traits. Purity, with
diligence, closes the "holes" in the spirit. Humility is a bubble of
protection.
There are
curses at a site of ruins in Sweden (the Bjorketorp runestone).
Most
recently in the news (indeed, just yesterday (5/28/14): a report on NBC about
"cursed" stones from Escalante State Forest Park in Utah.
In this
case it's petrified wood.
Letters on
display there claim the same bad luck as over in Hawaii.
"I
picked up this small piece of wood and since that time I've had three accidents
[five broken bones]," says one. In addition, his motor home caught fire
and the engine in his car went south after its warranty ran out. As in Hawaii,
many send the souvenirs back. "A steady stream of human woe and
guilt," noted a reporter.
Nowhere
nearly claims as many as in Hawaii, but true belief that a curse operates. And
lots of apologies.
Superstition?
Or a spiritual aspect?
We are most
cursed when we curse others.
--Michael H. Brown