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[William Shatner] A sacred jewel
that dooms

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its owners to death.

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Mysterious stone heads

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that unleash
a frightening Celtic curse.

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And pieces of the past
that are said

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to bring misfortune

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to those who dare
to pocket them.

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Is it possible
that a hex, a spell

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or a condemnation

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can possess an object,

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wreak havoc on a place,

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or bring harm
to an unsuspecting person?

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Even skeptics
of the supernatural

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will pause
to consider the possibility

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that suffering, misfortune

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and even death

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might be caused by a curse.

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But is this power to punish

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the result
of summoning dark forces

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or simply believing in

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what could be
considered superstition?

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Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

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♪ ♪

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[Shatner reads on-screen text]

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According to the Holy Bible,

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this location was chosen by God

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as a place for
the ancient Israelites

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to perform a ritual

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designed to punish
those who disobeyed

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the commands of
the Almighty with a curse.

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While it's been
a matter of debate,

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remarkably, evidence of this
practice was discovered in 1980

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when archaeologist Adam Zertal
uncovered a ritual altar

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dating back to 1200 BC.

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And recent excavations
seem to further corroborate

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the biblical story
of this place called

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the Mountain of the Curse.

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[Scott Stripling] I led a team

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in December of 2019

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to the site of Mount Ebal,

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and what I wanted to do was
to go back and to process

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Adam Zertal's dump piles
from the 1980s.

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All excavations leave behind
dump piles after they process.

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Because my previous experiences
with old dump piles

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had been that the archaeologists

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missed most of the small finds
that were important.

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And so we were able
to relocate the dump piles

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from Mount Ebal
and to sift those,

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and in that sifting process

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we uncovered
this small lead defixio.

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And a defixio is a curse tablet,

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and this is what made it
so interesting,

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is because the Bible defines

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Mount Ebal as
the Mountain of the Curse.

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Ancient peoples
wrote curses on lead

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on the Mount Ebal Tablet.

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We could see on the outside that
there were what appeared to be

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proto-alphabetic symbols
on there.

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Originally, the writing would
have gone all the way across,

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but now it's folded
into two halves.

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The tablet was never
intended to be opened.

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Once the curse is written and
then sealed, it becomes binding.

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It's sort of like
it's on record now with God

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or with the gods.

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[Shatner] This small artifact
provides insight

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into a truly fascinating
ancient belief

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that the written word could
conjure a supernatural curse

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and inflict divine punishment.

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But how widespread
was this practice?

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[J.W. Ocker] Defixiones
originated in

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ancient Greece, ancient Rome,
that-that time period,

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and they're just
thin bits of lead

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that a curse
has been inscribed on.

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We found thousands
of these all over Europe.

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They are pretty common as far
as archaeological artifacts go.

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Typically, these defixiones were
looking for justice,

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or they were
looking for revenge.

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Or they were just trying
to cause a competitor to lose,

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whatever that competition was,
whether as a rival suitor,

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a rival sportsperson,
a rival politician.

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They were meant
to cause those competitors

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to fail in their quests.

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The people would write
a spell or a curse

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or the name of somebody
that they really despised

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with the idea
that the gods would then

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bring this curse to life.

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And these are people
who are often

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writing about their neighbors.

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And even worse than that,

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there are figurines
with their hands

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tied behind their back,
with their feet bound,

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buried as if they were
being laid to rest.

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[Shatner] Across
the ancient world,

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people believed
that curses could bring

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ruin, illness and even death.

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But how did this vengeful act

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become a regular practice?

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A curse is basically
a verbal message,

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either written or spoken,
that is intended

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to invoke supernatural powers

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to cause harm to another person.

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In terms of where
they actually come from,

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it's one of those things
that I think

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curses have always been around.

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They were a very practical way

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of trying to deal with problems
that might arise in your life,

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that you could
invoke supernatural powers

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that would act on your behalf.

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[Ceri Houlbrook] The term
"curse" probably comes from

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Latin "cursus," which refers

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to Christian curses or prayers.

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And there's a huge variety of
what curses were intended to do.

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In ancient Greece, for instance,

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they had curses
known as katadesmoi,

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and they were binding curses.

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So, they could be used for love.

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But this wasn't love
in the romantic sense.

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They were intended
to make somebody

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almost physically dependent
on somebody else.

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Unable to sleep, unable to eat,

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unable to find pleasure
with anybody else.

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There are very,
very potent curses

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that are meant to

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upset and destroy
and affect people,

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sometimes even to kill them.

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People used to mix up things

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like little bits
of soil from cemeteries--

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it's called grave dust--

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or even the nails from coffins,

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and they'd grind them
down into a kind

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of maleficent potion
and then cast spells on them.

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And people really thought
that these things worked.

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They thought that if you
curse somebody in that way,

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all those terrible things
might really happen to somebody.

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[Shatner] The archaeological
record proves

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that curses were a common tool

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to pass on suffering
in the ancient world.

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But incredibly, the practice
of inscribing curses on lead

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may be much older
than we imagined,

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based on further analysis

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of the remarkable tablet
found on Mount Ebal.

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[Stripling] Here, we
uncovered a curse tablet

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from Mount Ebal,

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where the Bible says
that they pronounced

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the curses of the covenant.

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And that's why it became

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such a big story.

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The tablet was fragile.

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If you tried to open it,

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then it would begin
to come apart.

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But the main script, I felt,

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was going to be on the inside.

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Ultimately, I ended up
in Prague, Czechoslovakia,

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and they have high-tech
tomographic scanners

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that actually
gets through the lead,

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and then you can begin to see
what it is that you want to see.

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And when I began
to see the first scans,

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the letters were indeed
this proto-alphabetic script

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which dated all the way
back to the late Bronze Age.

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Around 1400 BC,
or maybe 1350, somewhere

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in that horizon.

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And so, from there,

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we began to see
the inscription unfold.

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The core of the curse is

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"Cursed are you
by the god Yahweh."

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Then I was in awe and in shock

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because Yahweh
was the Israelite god.

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[Roy Fisher] What they allege
to have discovered

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is rather shocking.

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This ancient tablet

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that they date

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to about 3,200 years ago

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is not a legal text.

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It's not a poem.

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It's a curse.

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If their scholarly
reconstruction is correct,

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this would be the oldest
Hebrew inscription

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that we possess.

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And for that inscription
to be a curse

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is also rather shocking.

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[Shatner] While the claim
remains controversial,

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it's remarkable to think
that the earliest

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Hebrew writing ever discovered

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could be a curse.

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But did these words once possess

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real supernatural power?

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Well, even today,
the belief in curses

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is alive and well.

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[French] A recent poll
showed that

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around about 30%
of American adults

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believe in the power
of curses in modern times.

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And in fact,
much higher rates were found

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in other parts of the world.

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So, clearly, this is not just

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something that
ancient peoples believed in.

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There are still very, very
many people around the world

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who still believe
in the power of curses.

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[Shatner reads on-screen text]

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[Shatner] World-renowned
luxury auction house Christie's

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accepts bids on high-carat
gemstones and jewelry.

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Among the lots is
one ornate necklace

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featuring
an immense black diamond

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with a truly
sinister reputation.

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It's known as
both the Black Orlov

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and the Eye of Brahma.

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This diamond has been
incredibly valuable

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throughout its known history

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for different reasons.
There's the size.

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The Eye of Brahma,

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or the Black Orlov,
is a 67.4-carat

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enormous cushion-cut
black diamond,

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which is big.

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And it's in a necklace
surrounded by a garland

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of laurel leaves
made of diamonds

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on a long necklace
of white diamonds.

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It's a gorgeous
piece of jewelry,

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and it was sold
to a private collector

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for I think
somewhere around $350,000.

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Because if your
diamond is cursed,

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it's worth a lot more money.

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[Shatner] According to legend,
this remarkable stone

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was nearly three times
its current size,

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weighing 195 carats.

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It was housed
in an ancient temple

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in Pondicherry, India,

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and set with reverence
into a sacred statue of Brahma,

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the Hindu god of creation.

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The Eye of Brahma started life

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as part of a statue of Brahma.

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And, uh, it is said,
according to legend,

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that a Hindu monk stole the eye,

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and, for this, was cursed.

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Not only was he cursed,
allegedly, he was murdered

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shortly after
committing his crime.

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But subsequent owners of the gem

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also met terrible fates.

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[Raden] In 1932,
the diamond was bought by

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a famous diamond collector

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and gem dealer named J.W. Paris.

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A few days later,
he wrote two suicide notes,

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went to the top of a very
tall skyscraper in New York

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and threw himself off.

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Where it turns up next
is in Russia,

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with a princess
named Nadia Vygin-Orlov.

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Allegedly, she took it with her

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when she fled
the Bolshevik Revolution.

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And then, once
she was safe and sound,

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threw herself off a building.

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And no one knows why she did it.

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The diamond was sold
to another Russian princess,

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and shortly thereafter--
if you can believe it--

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she went to the top
of a very tall skyscraper

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and threw herself off.

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And that's a part of
the curse that's so creepy.

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[Shatner] Is there
truly a deadly curse

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placed upon this black diamond?

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While much of its legend
remains impossible to verify,

258
00:12:42,387 --> 00:12:46,432
many believe that stories
surrounding cursed gemstones

259
00:12:46,599 --> 00:12:49,519
such as the Eye of Brahma
are nothing more

260
00:12:49,644 --> 00:12:52,021
than marvelous myths.

261
00:12:52,230 --> 00:12:53,690
There are practical reasons

262
00:12:53,856 --> 00:12:56,150
for claiming that a gem
is cursed.

263
00:12:56,317 --> 00:12:58,528
If you say that a gem is cursed,

264
00:12:58,695 --> 00:13:01,572
it increases the mystique
of the stone.

265
00:13:02,657 --> 00:13:05,451
It increases the publicity
around it.

266
00:13:05,618 --> 00:13:09,289
It increases the sale value
of the gem.

267
00:13:09,455 --> 00:13:12,208
So, there are certainly reasons

268
00:13:12,375 --> 00:13:14,127
to claim that your stone
is cursed,

269
00:13:14,294 --> 00:13:17,547
particularly if you want
to increase the sale value.

270
00:13:17,714 --> 00:13:19,132
There were other
extraordinary gemstones

271
00:13:19,299 --> 00:13:21,968
that were believed
to bring bad luck with them.

272
00:13:22,135 --> 00:13:24,053
Um, one of these
was the Hope Diamond...

273
00:13:25,054 --> 00:13:28,683
...this beautiful blue diamond

274
00:13:28,808 --> 00:13:31,728
that at one point belonged
to the French royal family,

275
00:13:31,894 --> 00:13:34,188
who were then all guillotined.

276
00:13:35,982 --> 00:13:39,444
So, it feels as though
tragedy and drama and death

277
00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:41,946
follows these gems around.

278
00:13:42,113 --> 00:13:43,906
But of course,
the reality is that

279
00:13:44,073 --> 00:13:46,826
only somebody
super powerful, super wealthy,

280
00:13:46,993 --> 00:13:49,495
super rich, super influential,

281
00:13:49,662 --> 00:13:51,998
could ever own
something as precious.

282
00:13:52,165 --> 00:13:54,167
And if you inhabit that sphere

283
00:13:54,333 --> 00:13:56,878
of human life,
then you are likely

284
00:13:57,045 --> 00:13:58,921
to bring trouble
to your own door.

285
00:14:00,131 --> 00:14:04,093
[Tony McMahon] There have been
various cursed gems in history.

286
00:14:04,260 --> 00:14:05,845
The Koh-i-Noor diamond

287
00:14:06,012 --> 00:14:08,723
actually originated in India,

288
00:14:08,890 --> 00:14:13,019
and it was owned by
various rulers in the East

289
00:14:13,227 --> 00:14:16,230
who suffered
terrible misfortune.

290
00:14:17,273 --> 00:14:19,984
But then found
its way into the hands

291
00:14:20,151 --> 00:14:22,570
of the royal family in Britain.

292
00:14:22,737 --> 00:14:24,030
Now, the royal family

293
00:14:24,197 --> 00:14:25,573
have been very careful

294
00:14:25,740 --> 00:14:27,366
in how they've
handled the Koh-i-Noor.

295
00:14:27,533 --> 00:14:31,162
It's not worn
by the king or the queen.

296
00:14:31,329 --> 00:14:34,749
It's worn by the queen consort.

297
00:14:35,792 --> 00:14:39,128
So not the ruler,
and that's how the royal family

298
00:14:39,295 --> 00:14:42,173
have tried
to circumvent the curse.

299
00:14:42,340 --> 00:14:46,552
[Shatner] So, what is
really going on here?

300
00:14:46,719 --> 00:14:49,680
Are the misfortunes
suffered by owners of rare gems

301
00:14:49,847 --> 00:14:51,474
purely coincidental?

302
00:14:51,641 --> 00:14:55,269
Or can precious jewels
become imbued

303
00:14:55,436 --> 00:14:59,565
with dark forces
beyond our understanding?

304
00:14:59,732 --> 00:15:02,568
One interesting factor
with respect to the idea

305
00:15:02,735 --> 00:15:04,362
of a cursed gemstone

306
00:15:04,487 --> 00:15:07,824
is the idea
that crystals of all kinds

307
00:15:07,990 --> 00:15:09,992
can, in some way,

308
00:15:10,159 --> 00:15:13,204
contain and release
subtle energies.

309
00:15:14,163 --> 00:15:17,208
With respect
to a cursed gemstone,

310
00:15:17,375 --> 00:15:21,629
the idea is that there's a kind
of dark energy inside them.

311
00:15:21,796 --> 00:15:23,714
It's still a very,
very popular belief

312
00:15:23,881 --> 00:15:26,342
all around the world,
in lots of different places.

313
00:15:26,551 --> 00:15:28,678
[Ocker] Is it
a psychological phenomenon?

314
00:15:28,845 --> 00:15:31,472
It's the opposite of the power
of positive thinking, right?

315
00:15:31,639 --> 00:15:33,683
Now we're talking about
the power of negative thinking,

316
00:15:33,808 --> 00:15:35,643
which is just as effective.

317
00:15:35,810 --> 00:15:37,645
They call this
the nocebo effect.

318
00:15:38,729 --> 00:15:41,232
Nocebo effects are
the idea that if you believe

319
00:15:41,399 --> 00:15:42,900
that misfortune
is gonna come to you,

320
00:15:43,109 --> 00:15:44,777
if you believe you are
cursed, in essence,

321
00:15:44,986 --> 00:15:47,321
you can actually
make yourself cursed,

322
00:15:47,446 --> 00:15:50,408
either through only focusing on
the bad things happening to you

323
00:15:50,575 --> 00:15:53,578
or actually causing
bad things to happen to you.

324
00:15:54,662 --> 00:15:57,290
[Shatner] Whether people are
manifesting their own misfortune

325
00:15:57,456 --> 00:16:00,084
or becoming attached
to cursed energies

326
00:16:00,251 --> 00:16:02,753
is a matter of continued debate.

327
00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,923
But as for the Eye of Brahma,

328
00:16:06,090 --> 00:16:08,384
some believe
its string of bad luck

329
00:16:08,551 --> 00:16:10,720
was broken
in the mid-20th century

330
00:16:10,845 --> 00:16:13,014
when a New York gem dealer

331
00:16:13,181 --> 00:16:16,601
acquired the original
195-carat stone

332
00:16:16,767 --> 00:16:20,479
and cut it into pieces.

333
00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:22,481
[French] In the 1950s,

334
00:16:22,607 --> 00:16:27,320
Charles F. Winson did actually
cut the stone up into three.

335
00:16:27,445 --> 00:16:28,821
And it was said that

336
00:16:29,030 --> 00:16:30,615
that seemed
to destroy the curse,

337
00:16:30,781 --> 00:16:32,825
that all this kind of misfortune

338
00:16:32,992 --> 00:16:35,286
stopped happening
to people after that.

339
00:16:35,453 --> 00:16:37,580
Whether or not this was
the actual main reason

340
00:16:37,788 --> 00:16:40,374
for his action, I can't say.

341
00:16:40,541 --> 00:16:44,712
But the idea
that by cutting up the stone,

342
00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:47,632
it had, in some way,
released that dark energy

343
00:16:47,798 --> 00:16:50,384
so that it was no longer
going to have an effect

344
00:16:50,551 --> 00:16:53,179
is something that
some people do take seriously.

345
00:16:54,597 --> 00:16:57,016
It's reassuring
to think that a hex

346
00:16:57,183 --> 00:17:00,645
might be undone by simply
destroying the Eye of Brahma.

347
00:17:00,811 --> 00:17:05,358
But there are curses that
some believe never go away,

348
00:17:05,523 --> 00:17:10,279
like the terrible misfortune
of those who dare to find

349
00:17:10,404 --> 00:17:12,865
a lost treasure of gold.

350
00:17:16,327 --> 00:17:18,954
[Shatner reads on-screen text]

351
00:17:19,121 --> 00:17:22,333
[Shatner] This remote,
840-square-mile wilderness

352
00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:25,044
high in the Eastern Andes
is infamous

353
00:17:25,211 --> 00:17:27,380
for sudden storms,

354
00:17:27,588 --> 00:17:30,591
overgrown, unmarked trails

355
00:17:30,758 --> 00:17:33,803
and dangerous
wildlife like pumas

356
00:17:33,970 --> 00:17:36,013
and venomous snakes.

357
00:17:36,180 --> 00:17:39,392
But it is said
that its greatest danger

358
00:17:39,559 --> 00:17:41,978
lies in its legendary past.

359
00:17:42,144 --> 00:17:44,897
[Hyland] About
20 years ago, I wanted

360
00:17:45,106 --> 00:17:47,483
to see what the Llanganates
Mountains were like,

361
00:17:47,650 --> 00:17:49,277
and so I went to them

362
00:17:49,443 --> 00:17:51,779
and they were
an extraordinary place.

363
00:17:51,988 --> 00:17:54,991
They're not like
the rest of the Andes.

364
00:17:55,157 --> 00:17:57,660
They're much rainier.

365
00:17:57,868 --> 00:18:01,455
You have vegetation
that lives in constant clouds.

366
00:18:01,622 --> 00:18:04,333
There's something
very mysterious and unearthly

367
00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:07,545
about the Llanganates
Mountains, and in fact,

368
00:18:07,712 --> 00:18:09,880
there are
local Indians who believe

369
00:18:10,006 --> 00:18:11,882
that the mountains
themselves are cursed.

370
00:18:13,092 --> 00:18:16,804
[Shatner] Why would this rugged
terrain be considered cursed?

371
00:18:16,971 --> 00:18:19,849
While some dismiss the idea
as purely superstition,

372
00:18:20,016 --> 00:18:22,643
folklore tells
a compelling story where,

373
00:18:22,810 --> 00:18:24,562
for nearly 500 years,

374
00:18:24,729 --> 00:18:28,733
this untamed wilderness
is said to be the hiding place

375
00:18:28,899 --> 00:18:31,402
for the treasure of Atahualpa,

376
00:18:31,569 --> 00:18:34,947
the last great king
of the Incan Empire.

377
00:18:35,948 --> 00:18:38,951
In 1532, Spanish conquistadors

378
00:18:39,118 --> 00:18:41,954
captured the Inca King
Atahualpa.

379
00:18:42,121 --> 00:18:47,001
And in order to try
to save his own life,

380
00:18:47,126 --> 00:18:49,170
he told them
that he would give them

381
00:18:49,337 --> 00:18:52,381
a huge amount
of gold and silver.

382
00:18:52,590 --> 00:18:56,886
And the Spanish agreed
that if he provided

383
00:18:57,053 --> 00:18:59,305
all this precious metal,

384
00:18:59,472 --> 00:19:00,765
then they would let him live.

385
00:19:00,890 --> 00:19:02,808
[Hyland] Atahualpa's known

386
00:19:02,975 --> 00:19:04,685
as the Last King of the Incas.

387
00:19:04,852 --> 00:19:08,230
He was believed to have
the essence of the divine,

388
00:19:08,397 --> 00:19:09,815
like the other Inca Emperors.

389
00:19:09,982 --> 00:19:14,737
So, for him to be seized
and held for ransom

390
00:19:14,945 --> 00:19:17,323
was just unthinkable
in the Inca Empire.

391
00:19:17,490 --> 00:19:19,992
We think the local people

392
00:19:20,159 --> 00:19:24,163
gave up over
16,000 pounds of gold

393
00:19:24,330 --> 00:19:27,166
and over
30,000 pounds of silver.

394
00:19:28,417 --> 00:19:31,629
We think that the value
of his ransom was probably

395
00:19:31,796 --> 00:19:34,840
up to $5 billion
in today's money.

396
00:19:34,965 --> 00:19:37,635
And yet, the Spanish betray him.

397
00:19:37,802 --> 00:19:40,763
Atahualpa pays the ransom,

398
00:19:40,930 --> 00:19:43,432
and he's still killed
by the Spanish.

399
00:19:44,767 --> 00:19:46,936
Virtually every
Spanish chronicler

400
00:19:47,144 --> 00:19:48,562
tells us the same story.

401
00:19:49,605 --> 00:19:52,108
The largest caravan
of gold and silver

402
00:19:52,274 --> 00:19:54,193
never made it to the Spaniards.

403
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,195
This was a caravan
that was amassed

404
00:19:56,362 --> 00:19:58,322
by Atahualpa's primary general.

405
00:19:58,489 --> 00:20:01,409
His name was Rumiñahui,

406
00:20:01,575 --> 00:20:04,453
and his caravan supposedly had

407
00:20:04,620 --> 00:20:06,747
about 30,000 pounds of gold

408
00:20:06,914 --> 00:20:09,834
and 20,000 pounds of silver.

409
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,462
So, this is an enormous,
enormous amount of wealth.

410
00:20:14,630 --> 00:20:17,591
And when Rumiñahui found out

411
00:20:17,758 --> 00:20:21,804
that Atahualpa was executed,
he turned around.

412
00:20:21,971 --> 00:20:25,725
And this would
have been in Ecuador.

413
00:20:25,891 --> 00:20:28,519
Many, many people believe

414
00:20:28,644 --> 00:20:31,439
that Rumiñahui hid the treasure

415
00:20:31,564 --> 00:20:33,941
in the Llanganates Mountains.

416
00:20:34,150 --> 00:20:38,112
But unfortunately, Rumiñahui
was also killed by the Spanish,

417
00:20:38,279 --> 00:20:40,281
and so no one, we believe,

418
00:20:40,406 --> 00:20:42,158
was able to go back
and get the treasure.

419
00:20:42,324 --> 00:20:45,995
So the treasure became
cursed because it represents

420
00:20:46,162 --> 00:20:48,414
the bloody betrayal
of the Spanish.

421
00:20:48,581 --> 00:20:51,083
At least, that's
what many people believe.

422
00:20:52,209 --> 00:20:53,836
[Shatner] Do
the Llanganates Mountains

423
00:20:54,003 --> 00:20:56,213
in Ecuador hide an Inca treasure

424
00:20:56,380 --> 00:20:58,299
worth billions of dollars?

425
00:20:58,507 --> 00:21:02,011
And if so, could it be
protected by a curse?

426
00:21:02,178 --> 00:21:03,929
Perhaps,

427
00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:07,266
because the Incas believed
that their gold and silver

428
00:21:07,433 --> 00:21:10,603
was much more
than mere currency.

429
00:21:10,770 --> 00:21:12,563
The Inca had
a very different attitude

430
00:21:12,730 --> 00:21:14,064
to gold than the Spanish.

431
00:21:14,231 --> 00:21:15,775
As far as
the Spanish were concerned,

432
00:21:15,941 --> 00:21:17,860
they'd just melt down
anything they found

433
00:21:18,068 --> 00:21:19,487
made of gold into bars

434
00:21:19,653 --> 00:21:22,615
and ship it back
on galleons to Spain.

435
00:21:22,782 --> 00:21:24,867
But for the Inca,

436
00:21:25,034 --> 00:21:27,369
fashioning sacred items,

437
00:21:27,536 --> 00:21:29,330
representations of their gods,

438
00:21:29,497 --> 00:21:32,625
out of gold
made these representations

439
00:21:32,792 --> 00:21:35,211
imbued with power.

440
00:21:36,295 --> 00:21:38,881
[Hyland] Gold was considered
the sweat of the Sun,

441
00:21:39,006 --> 00:21:41,717
and the silver was considered
the tears of the Moon.

442
00:21:41,884 --> 00:21:44,678
It must have left
people heartbroken

443
00:21:44,804 --> 00:21:49,767
to despoil their temples
and their palaces

444
00:21:49,934 --> 00:21:52,228
of their greatest riches
in order to save the life

445
00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:54,730
of their emperor. And so,

446
00:21:54,897 --> 00:21:58,442
the betrayal when
the Spanish killed him anyway

447
00:21:58,567 --> 00:22:00,444
must have been incredible.

448
00:22:01,695 --> 00:22:04,865
[Shatner] Did the Incas cast
a supernatural curse

449
00:22:05,032 --> 00:22:06,992
on anyone who dared to find

450
00:22:07,159 --> 00:22:10,412
the remaining sacred objects
in these mountains?

451
00:22:10,579 --> 00:22:12,873
The rumor was not enough
to stop many

452
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,876
from hunting for
the legendary stash of gold.

453
00:22:17,545 --> 00:22:20,589
In 1860, an English botanist

454
00:22:20,756 --> 00:22:25,052
named Richard Spruce
discovered a mysterious map

455
00:22:25,219 --> 00:22:28,681
while on
an expedition in Ecuador,

456
00:22:28,806 --> 00:22:31,767
and allegedly, it held clues

457
00:22:31,934 --> 00:22:35,646
to the secret location
of the lost treasure.

458
00:22:37,523 --> 00:22:40,401
[Hyland] Spruce eventually
published this map,

459
00:22:40,526 --> 00:22:44,154
and Spruce's publication
is really the main basis

460
00:22:44,321 --> 00:22:45,865
for this treasure hunt.

461
00:22:47,157 --> 00:22:50,160
In the 19th century,
there was an English sailor

462
00:22:50,286 --> 00:22:51,829
who was named Barth Blake.

463
00:22:51,996 --> 00:22:57,126
Spruce sent copies
of the map to Blake.

464
00:22:57,293 --> 00:22:59,587
And according to the story,

465
00:22:59,753 --> 00:23:04,008
Blake brought back
18 pieces of the treasure,

466
00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:05,593
which he was able to take

467
00:23:05,759 --> 00:23:07,887
to the British museum
and get authenticated.

468
00:23:08,053 --> 00:23:10,723
And then,
he decided to raise money

469
00:23:10,848 --> 00:23:13,809
to have a whole expedition
to go back and get the treasure.

470
00:23:13,976 --> 00:23:17,062
But on his return journey,

471
00:23:17,229 --> 00:23:19,356
he mysteriously disappeared

472
00:23:19,523 --> 00:23:22,234
overboard and died.

473
00:23:22,401 --> 00:23:25,988
And a lot of people think
that maybe that was the curse.

474
00:23:27,156 --> 00:23:28,365
[French] There are
numerous expeditions

475
00:23:28,532 --> 00:23:30,284
down the centuries to try

476
00:23:30,451 --> 00:23:32,494
to recover this lost gold.

477
00:23:32,661 --> 00:23:35,039
Although they all claimed
that they had

478
00:23:35,164 --> 00:23:37,249
an idea of where the gold was,

479
00:23:37,416 --> 00:23:39,376
they never actually
found the gold.

480
00:23:39,585 --> 00:23:42,296
And typically, they disappeared.

481
00:23:42,463 --> 00:23:45,132
So, this has obviously
reinforced the idea

482
00:23:45,299 --> 00:23:47,718
that the gold was cursed
in the first place.

483
00:23:50,220 --> 00:23:51,680
[Shatner] No one
can say for sure

484
00:23:51,805 --> 00:23:54,350
whether the treasure
of Atahualpa is hiding

485
00:23:54,516 --> 00:23:56,518
in the mountains of Ecuador,

486
00:23:56,644 --> 00:23:58,646
but perhaps it's best
to respect the power

487
00:23:58,812 --> 00:24:02,983
of the Llanganates Mountains
and its legendary curse.

488
00:24:04,068 --> 00:24:05,861
When I'm
in a village in the Andes,

489
00:24:06,070 --> 00:24:07,863
living with local people,

490
00:24:08,030 --> 00:24:11,367
and when they bring out one
of their sacred objects to me

491
00:24:11,533 --> 00:24:13,452
that they believe has power,

492
00:24:13,619 --> 00:24:16,163
I believe
what they're telling me.

493
00:24:16,330 --> 00:24:17,581
And I wouldn't
want to be someone

494
00:24:17,790 --> 00:24:19,333
who is disrespecting that,

495
00:24:19,500 --> 00:24:22,878
because I don't know what would
happen to me if I did that.

496
00:24:24,463 --> 00:24:27,800
If the lost treasure of
the last sovereign Incan Emperor

497
00:24:27,925 --> 00:24:30,803
is still hiding in
the mountains of Ecuador,

498
00:24:30,970 --> 00:24:34,056
protected for eternity
by a deadly curse,

499
00:24:34,223 --> 00:24:37,017
then perhaps it's best
to leave it alone.

500
00:24:37,226 --> 00:24:39,770
But there's
another type of spell,

501
00:24:39,937 --> 00:24:42,606
one that can
drive a man to madness

502
00:24:42,773 --> 00:24:44,149
by simply using

503
00:24:44,316 --> 00:24:46,568
words.

504
00:24:49,321 --> 00:24:51,281
[Shatner reads on-screen text]

505
00:24:52,324 --> 00:24:54,451
[Shatner] This historic
settlement dates back

506
00:24:54,618 --> 00:24:56,537
an estimated 4,000 years.

507
00:24:56,745 --> 00:25:00,040
But most famously, it was once

508
00:25:00,165 --> 00:25:02,501
the ancient
Roman city of Carrhae.

509
00:25:02,710 --> 00:25:06,588
Here, in 53 BC, Roman general

510
00:25:06,755 --> 00:25:08,757
Marcus Licinius Crassus

511
00:25:08,882 --> 00:25:11,802
readied 40,000 soldiers

512
00:25:11,927 --> 00:25:14,596
to march against
the Parthian Empire,

513
00:25:14,763 --> 00:25:17,558
Rome's greatest
rival to the east.

514
00:25:17,725 --> 00:25:19,727
But before
the battle would begin,

515
00:25:19,893 --> 00:25:23,814
some believe the army's fate
was already sealed

516
00:25:23,981 --> 00:25:25,691
by a deadly curse.

517
00:25:27,401 --> 00:25:30,237
The ancient Romans took
curses very, very seriously.

518
00:25:30,404 --> 00:25:34,867
There was a Roman tribune
called Gaius Ateius Capito.

519
00:25:36,243 --> 00:25:38,245
And he was well known for

520
00:25:38,412 --> 00:25:41,749
really strongly
opposing the Parthian war.

521
00:25:41,915 --> 00:25:46,170
This campaign was
being headed by Marcus Crassus.

522
00:25:46,336 --> 00:25:50,424
So openly, formally,
in public, at the city gates,

523
00:25:50,591 --> 00:25:52,551
as Crassus was
rallying his troops

524
00:25:52,718 --> 00:25:54,011
and getting ready to march,

525
00:25:54,178 --> 00:25:56,430
Ateius stood by the city gates

526
00:25:56,597 --> 00:25:59,308
and called on the gods
of the underworld,

527
00:25:59,475 --> 00:26:02,269
called on
the destruction of Crassus.

528
00:26:02,436 --> 00:26:03,687
So, he was calling a curse

529
00:26:03,854 --> 00:26:06,607
on Crassus to prevent
the war from going ahead.

530
00:26:06,774 --> 00:26:10,527
Crassus' soldiers
begged Crassus to reconsider.

531
00:26:10,694 --> 00:26:13,363
Such was the power
of the belief in the curse.

532
00:26:13,530 --> 00:26:15,824
But Crassus ignored them,

533
00:26:15,991 --> 00:26:18,035
went ahead, marched for Parthia,

534
00:26:18,202 --> 00:26:21,246
and lost
at the Battle of Carrhae.

535
00:26:22,247 --> 00:26:24,833
And in the aftermath,
Crassus lost his life.

536
00:26:26,168 --> 00:26:27,753
[McMahon] Those few
survivors who returned

537
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:29,546
beleaguered, trudging back

538
00:26:29,713 --> 00:26:32,049
through the gates
of Rome in disgrace,

539
00:26:32,216 --> 00:26:34,510
believed that their misfortune

540
00:26:34,676 --> 00:26:37,763
had been caused by
this curse levied on them.

541
00:26:37,930 --> 00:26:41,058
So the curse
comes true big-time.

542
00:26:42,309 --> 00:26:45,229
[Shatner] The Battle of Carrhae
is widely considered

543
00:26:45,395 --> 00:26:47,439
one of the most
crushing military losses

544
00:26:47,564 --> 00:26:49,066
in Roman history.

545
00:26:50,067 --> 00:26:52,778
But was a spoken curse

546
00:26:52,986 --> 00:26:55,823
really the cause
of this devastating defeat?

547
00:26:56,824 --> 00:26:58,659
[Picknett] It's believed
that the curse spoken

548
00:26:58,867 --> 00:27:01,495
has a very special power,

549
00:27:01,662 --> 00:27:03,664
especially if you know
the name of somebody

550
00:27:03,831 --> 00:27:05,082
or the name of something.

551
00:27:05,249 --> 00:27:07,334
You're naming the person.

552
00:27:07,501 --> 00:27:09,128
You're focusing on them.

553
00:27:09,294 --> 00:27:12,214
You're getting all
the unseen forces behind you

554
00:27:12,381 --> 00:27:15,050
to focus on that person,
and it won't be good for them.

555
00:27:16,426 --> 00:27:17,886
[Shatner] Throughout history,

556
00:27:18,053 --> 00:27:19,888
spoken curses have been feared

557
00:27:20,055 --> 00:27:23,600
not simply as insults
or threats, but as weapons.

558
00:27:24,893 --> 00:27:27,104
In ancient Egypt,
sacred words were believed

559
00:27:27,271 --> 00:27:29,147
to protect the dead.

560
00:27:29,314 --> 00:27:31,066
In medieval Europe,

561
00:27:31,233 --> 00:27:33,402
legends speak of condemned men

562
00:27:33,527 --> 00:27:36,071
cursing kings
and popes to their death.

563
00:27:37,698 --> 00:27:39,324
And in Central Australia,

564
00:27:39,491 --> 00:27:41,910
deadly spoken curses
were carried out

565
00:27:42,077 --> 00:27:45,289
by a ritual executioner

566
00:27:45,455 --> 00:27:47,749
known as the Kurdaitcha man.

567
00:27:48,792 --> 00:27:51,587
[Houlbrook] So, in Aboriginal
cultures of Central Australia,

568
00:27:51,753 --> 00:27:56,300
the Kurdaitcha man was
a ritual enforcer of sacred law,

569
00:27:56,508 --> 00:28:01,013
and he would target anybody
who transgressed, so anybody

570
00:28:01,179 --> 00:28:02,848
who broke the moral code.

571
00:28:03,015 --> 00:28:07,227
And he would do this
by pointing a sharpened bone

572
00:28:07,394 --> 00:28:09,354
at whoever had broken the law

573
00:28:09,521 --> 00:28:13,400
and invoking curses
that could cause the death

574
00:28:13,525 --> 00:28:15,819
of whoever it was aimed at.

575
00:28:16,028 --> 00:28:17,863
[Picknett] And the bone pointing

576
00:28:18,071 --> 00:28:21,658
and the verbal cursing
has an astonishing effect.

577
00:28:21,867 --> 00:28:25,495
The person will sicken and die,

578
00:28:25,662 --> 00:28:28,916
often really quickly,
within days.

579
00:28:29,082 --> 00:28:31,251
And they haven't been
touched by a weapon.

580
00:28:31,418 --> 00:28:34,254
All they've had is
somebody chanting at them

581
00:28:34,421 --> 00:28:37,466
and pointing a sharpened bone.

582
00:28:38,550 --> 00:28:41,178
[McMahon] The bone pointing
curse was given recognition

583
00:28:41,386 --> 00:28:44,806
by both the legal
and medical authorities

584
00:28:44,973 --> 00:28:47,434
in the early 20th century
in Australia,

585
00:28:47,601 --> 00:28:52,314
and the reason for that was that
the curse did appear to work.

586
00:28:52,481 --> 00:28:56,234
People actually died
with no logical reason.

587
00:28:57,319 --> 00:29:01,156
[Shatner] Australian
newspapers suggest bone pointing

588
00:29:01,323 --> 00:29:03,992
was still in practice in 1935.

589
00:29:05,369 --> 00:29:08,580
And authorities tried to stop
these deadly ritual curses

590
00:29:08,789 --> 00:29:12,250
because they truly believed
they had the power to kill.

591
00:29:13,251 --> 00:29:17,297
So, what was really going on?

592
00:29:17,506 --> 00:29:19,967
In the early 20th century,

593
00:29:20,133 --> 00:29:23,512
there's an anthropologist,
a medical doctor in Australia

594
00:29:23,679 --> 00:29:26,056
called Dr. Herbert Basedow,

595
00:29:26,223 --> 00:29:30,102
and he investigates
the bone pointing curse

596
00:29:30,310 --> 00:29:32,896
to try and get to grips
with what's going on here.

597
00:29:33,063 --> 00:29:36,858
And he comes up with the
concept of psychogenic death,

598
00:29:37,067 --> 00:29:40,529
which is that,
as a result of the curse,

599
00:29:40,696 --> 00:29:43,532
there's a kind of
total organ failure,

600
00:29:43,699 --> 00:29:45,534
total collapse of the body,

601
00:29:45,701 --> 00:29:48,245
but for no observable reason.

602
00:29:48,412 --> 00:29:51,039
There's no disease,
there's no attack.

603
00:29:51,164 --> 00:29:53,542
The individual
who has been cursed

604
00:29:53,709 --> 00:29:56,044
simply gives up
the will to live.

605
00:29:57,212 --> 00:29:58,922
[Shatner] Can profound belief
in a deadly curse

606
00:29:59,089 --> 00:30:01,008
result in one's death?

607
00:30:01,174 --> 00:30:04,469
While it's still open to debate,

608
00:30:04,636 --> 00:30:06,263
many believe that the mind alone

609
00:30:06,430 --> 00:30:09,599
does have the power to kill.

610
00:30:10,726 --> 00:30:15,272
There are documented cases of
people dying having been cursed,

611
00:30:15,439 --> 00:30:19,443
and this probably is related to

612
00:30:19,609 --> 00:30:23,655
the effects of
the belief in the Kurdaitcha.

613
00:30:24,656 --> 00:30:28,243
It only works
if the person who is cursed

614
00:30:28,368 --> 00:30:30,203
believes in the curse.

615
00:30:30,328 --> 00:30:33,498
Now, in that situation, that is
obviously incredibly stressful.

616
00:30:34,541 --> 00:30:36,835
We know from lots of
psychological research

617
00:30:37,002 --> 00:30:38,628
that when animals and people

618
00:30:38,795 --> 00:30:41,173
are in situations
of great stress,

619
00:30:41,339 --> 00:30:43,717
it can cause them
to lose their appetite,

620
00:30:43,884 --> 00:30:46,386
it can cause heart problems,
and ultimately,

621
00:30:46,553 --> 00:30:50,557
it appears that it maybe
can actually really kill people.

622
00:30:53,143 --> 00:30:55,353
Can words...

623
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,564
really be the instrument
of an executioner?

624
00:30:57,731 --> 00:31:00,025
In the case
of the Kurdaitcha man,

625
00:31:00,192 --> 00:31:01,943
some believe the answer is yes.

626
00:31:02,110 --> 00:31:03,653
But there's another curse

627
00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:06,615
that plagued residents
of a small town

628
00:31:06,782 --> 00:31:09,284
and left many wondering
if what they were experiencing

629
00:31:09,451 --> 00:31:10,827
was a trick of the mind

630
00:31:10,994 --> 00:31:14,372
or something truly supernatural.

631
00:31:18,126 --> 00:31:20,003
[Shatner reads on-screen text]

632
00:31:20,128 --> 00:31:23,715
[Shatner] This quiet, pastoral
town in the far north of England

633
00:31:23,882 --> 00:31:27,427
originally dates back to 674 AD.

634
00:31:28,428 --> 00:31:30,347
But about 50 years ago,

635
00:31:30,514 --> 00:31:33,892
a pair of eerie,
allegedly cursed artifacts

636
00:31:34,059 --> 00:31:37,562
were discovered in
this charming community.

637
00:31:37,729 --> 00:31:40,732
They are known
as the Hexham Heads.

638
00:31:42,067 --> 00:31:45,362
In 1971, we get
a very strange story

639
00:31:45,487 --> 00:31:48,865
where Colin and Leslie Robson

640
00:31:49,032 --> 00:31:52,077
claimed to have found
these strange heads

641
00:31:52,244 --> 00:31:55,497
in their garden
in the town of Hexham.

642
00:31:55,664 --> 00:31:58,250
And they also claimed
that, in the house,

643
00:31:58,416 --> 00:32:03,088
those two little heads unleashed
poltergeist-related activity.

644
00:32:04,089 --> 00:32:09,094
And this became a major tabloid
newspaper story at the time.

645
00:32:09,261 --> 00:32:11,263
[Fisher] The people
living in the house

646
00:32:11,429 --> 00:32:15,433
begin to report nightmares,

647
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,353
vague shapes, shadows,

648
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,522
movements in the house.

649
00:32:21,481 --> 00:32:25,986
This then escalated to more

650
00:32:26,153 --> 00:32:29,072
physical manifestations of

651
00:32:29,239 --> 00:32:31,241
chaos and disturbance.

652
00:32:32,242 --> 00:32:34,244
Unexplained fires.

653
00:32:34,411 --> 00:32:36,997
Objects moving around the house.

654
00:32:37,122 --> 00:32:39,416
Violent mood swings.

655
00:32:40,625 --> 00:32:43,086
As they thought about this

656
00:32:43,253 --> 00:32:45,130
progression of

657
00:32:45,297 --> 00:32:48,550
strange, troubling behavior,

658
00:32:48,717 --> 00:32:51,094
the only thing
they could connect it to

659
00:32:51,261 --> 00:32:55,640
was the unearthing
of these heads.

660
00:32:56,766 --> 00:32:58,560
[Ocker] The heads were
eventually given to a researcher

661
00:32:58,685 --> 00:33:00,353
named Anne Ross,

662
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,939
and while she had
the heads in her possession,

663
00:33:03,148 --> 00:33:05,025
she started seeing werewolves.

664
00:33:06,067 --> 00:33:08,028
And then her daughter
started seeing werewolves.

665
00:33:09,070 --> 00:33:11,031
Once these weird things started
happening at their house,

666
00:33:11,198 --> 00:33:13,200
the media got wind of it,

667
00:33:13,325 --> 00:33:15,202
and so the media showed up
and started doing articles.

668
00:33:15,327 --> 00:33:17,913
All because of
these two little stone heads.

669
00:33:19,247 --> 00:33:20,999
[Shatner] According
to some experts,

670
00:33:21,166 --> 00:33:23,418
the eerie stone figures
found in the Robsons' yard

671
00:33:23,627 --> 00:33:26,546
appeared to be what's
known as "Guardian Heads"

672
00:33:26,713 --> 00:33:28,340
in Celtic folklore.

673
00:33:29,466 --> 00:33:31,843
They date back as far as 500 BC,

674
00:33:31,968 --> 00:33:34,429
and were often
positioned on buildings

675
00:33:34,596 --> 00:33:36,223
and wells or thresholds

676
00:33:36,389 --> 00:33:38,558
as a form of protection.

677
00:33:39,601 --> 00:33:43,271
But if the heads were
indeed ancient Celtic objects,

678
00:33:43,438 --> 00:33:46,191
why would the family
that unearthed them

679
00:33:46,358 --> 00:33:49,361
be the receivers
of a terrible curse?

680
00:33:50,445 --> 00:33:52,280
[Houlbrook] The ancient
Celtic religion

681
00:33:52,405 --> 00:33:54,074
revered the human head

682
00:33:54,241 --> 00:33:57,118
as a symbol of divinity
and as a seat of the soul.

683
00:33:57,244 --> 00:33:59,287
But there's also the belief

684
00:33:59,454 --> 00:34:01,456
that objects that are
associated with people

685
00:34:01,623 --> 00:34:06,211
can also take on the qualities,
the attributes of that person.

686
00:34:06,378 --> 00:34:10,005
So if an object was
associated with a strong person,

687
00:34:10,172 --> 00:34:12,467
that object
takes on that strength.

688
00:34:12,634 --> 00:34:14,135
But also, same with evil.

689
00:34:14,302 --> 00:34:16,471
So if a person is evil,
then that object

690
00:34:16,638 --> 00:34:19,516
becomes evil through their
association with that person.

691
00:34:21,059 --> 00:34:24,603
[Fisher] Across cultures,
to bury something

692
00:34:24,771 --> 00:34:28,900
is to create a boundary
and to seal it.

693
00:34:29,943 --> 00:34:33,697
So there's some thought
that you could bury heads,

694
00:34:33,905 --> 00:34:35,824
like the Hexham Heads,

695
00:34:35,991 --> 00:34:38,618
as a way of sealing off

696
00:34:38,827 --> 00:34:42,496
the power of that evil presence

697
00:34:42,706 --> 00:34:44,708
from everyday life.

698
00:34:45,833 --> 00:34:47,960
[Shatner] Is it possible
that these stone totems

699
00:34:48,085 --> 00:34:49,838
released some kind
of evil presence

700
00:34:49,963 --> 00:34:52,549
after they were discovered?

701
00:34:52,716 --> 00:34:55,510
To this day,
many are questioning

702
00:34:55,677 --> 00:34:57,721
if the ruckus was merely a hoax

703
00:34:57,846 --> 00:35:02,726
or are the Hexham Heads
genuinely cursed objects?

704
00:35:03,727 --> 00:35:05,770
What the Hexham Heads are,
to this day, we don't know.

705
00:35:05,937 --> 00:35:08,565
And unfortunately, we may never
know, because at some point,

706
00:35:08,732 --> 00:35:10,066
they disappeared. Nobody knows

707
00:35:10,233 --> 00:35:12,027
where the Hexham
Heads are today.

708
00:35:13,111 --> 00:35:14,821
But they are interesting because

709
00:35:15,030 --> 00:35:17,032
all that weird
phenomenon that happened

710
00:35:17,198 --> 00:35:19,326
didn't happen
until they were found.

711
00:35:20,452 --> 00:35:24,080
[Fisher] The question is,
when you excavate

712
00:35:24,205 --> 00:35:27,584
or remove things
from their proper place,

713
00:35:27,751 --> 00:35:30,670
does this have
unintended consequences?

714
00:35:30,837 --> 00:35:33,798
Does this
unleash power in the world

715
00:35:33,923 --> 00:35:38,803
in the form of curses,
malevolent powers

716
00:35:38,970 --> 00:35:41,222
that would have been best

717
00:35:41,389 --> 00:35:43,892
left locked away and buried?

718
00:35:44,059 --> 00:35:46,978
What happens
when we disturb things

719
00:35:47,187 --> 00:35:48,563
from their resting place?

720
00:35:50,148 --> 00:35:51,608
[McMahon] The thing
about the Hexham Heads

721
00:35:51,775 --> 00:35:55,070
is that this is
the kind of curse story

722
00:35:55,236 --> 00:35:56,571
that has mass appeal

723
00:35:56,738 --> 00:35:58,239
because it could happen
to any of us.

724
00:35:58,365 --> 00:36:01,368
We don't have to be
in an ancient temple

725
00:36:01,534 --> 00:36:04,245
or a pyramid or
some kind of historical site.

726
00:36:04,412 --> 00:36:08,291
We can just be at home
and find a cursed item

727
00:36:08,458 --> 00:36:12,253
that's been left there
by people in the past.

728
00:36:12,629 --> 00:36:13,588
♪ ♪

729
00:36:16,549 --> 00:36:17,926
[Shatner reads on-screen text]

730
00:36:19,010 --> 00:36:20,178
[Shatner] Almost
2,000 years ago,

731
00:36:20,387 --> 00:36:21,971
this Roman city fell victim

732
00:36:22,138 --> 00:36:26,351
to one of the most traumatic
natural disasters in history...

733
00:36:27,644 --> 00:36:29,646
...when the eruption
of nearby Mount Vesuvius

734
00:36:29,813 --> 00:36:32,899
blasted the area
with toxic gases...

735
00:36:34,567 --> 00:36:38,571
...and entombed the citizens
in a thick blanket of ash,

736
00:36:38,738 --> 00:36:41,950
leaving all eerily frozen

737
00:36:42,117 --> 00:36:44,869
at the moment of their deaths.

738
00:36:45,036 --> 00:36:47,789
[French] Vesuvius
erupted in 79 AD,

739
00:36:47,956 --> 00:36:52,168
and it appears that
it probably took less than

740
00:36:52,335 --> 00:36:55,130
20 minutes for
all the inhabitants

741
00:36:55,296 --> 00:36:56,881
of Pompeii to be wiped out.

742
00:36:57,924 --> 00:37:01,177
It wasn't the lava
that wiped them out,

743
00:37:01,386 --> 00:37:04,556
it was the dust and gas cloud

744
00:37:04,723 --> 00:37:06,808
that was
a consequence of the eruption

745
00:37:06,975 --> 00:37:09,185
that basically suffocated them.

746
00:37:10,311 --> 00:37:13,857
But what the volcanic
debris did do,

747
00:37:14,065 --> 00:37:16,443
it preserved a lot of the people

748
00:37:16,609 --> 00:37:18,611
and the objects
that were around,

749
00:37:18,778 --> 00:37:21,740
so that we can still
go and see them today.

750
00:37:23,533 --> 00:37:25,285
[Shatner] Each year, millions of

751
00:37:25,452 --> 00:37:28,037
tourists from around the world
arrive in Pompeii to get

752
00:37:28,204 --> 00:37:31,207
an up-close look at this
archaeological time capsule.

753
00:37:32,292 --> 00:37:36,838
While it's a marvel to walk in
the ruins of ancient Pompeii,

754
00:37:37,005 --> 00:37:39,924
some visitors take
more than memories

755
00:37:40,091 --> 00:37:42,135
home with them when they depart.

756
00:37:43,178 --> 00:37:48,266
Pompeii is one of
the most vivid examples

757
00:37:48,433 --> 00:37:51,644
of sudden chaos and destruction

758
00:37:51,811 --> 00:37:53,772
in human history.

759
00:37:54,773 --> 00:37:56,232
Yet, for decades,

760
00:37:56,399 --> 00:37:58,735
visitors who come to the park

761
00:37:58,902 --> 00:38:02,989
secretly take mementos
home with them.

762
00:38:04,407 --> 00:38:06,367
Bits of fresco,

763
00:38:06,534 --> 00:38:09,788
rock, small things
that they can grab,

764
00:38:09,954 --> 00:38:11,748
they haul off.

765
00:38:11,915 --> 00:38:15,043
Here's where the story
gets even more fascinating.

766
00:38:15,210 --> 00:38:17,045
Interestingly enough,

767
00:38:17,212 --> 00:38:19,798
something that we see happening

768
00:38:19,923 --> 00:38:22,133
on a regular basis

769
00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:25,720
is people mailing the things
that they have stolen

770
00:38:25,845 --> 00:38:28,515
back to Pompeii.

771
00:38:29,974 --> 00:38:33,394
[Houlbrook] Pompeii receives
many, many parcels in the post

772
00:38:33,561 --> 00:38:37,482
of objects that people
genuinely believe are cursed.

773
00:38:37,607 --> 00:38:39,192
"We're sorry for taking them.

774
00:38:39,359 --> 00:38:41,820
Please take them back
so that the curse is broken."

775
00:38:43,029 --> 00:38:46,407
One Latin American tourist
sent just a stone back,

776
00:38:46,574 --> 00:38:48,368
saying that his family had known

777
00:38:48,535 --> 00:38:50,453
"nothing but
trauma after trauma"--

778
00:38:50,620 --> 00:38:53,832
that's a quote-- "since
taking that stone from Pompeii.

779
00:38:53,998 --> 00:38:55,458
So here, have it back."

780
00:38:56,626 --> 00:39:00,004
There are hundreds and
hundreds of examples of this.

781
00:39:01,130 --> 00:39:02,632
[Shatner] Is there
any real harm hidden

782
00:39:02,799 --> 00:39:05,134
in a small piece of
the ruins of Pompeii?

783
00:39:06,177 --> 00:39:09,472
If it's true that these
otherwise ordinary artifacts

784
00:39:09,639 --> 00:39:12,517
have the power
to curse those that take them,

785
00:39:12,642 --> 00:39:15,854
the question is why?

786
00:39:16,896 --> 00:39:18,273
[Houlbrook] Pompeii itself

787
00:39:18,439 --> 00:39:20,984
isn't just
an archaeological site.

788
00:39:22,068 --> 00:39:24,696
It is, essentially, a mass grave

789
00:39:24,863 --> 00:39:28,116
that witnessed
a terrible, violent tragedy

790
00:39:28,283 --> 00:39:30,785
where so many people,

791
00:39:30,952 --> 00:39:33,454
thousands of people,
lost their lives suddenly,

792
00:39:33,621 --> 00:39:37,792
and then didn't experience
the real kind of burial rituals

793
00:39:37,959 --> 00:39:41,087
that were supposed
to be enacted at that time.

794
00:39:43,548 --> 00:39:46,467
[Ocker] Ancient Romans believed
that disturbing the dead

795
00:39:46,634 --> 00:39:49,888
would cause
these spirits, called "Manes,"

796
00:39:50,054 --> 00:39:53,182
to inflict bad fortune

797
00:39:53,349 --> 00:39:54,809
on whoever did that disturbing.

798
00:39:54,976 --> 00:39:56,394
So, what could be happening here

799
00:39:56,561 --> 00:39:58,646
is that people
who take things from Pompeii

800
00:39:58,813 --> 00:40:00,523
are literally
disturbing the dead

801
00:40:00,690 --> 00:40:04,152
and inviting that, you know,
bad fortune into their life.

802
00:40:05,194 --> 00:40:07,572
[French] Certainly,
people might feel some guilt

803
00:40:07,739 --> 00:40:09,240
for what they've done

804
00:40:09,365 --> 00:40:12,243
when they'd kind of
reflected on it later.

805
00:40:12,368 --> 00:40:15,038
If you believe
that your life is cursed,

806
00:40:15,204 --> 00:40:17,624
you tend to focus
only on the bad stuff.

807
00:40:19,083 --> 00:40:20,460
[Shatner] So, what do we think?

808
00:40:20,668 --> 00:40:22,545
Are ancient curses real,

809
00:40:22,712 --> 00:40:25,798
or are they simply misfortunes

810
00:40:25,924 --> 00:40:29,594
suffered by those
who believe in them?

811
00:40:29,761 --> 00:40:31,930
[Ocker] Do ancient curses
really have power,

812
00:40:32,096 --> 00:40:34,891
and that power just
continues throughout history, or

813
00:40:35,058 --> 00:40:37,727
are they kept alive through
our stories about the artifacts?

814
00:40:37,894 --> 00:40:40,438
And those ideas,
those narratives,

815
00:40:40,605 --> 00:40:43,024
are what gives them
power in modern day?

816
00:40:44,108 --> 00:40:46,819
[Houlbrook] There is
a desire to understand

817
00:40:47,028 --> 00:40:50,281
when things feel chaotic,
when we can't know a reason

818
00:40:50,406 --> 00:40:51,991
for why we're suffering.

819
00:40:52,158 --> 00:40:55,328
We want to
be able to rationalize.

820
00:40:55,495 --> 00:40:57,163
And if we can rationalize it,

821
00:40:57,330 --> 00:40:58,957
perhaps we can control it.

822
00:40:59,123 --> 00:41:01,626
So, I think as long
as there are humans

823
00:41:01,793 --> 00:41:05,880
who want to understand why
things are happening to them,

824
00:41:06,047 --> 00:41:08,633
there will be belief in curses.

825
00:41:09,634 --> 00:41:13,304
Can an object or a place

826
00:41:13,471 --> 00:41:15,348
be imbued with dark energy

827
00:41:15,515 --> 00:41:18,851
that causes harm or afflictions?

828
00:41:19,018 --> 00:41:20,979
Or are we psychologically swayed

829
00:41:21,187 --> 00:41:23,856
to believe in evil invocations

830
00:41:24,065 --> 00:41:26,484
based on fear and superstitions?

831
00:41:26,651 --> 00:41:30,154
The fact that hexes have
haunted the human imagination

832
00:41:30,321 --> 00:41:33,241
for thousands of years
is a testament

833
00:41:33,366 --> 00:41:34,909
to their enduring power.

834
00:41:35,076 --> 00:41:38,079
And while stories
of cursed jewels,

835
00:41:38,204 --> 00:41:41,165
damned lost treasures
and deadly legends

836
00:41:41,332 --> 00:41:43,001
continue to captivate us,

837
00:41:43,126 --> 00:41:46,421
the question of
what is truly supernatural,

838
00:41:46,629 --> 00:41:51,175
or merely our minds
playing tricks on us,

839
00:41:51,384 --> 00:41:55,638
may forever remain unexplained.

840
00:41:55,805 --> 00:41:58,516
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