No English translation exists of The Buried Pearl , although it is a rather strange fact that in 1901, the French archaeological mission in Cairo made a regular French edition. Strange, because its...
In 16th and 17th century Europe, witchcraft was deemed a serious threat and court records attest to the terror evoked by suspected sorcery. Judges gave serious consideration to the danger posed by...
Archaeologists in Serbia have discovered the first known golden curse tablets in ancient Roman tombs in Serbia. The tablets contain inscriptions in long-forgotten languages with strange magical...
Runes are often associated with magic and sometimes curses too. For many centuries, they were used as magical symbols to guide people to the knowledge which they believed was created by their gods...
In the first half of the 4th century someone wrote a text in Doric Greek idiom. This text became known as the Pella curse tablet. Over the centuries, it became a key object in the argument supporting...
When Howard Carter opened the tomb of King Tut and people who were with him started to become ill and die many thought that it was due to the curse of the pharaohs. A similar way of thinking appeared...
A recent study of the writing on four lead tablets shows the importance of staying on your neighbors’ good side in ancient Greece. The artifacts are “curse tablets”, and were created to send bad luck...
The Hope Diamond is one of the most well-known diamonds in the world. This famous diamond has been on exhibition in the National Museum of Natural History (which is administered by the Smithsonian...
Witch bottles (known also as ‘spell bottles’) are apotropaic devices (things believed to have the power to avert evil influences). These objects are believed to protect their owners from the negative...
While researchers were analyzing the genes of prehistoric Irish ancestors they discovered that the beginning of a “Celtic Curse” (haemochromatosis) probably arose 4,000 years ago with a wave of...
We may never know what the magic spell says, but scholars using a CT scanner and new software have revealed an inscription or incantation on a tiny, tightly rolled silver scroll that was written...
In local folklore, Bla Jungfrun Island has long been associated with dark curses and witchcraft. Off the coast of Sweden, the island has a history of bad luck and a reputation for magic, and even now...
Bad luck is sure to befall a US company if it builds a new factory over a fairyfort in Ireland, warns a traditional Irish lore keeper. West Pharmaceutical Services is building a new factory in...
Nothing instilled more fear in the tomb raiders of times past, than the possibility of encountering a curse that warned of dire consequences for those that did not heed its warning. In ancient Egypt...
Although the ancient Romans were the first people to have had a fire brigade, they did not have a police force (apart from a night-watch). Thus, victims of minor crimes such as petty theft had to...
Bas-relief or low relief is a type of sculpture in which an image is projected at a shallow depth. This technique is often used in the art of ancient Egypt and other Near Eastern cultures. In...
The abandoned fort of Bhangarh is thought to be the most haunted place in India, so much so that the Archaeological Survey of India has forbidden access to the site between sunset and sunrise, and...
By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times Strange occurrences have been said to eddy around an ancient Egyptian artifact, known as the “Unlucky Mummy,” since it was taken from Egypt to Europe in the 19th...
A collection of 130 ancient Roman curse tablets featuring gruesome messages of revenge has been added to the UNESCO Memory of the World register of outstanding documentary heritage. Found in the town...
Whoever discards this image from the presence of Salmanu puts it into another place, whether he throws it into water or covers it with earth or brings and places it into a taboo house where it is...
It is one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world – how the Egyptian boy pharaoh Tutankhamun died. Theories have ranged from a violent murder to leprosy and even a snake bite. But now, 91...
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I...
Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists have discovered a 1,700-year-old curse tablet in the ruins of an old Roman mansion in the City of David in Jerusalem. It is believed the words were written...
In 1923, Egyptologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon opened the tomb of King Tutankhamen for the first time. It was guarded by a stone inscribed with the ominous threat: “Death Shall Come on Swift...