Cursed stones? Tourist seriously ill after stealing from Pompeii

Ancient Pompeii, the city flooded with lava by the volcano Vesuvius, is one of the most famous World Heritage Sites. However, could the city's stones be cursed? If you ask a young woman recently visiting the place, they are...

The city of Pompeii was buried under lava during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD - and thereby preserved. Today you can still walk through the ancient city and learn something about life back then.

Pompeii attracts 2 million tourists every year - and some, illegally, want to take a special souvenir with them.

In Italy it is forbidden to seek and take away sand and pebbles - not to mention ancient artifacts like the stones in Pompeii.

However, it wasn't the law that became a young woman's downfall after she took an illegal souvenir, but rather a curse. At least, that's what she believes...

The young woman had taken three stones with her from Pompeii - and within a year she was diagnosed with cancer.

She then sent the stones back to Pompeii, whereupon the director of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, posted a photo of them on his 'X' account.

The woman wrote: "I didn't know about the curse and I didn't know I should not take any rocks. Within a year I got b.... cancer. I'm a young and healthy female and the doctors said it was just 'bad luck'. Please accept my apology and these pieces."

Photo: @gabrielzuchtriegel / X

Zuchtriegel commented on the photo with the words: "Dear anonymous sender of this letter, the stones have arrived in Pompeii. And now good luck for the future and 'in bocca al lupo', as we say in Italy." This means something like 'break a leg'.

The young woman is not the first to come into contact with the alleged 'Curse of Pompeii'...

15 years after her visit, a Canadian woman returned ceramic artifacts and mosaic tiles from Pompeii. She saw the theft of these artifacts as the cause of her financial problems and two cancer diagnoses, Focus reported, citing the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

In 2019, the then-archaeological director of Pompeii, Massimo Osanna, told the Italian newspaper 'Corriere della Sera' that hundreds of packages had been returned in the past decades.

They include shards of amphorae, mosaic stones, a small bronze figure (although this was only a copy), plaster parts, and fresco parts.

Some thieves sent the items back because they couldn't live with a guilty conscience. Others believed that the theft had made them subject to a curse.

“These people connect all the family drama and bereavement with the theft in Pompeii,” Osanna said.

In fact, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, leading to the end of Pompeii, was already seen as a punishment from the gods. It's not surprising, therefore, that people connect this curse to the stolen artifacts.

However, the incidents gave Osanna another idea: making an exhibition on the theme 'What I took with me from Pompeii.' In addition, management believes that video surveillance on the site should be expanded.