The curse of Pompeii

The ‘curse of ancient Pompeii’ has struck a young foreign tourist, who fell ill and, anonymously, sent the director of the Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, some small pumice artefacts that she had stolen, apologising and hoping to recover. This was accompanied by a note written in English.

“I didn’t know about the curse. I didn’t know that I shouldn’t have taken stones. Within a year I became aware of the cancer. I am young and healthy and the doctors say it is just ‘bad luck’. Please accept my apologies and these pieces. I am sorry”.

The photo of the letter and the three pieces of pumice taken away was posted on X by Zuchtriegel, with a message: “Dear anonymous sender of this letter… the pumice stones have arrived in Pompeii…. Now good luck for your future and ‘in bocca al lupo’ (good luck), as we say in Italy”.

This is not the first time that a ‘repentant’ visitor has sent back stones or other artefacts belonging to Pompeii. Dozens of parcels have arrived from all parts of the world with their letters of apology recounting various problems experienced by the thieves as a result of the curse.

Among the many people affected by the curse is a Canadian tourist who had visited Pompeii in 2005 and blamed the theft for a series of misfortunes she suffered in the following years. She said that she wanted to have a piece of history that, “no one could have”, but that the relics had, “so much negative energy attached to that land of destruction”.

Going back even further in time, there is a case from 1987 when a statue was stolen then returned. The accompanying letter had been sent from Spain and the sender complained that the statue had brought a,”curse on his whole family”.