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There can be consequences for those who steal.....

Tourists who decide to bring back "unofficial souvenirs" may find that there are consequences, even if their pilfering is undetected during their visit to historic sites. The "bad luck" described in this article may just be coincidental or it may be something else....

Thank goodness I've never been inclined to bring back items like that, and limit my souvenir hunting to the gift shop at each site. I tend to follow the "Urbex principle" when travelling..... "take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints".

Posted by
492 posts

Seems there’s many a story like this - even I have one!

When I lived in Egypt, I spent a summer interning at the US consulate in Cairo. At one point, a package addressed to the consulate arrived from the US. In it was a Smuckers jam jar full of sand, and a letter from a US citizen who’d traveled to Egypt years prior and had taken the sand from Giza and around the pyramids as a souvenir. Over the next several years they’d suffered from considerable misfortune and an overall string of bad luck they were convinced was the result of having been cursed for stealing sand from the pyramids. They were asking us to return the sand to the pyramids and end the “pharaoh’s curse” they’d brought down on themselves.

I only interned at the consulate for the summer, so this was the only such package received while I was there. Apparently it wasn’t an entirely uncommon occurrence, though - some of the staff at the consulate who’d been there awhile could recall such a thing happening a number of times before. Similarly, when I took an Egyptology course at the American University in Cairo the professor mentioned having received similar packages of sand, bits of stone, chips of pyramids or other ancient temples and such. I suppose folks would just try and mail the material back to whomever they felt was their best option to have it returned.

We sort of laughed it off, but someone did indeed take the sand back and pour it out in Giza - whether or not you believe in curses it’d just be downright mean to not return it and sentence that person to a cursed lifetime just in case. I think someone even wrote a letter back to them to let them know it was returned.

Picture, memories, and maybe a fridge magnet. Otherwise, be careful!

Posted by
4023 posts

I understand the temptation. It reminds me of my first trip to Europe, on the first day my wife and I were in Rome and I can't remember exactly where we were but I was amazed how many pieces of ruins were all around us. I said out loud to her that there was so much, that I could to take a piece home and nobody here would miss it. Thankfully, nobody was around when I said it. I wasn't being serious, but I was totally naive about actual problems that these destinations have with some visitors or with curses for that matter. If nothing else, this forum has been an educational experience for me over the past few years and I've become a more aware tourist/traveller because of it.

Posted by
4526 posts

Though it wasn't right in the first place, I feel badly for those who live such a 'bad luck' life. Imagine if the returns don't actually turn things around? Whether coincidental or not, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

Posted by
3809 posts

If the Brady family's trip to Hawaii taught us anything...

Posted by
1743 posts

I wonder what artifact someone stole from Wuhan last December.

Posted by
532 posts

Is the ethics related to just artifacts? We routinely bring home small rocks (Cassiar, BC, Piz Nair Switzerland, Kehlsteinhaus Germany) , small amounts of sand (Juno Beach, Rhine River, Lake Como) or clay (Tuscan field) etc from our travels.

Posted by
8377 posts

I think either Corsica or Sardinia arrested and fined some tourists for taking sand from the beach. Last year or so.

Posted by
4138 posts

My favorite artifact is the rusty metal egg sizer that worked its way up in the dirt at our 1927 farm house near Tacoma WA.

I travel too light to be bringing home anything but a fridge magnet or jewelry or a tee from Europe. I splurged once and carried home a tablecloth bought in the market in Aix-en-Provence. I love those olives and cicadas.

As for curses, my Episcopalian priest friend would say that like with religion, it's not about reality and all about belief or faith.

In these cases, it looks like guilt plays a big part, too, perhaps even for people who may not think they were cursed. As in what were we thinking when we took that?!

Posted by
7731 posts

Don't forget the tragic incident in North Korea when a tourist Otto Warmbier was alleged to have disrespected a communist party poster in a hotel there and was arrested at the airport gate.

Posted by
532 posts

Ufkak I would ask your opinion about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy but don't think I'd like the answer ;)

Posted by
4526 posts

Well, I have sand and rocks from a few places before awareness and laws about removing natural resources came into play. I try to keep my karma levels up and a positive attitude, and so far (knock on wood) I have had a pretty bad luck free life. Granted, when bad luck comes around, it tends to come in 3s and then leaves me be for a lot of years. I don't blame that on anything but the normal laws of life.

Posted by
6431 posts

The Egyptians and Italians should copy and laminate those letters, and post them conspicuously around the ruins. With the writers' names blacked out, I suppose.

Posted by
32173 posts

No one knows whether the Pompeii curse is real or imagined. However, I believe stories like this are a good reminder to be aware of the rules, and be respectful tourists when visiting other countries.

As someone mentioned earlier, some French tourists were indeed arrested and charged for stealing sand in Sardinia. A jail term of one to six years and a fine of 3000€ sounds like a lot of bad luck to me - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49394828 . Despite being EU residents, it appears they hadn't done their "homework" and weren't aware of the rules.

Posted by
3586 posts

Thank you ufkak. The reasons for not taking “souvenirs” have nothing to do with getting bad luck, and everything to do with being a mensch.

Posted by
4023 posts

My Mom grew up on a farm near what is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. Back in the early 70's when we'd visit my grandparents we'd go there and other similar locations in the area and we'd find old buffalo bones and arrowheads that we'd happily take home with us. A big no-no now. Happily no curse has followed me, perhaps curses don't kick in until it becomes an official heritage site?

While I believe that taking any piece of such a site is a reprehensible and utterly selfish act, I am also dismayed that anyone would be so gullible as to believe that some sort of historical "spooks" or curse will cause them to have bad luck. It is appalling that in 2020, there are some who reason as if we are in the 5th century.

Posted by
3812 posts

if we are in the 5th century.

I was thinking the same. Just like in the 5th century some people can't accept that awful s**t happens to bad and good people for no actual reason, that it just happens at random.

What's appalling to me is that while the "My fault" God died in the Western world, superstition is alive and kicking when it's time to come up with an explanation.