Atlas Obscura identifies six real-world cursed objects and the urban legends behind them. Craft your own stories using these terrific terrors or use one as a MacGuffin.
- The World’s Most Terrifying Haunted Doll. Now locked in a museum in Key West, Florida, Robert the Doll has been blamed for car accidents, broken bones, job loss, divorce, and other misfortunes. Speaking of Key West…has anyone seen Robert since the hurricane?
- How One Mathematician Turned a Number Evil. Belphegor’s Prime is a palindromic number with 31 digits—that’s 13 backwards—two sets of 13 zeros and, at its heart, 666, the Number of the Beast (1030 + 666 × 1014 + 1). This satanic number was discovered by Harvey Dubner and named by author and mathematician Cliff Pickover, who also coined the idea of vampire numbers.
- The Curse of the Stolen Amethyst. This cursed gem was stolen from India in 1857 and currently resides in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London, because of course it does.
- These Medieval Books Are Protected by Horrifying Curses. During the Middle Ages, book owners would write dramatic curses at the beginning or end of their books, hoping to scare off thieves.
- Is This Painting Burning Down Houses? In the 1980s, British tabloid were convinced that a painting of a crying child was responsible for house fires. The painting was supposedly found among the ashes of several homes, with The Sun estimating some 30,000 copies existed in Britain, threatening homes far and wide.
- Why We Fear White Lighters. This urban legend says that using a white disposable cigarette lighter is bad luck. Allegedly, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain each were in possession of a white lighter at the times of their deaths.
