Why do many believe the gem is cursed?
And is the curse real?
The heavy steel door of the room known as "the vault" protects some of the museum's most valuable treasures: a Martian meteorite, a rare crystallized gold nugget, and one of the world's largest uncut emeralds.
Here, amidst the glitter, is a gem with a dark side. Known as the "Blasted Amethyst" or "Cursed Amethyst" it was stolen from the Temple of Indra during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Ever since, misfortune, sorrow, misery and even death have been said to befall anyone who dares hold it in their grasp.
Is the curse real?
All is revealed in Museum Secrets: Inside The Natural History Museum.
Skeptical View
Mineralogist Alan Hart does not believe in curses because, as he states with quietly peremptory pique, "I'm a scientist."
What Alan does believe is that the gem is beautiful and historically significant. He reveals its physical properties and origin in our Web Exclusive Video: Solid Evidence.
Not So Skeptical View
While Alan Hart dismisses the gem's curse out of hand, curator Richard Savin does not seem quite so certain. He wonders aloud about the strange experiences he had after touching the stone in this Web Exclusive Video: Unexplained Evidence.
Further Questions
Worried there might be a curse on one of the priceless gems in your jewelry case? Check to see if any of your baubles are listed on this US diamond merchant's Famous Cursed Diamonds Page. (Frankly, we don't know why a diamond merchant would want to spread the idea that diamonds are cursed. But perhaps we just don't understand marketing.)
1 Comments
ATON • #39 • 2017-03-08 11:29:33
Give it to me.