Cursed Histories S01E02
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00The year is 1911 and an eccentric heiress by the name of Evelyn Walsh and her husband Ned
00:27McLean are toying with the idea of adding yet another illustrious piece of jewellery to her
00:33expansive collection, the one and only Hope Diamond. Pierre Carchet is this very smooth-talking
00:41salesperson that now has the Hope Diamond and wants to sell it. It's absolutely stunning. It is this
00:48deep bluish grey, almost violet. You cannot take your eyes off of it. The beautiful, symmetrical,
00:55oval shape set within this stunning necklace makes this really a diamond of the highest
01:04calibre. Yet it seems the rare gem is not tempting enough to get the couple to buy. At least not until
01:13an ominous message from its former owner brings stories of its dark past to light.
01:19Mei Yeo, at the end of her life, makes a point of passing along a warning to the next owners saying,
01:28this stone ruined us. Her words echo rumours that had followed the gem for decades. While today the
01:36diamond is worth millions, it's believed to have drained those who possess it of far more than their
01:42riches. It's had a rather tragic and disturbing history. There are stories of people experiencing
01:53divorces, terrible accidents, illnesses, as well as, of course, incredible financial losses.
02:01Instead of being deterred, Evelyn is seduced by the tantalising tales of horror and pain.
02:08I think it was her way of saying, I have power over this stone. You say it's cursed, I am not cursed.
02:16If this walnut-sized stone is truly marked by a centuries-old curse, could this be the moment
02:23Evelyn sealed her fate and the fate of her family? You have to wonder, did she set a course to place
02:31all of these negative events upon herself by owning this diamond? Believed to have been formed in the
02:38depths of the earth more than one billion years ago, the radiant blue stone is revered as one of the
02:45most infamous cursed items in history. People like a mystery, people like a story, people like believing
02:55in things more powerful to themselves and things that they can't see. For those who have fallen
03:01victim to its wrath, this diamond represents anything but hope. The 17th century is a time when France is
03:08reaching out globally and expanding into the Red Sea, trying to get direct access to spices and, of course,
03:14precious stones. The first European reporter to own the Hope Diamond is a man called Jean-Baptiste
03:21Tavernier, who is a Frenchman, wandering the world, collecting interesting things in the 17th century,
03:28and he chances upon this gem and adds it immediately to his collection. As legend goes, Baptiste's travels
03:36take him to Golconda, India, which at the time is the only known source of diamonds in the world.
03:43In the 1600s, India's lucrative mining industry was at its peak. Enslaved individuals were used to mine in harsh
03:50conditions, and these gemstones were sent off to royalty. Tavernier appears as if he's an adventurer,
03:57but that character in real life is a thief, and one who clearly doesn't think very much about the
04:05effects of his actions on other people. While there, Tavernier obtained the diamond by unclear means.
04:12He had no idea of the series of events that would be triggered by his shadowy acquisition.
04:17Tavernier brings this diamond to France. It's roughly 112 carats. It's as large as a man's fist.
04:29Who is he going to sell a gem of this size to? There's only really one answer to the question.
04:36It has to be King Louis XIV, the builder of Versailles, le Roi Soleil, the Sun King.
04:44In France, the diamond gets a new look and a new name when the Sun King commissions the court jeweller
04:53to make him a piece to remember.
04:55The stone becomes known as the blue diamond of the crown or the French blue.
05:01When they first found this diamond, they had a lot of imperfections.
05:05That artificial enhancement in some societies actually damaged the potency of that gem.
05:11So when we talked about gems that have reputations for being cursed, is it because they were artificially altered?
05:19On September the 1st, 1715, the Sun King dies a painful death to gangrene.
05:27One by one, all of his legitimate children pass, except for one, the Dauphin, Louis.
05:34King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette end up inheriting the diamond.
05:40King Louis and Marie Antoinette, very lavish lifestyles, of course, at a time when many people in France couldn't get enough food,
05:51they didn't have any shelter.
05:52In 1789, the public turned the tables on the monarchy in one of the greatest public revolts in history.
06:01The French Revolution was a bloody event.
06:04And in many ways, this diamond symbolised the great divide in France at the time.
06:11This diamond associated with the monarchy, associated with luxury, while the people were going hungry.
06:20It's an armed insurrection.
06:23The nobility and royalty in France are targeted and put on trial for crimes against, essentially, the rest of France.
06:34The king and Marie Antoinette tried to escape, but they're brought back to Paris.
06:38And on the 21st of January, 1793, Louis XVI was beheaded by guillotine.
06:45Nine months later, Marie Antoinette faces the same fate.
06:48But as the curse describes, not only those who own it are destined to be affected by its misfortune.
06:58Marie Therese is seen as one of the victims of this Hope Diamond.
07:05She was a close confidant, a lady-in-waiting at Marie Antoinette's court.
07:11And rumour has it that she used to wear the Hope Diamond.
07:14After Louis and Marie were captured, the Princess de Lombard refused to denounce her royals.
07:22In the end, her loyalty led to her gruesome death.
07:26She was dragged from court and thrown to a violent mob.
07:33With hammers, they killed her.
07:36They disemboweled her.
07:38And they put her head on a pike.
07:40If Marie and Louis are wearing this diamond and her close friends and family are wearing this diamond,
07:47did the diamond play a part in this?
07:53In the chaos that followed, the diamond is looted from the French Royal Treasury.
07:58Nobody wants to admit that they had their hands on the Hope Diamond, but it disappears.
08:06Officially, the French Blue is never seen again.
08:09However, some 20 years after the French Revolution, another blue diamond appears on the scene.
08:16The smaller 45-carat diamond is in the possession of Daniel Elizon.
08:20He doesn't say where he gets it from, but there's speculation that it's cut down from the French Blue.
08:25If this is the resurfaced French Blue, we have to wonder what happened to it and those who had kept it safe in the 20 years since it was last seen.
08:36Stories tell of at least two men who may have been victims to the curse while the diamond was missing.
08:42When did the actual story, the tale of the curse, become attached to the diamond?
08:47And it seems to have started to emerge with one of its 19th century owners, a French jeweler named False.
08:53It's believed Wilhelm False is the man responsible for recutting the French Blue after the French Revolution,
09:01possibly in an attempt to disguise the stolen treasure.
09:06According to legend, he falls victim to the curse after his own son steals the diamond before it can be sold.
09:14False dies either from grief or from the hands of his own son.
09:19Eventually, his son commits suicide.
09:23In the following years, the diamond passes hands from merchant to merchant, gaining a reputation for nearly bankrupting those who acquire it.
09:34This diamond ends up in the hands of King George IV, who is an absolutely detested monarch.
09:44I mean, he loves richness and opulence, but he also becomes horrendously obese.
09:51He dies childless, he dies unloved, and he dies with a mountain of debt passed to his successor.
10:01In 1839, the diamond enters the gem collection catalogue of the well-known Henry Philip Hope,
10:08the man from whom the diamond takes its name.
10:12Henry Philip Hope was a very, very wealthy man.
10:16And when he bought the diamond, this was to be sort of the sign of his incredible wealth and power.
10:24Soon after the diamond enters his catalogue, the curse of the now-named Hope Diamond begins to reveal itself when Henry Philip dies of unclear circumstances.
10:35From the moment that they decided to purchase the diamond, they started to experience decades of financial problems, as well as other kinds of disasters, including illness.
10:50Could the Hope Diamond have cursed their success?
10:52Lord Francis Hope would be the last member of the Hope family to hold the diamond.
10:59In 1894, Hope meets American concert hall singer May Yeo, and by the time they have married that same year, he is nearly bankrupt.
11:09What we know about the Hope lifestyle, of course, is extraordinarily lavish, and it certainly didn't change when he married his wife.
11:16In 1901, he's forced to sell off the prized family possession to pay off debts.
11:24A year later, he's declared bankrupt.
11:28Soon after that, he loses a foot in a hunting accident.
11:33He divorces his wife.
11:35And then, age 75, Lord Francis Hope dies a poor, destitute man.
11:46In the years after she left the Hope family, Yeo leaned into the fantastic narrative that this mysterious diamond carried a curse, one that she, too, could feel.
11:58The fact that May Yeo went to the effort to warn the next donor is really interesting.
12:05She said, we're warning you, this will bring you nothing but misery.
12:091910 is the first time the Hope diamond's dark reputation is used to turn a profit, thanks to a charismatic jeweler by the name of Pierre Cartier.
12:21Cartier is the one who uses the stories of the curse, in fact, to increase the Hope diamond's value.
12:29It's always much more attractive if the object you're trying to sell has a backstory, right?
12:38If there is some legend, some myth, some curse associated with the object, some story associated with the object,
12:45then it becomes even more attractive to a prospective buyer.
12:49And that's exactly what Cartier did.
12:51Cartier knew his client well.
12:55Evelyn mocked the curse, joking that things that brought other people bad luck had the opposite effect on her.
13:01The same could not be said for her husband, who asked for a clause to be written into the deal.
13:06Should any fatality occur to the family of Edward B. McLean within six months,
13:12the said Hope diamond is agreed to be exchanged for jewelry of equal value.
13:17When Cartier adds a clause that if anything bad happens to them, they can't come back to him for it, it's not his fault.
13:24He's convinced them about this curse.
13:29Early on, there were signs that the Hope diamond would prove to be a bad omen for the family.
13:35Signs that Evelyn continued to ignore.
13:39Her mother-in-law is clearly very worried.
13:41She knows the stories about this diamond.
13:43And so she says, don't buy this diamond.
13:45And Evelyn's compromise is to say, well, let's go and purify it.
13:50Let's bring it to a church and see if they can bless it.
13:53So that if there is any kind of evil sort of attached to it, we can get rid of it.
13:58And on the day that she goes to the church to do this,
14:02as the priest is going to bless this stone for her,
14:06the lights begin to flicker in the church.
14:08And there's apparently a thunderstorm going on outside.
14:11Shortly after purchasing the diamond,
14:16Evelyn's friends and family grew fearful of its power
14:19and urged her to sell the Hope diamond back to Cartier.
14:23But she refused.
14:26Evelyn was fearless in her use of the diamond.
14:30And she flaunted it.
14:31And she flaunted the curse as well.
14:33She treats it with such little reverence.
14:36She's thrown it in a pool.
14:38She's worn it for surgery.
14:40She's let her dog wear it.
14:42She's stuffed it into a cushion.
14:44She's lent it out to friends.
14:46One tragic day,
14:48the good fortune that tied her glamorous life together began to unravel.
14:52So, in due course, tragedy does indeed befall Evelyn McLean.
14:58In 1919, her young son runs in front of a car and is killed.
15:03Her daughter ends up committing suicide.
15:06And everything around her financially just starts to fall apart.
15:11Eventually, her husband will leave her for a younger woman
15:13and then will end up himself being, you know,
15:16confined in an asylum and dying there.
15:18After years of eccentric spending,
15:21Evelyn was forced to sell her family's newspaper,
15:24The Washington Post,
15:26just to cover her debts.
15:28In the end,
15:29death, debt and divorce
15:30were not enough to keep Evelyn from wearing the diamond,
15:34even, as some began to call it,
15:36the talisman of evil.
15:38For all the pain it may or may not have cursed her with,
15:42Evelyn McLean has been memorialized in history
15:44because of her time with the diamond.
15:46Could this be what she wanted all along?
15:50To weave herself into its fascinating tapestry
15:53alongside the kings and queens?
15:56The theory that the diamond brings some sort of karmic retribution
16:00is almost feasible.
16:02That is, until it's given away
16:04and an unexpected victim is faced with its hex.
16:08After she dies,
16:11Evelyn's grandchildren finally sell the diamond
16:14to pay off her debts.
16:16The buyer is New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.
16:20Harry Winston decides to donate the diamond
16:22to the Smithsonian Museum in 1958.
16:26People hear about this donation
16:28and they start to really get anxious.
16:32A postman named James Todd was responsible for the delivery.
16:38Todd never set eyes on the contents
16:39of the heavily stamped package he was instructed to deliver.
16:43Still, the next year of his life
16:45would be riddled with so much tragedy and pain
16:48that many consider him the Hope Diamond's final victim.
16:51In the year after Todd delivers the package,
16:55he crashes his truck and shatters his leg.
16:58He gets into another car crash and injures his head.
17:02He loses his dog.
17:04Part of his house burns down.
17:06And eventually, he loses his wife.
17:09No one individual has dared to own the diamond since.
17:13Instead, the most notorious gem in the world
17:15now belongs to the American public.
17:18As a professional historian,
17:21I'm supposed to say I do not believe in curses.
17:26As a human person,
17:27I don't want to own the Hope Diamond.
17:32In some ways, it has come to represent the elite.
17:35In others, it's proof that even those
17:38who think they are protected by name, status or money
17:41are not safe from the tragedies of life.
17:44Walking in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church
17:50in Stratford-upon-Avon,
17:51it's clear this is a special place.
17:54Centuries-old gravestones decorate the ground.
17:57All but one bear the names of those who lie beneath it.
18:01Even though the slab itself is blank,
18:04there is no question who inhabits this space.
18:07It's the same person who was laid to rest
18:09in this very spot over 400 years ago.
18:12In Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon
18:16is the grave of one of the greatest,
18:20if not the greatest, writer in the English language,
18:24William Shakespeare, the bard.
18:26And the only indication that his body is there
18:29is a curse telling you not to move it.
18:32Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
18:36to dig the dust and closed hair.
18:39Blessed be the man that bears these stones,
18:42and cursed be he that moves my bones.
18:48The epitaph offers a threat to those who disturb his rest,
18:53and gratitude to those who just let him be.
18:55Was Shakespeare fearful that his body would be removed?
19:00Was it designed to be read by one particular person?
19:07Why would the greatest playwright in history
19:10choose to have this written on his gravestone?
19:13Could this forewarning have been concocted
19:15by someone else entirely?
19:17While the bard is known for the life he led,
19:20the circumstances of his death
19:22and the tomb where his body lies
19:24remain shrouded in mystery.
19:25Due to its location within a church,
19:29the morals and ethics surrounding it,
19:31no invasive studies has been done.
19:34How did Shakespeare die?
19:36Why was he determined not to be disturbed after he passed?
19:40Could this epitaph allude to Shakespeare's knowledge
19:43that someone would attempt to relocate his bones?
19:46Was he contemplating what that could mean
19:49for his soul in the afterlife?
19:51It's surprising how little we really know about his life.
19:54Shakespeare is widely regarded
19:57as the greatest writer in the English language.
20:00His works consist of at least 38 plays
20:02and 154 sonnets.
20:05We know even less about his death,
20:07only that it was mysterious,
20:10and he died age 52.
20:13From what we can glean from the records,
20:15Shakespeare died on April the 23rd, 1616,
20:19in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.
20:22In the month, he apparently wrote that he was in perfect health,
20:28and yet, within a month or so, was dead.
20:32And no one seems to be entirely certain what the cause was.
20:37A passage from the notebook of John Ward,
20:41the vicar of Stratford,
20:42wrote of Shakespeare's death 50 years after he was buried.
20:47Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Johnson had a merry meeting,
20:50and it seems drank too hard,
20:52for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted.
20:56Other theories suggest the playwright may have been poisoned by a rival,
21:00or even his own doctor,
21:02who may have administered a dangerous treatment for his illness.
21:05This adds to the mystery of Shakespeare's death,
21:10and suggests that there's at least the possibility
21:13of something nefarious happening,
21:15whether he was poisoned or murdered.
21:17We don't know.
21:18Did Shakespeare fear foul play?
21:21Was it designed to be read by one particular person?
21:27At the very least, we can assume from his work
21:30that Shakespeare contemplated death.
21:33What could be waiting on the other side?
21:37Could Shakespeare have been writing of his own fears around death,
21:41of what could happen to the physical body once life ends?
21:46Shakespeare was born in the middle of the 16th century,
21:49So we're looking at a time when bubonic plague was very prevalent in society,
21:55as was death in general.
21:58And so when the cemeteries got too crowded,
22:00they started digging them up.
22:02Bodies got lifted, moved into smaller spaces,
22:06and new bodies put in the old plots.
22:10Certainly Shakespeare would have shuddered at the idea of his remains being dug up
22:15and lumped in a room of other miscellaneous bones.
22:18But how effective was the warning?
22:21Has anyone in the years since he's been buried
22:24attempted to challenge this curse?
22:26And if so, what happened?
22:29From first glance, it would appear not,
22:32as the area around his grave seems intact.
22:36But a supposedly fictional tale written in a magazine in the 1800s
22:41describes how such a plot may have played out.
22:44That Shakespeare's skull was stolen admits, I think, a very little doubt.
22:49Yet I must not anticipate,
22:51but endeavour to trace this strange, eventful history from its beginning.
22:57There's an article published in 1879
23:00that tells the story of a man who is hired
23:04to retrieve Shakespeare's skull from the burial ground.
23:10The story goes that in 1794,
23:13a man named Frank Chambers agreed to steal Shakespeare's skull
23:17for a wealthy collector.
23:21It's a matter of speculation of whether he actually did this or not.
23:26A passage from the article says,
23:28When one of the grave robbers finds him,
23:35he says,
23:36he's fine.
23:39When it was published,
23:41this was regarded as a tale of fiction.
23:43A lot of things in the article were inaccurate or implausible.
23:47But could there be some truth to this tale?
23:51But why would anyone dare to defile this great playwright's grave?
23:55Around the time of the article,
23:57a budding pseudoscience called phrenology
24:00led to an increase in grave robbing.
24:02These thieves aren't hunting for gold jewels.
24:04Their bounty is human skulls.
24:08Also at this time,
24:09we see a lot of new sciences developing.
24:12So phrenology was one of these new pseudo-sciences
24:17that had come into being,
24:19and it was the studying of a person's skull.
24:22In theory, genius could be mapped
24:25by studying the shape of one's skull.
24:27Large indentations and specific parts are attributed to things like
24:31creativity, intelligence, and various skills.
24:34With a growing fascination around mapping genius,
24:36the skulls of the famous became valuable commodities,
24:40including authors and composers.
24:42Jonathan Swift, Mozart, Hayden had their skulls examined.
24:48And who wouldn't want to study the skull of a genius
24:52such as William Shakespeare?
24:54Could Shakespeare's skull have been seen as a high-ticket item?
24:58And who wouldn't want to study the skull of a genius such as William Shakespeare?
25:02Could Shakespeare's skull have been seen as a high-ticket item?
25:04Surely Shakespeare's creative genius was worthy of study.
25:08Were there plots to have it stolen and investigated?
25:11If so, did anyone succeed?
25:19For decades, historians have been itching to learn more about Shakespeare
25:23by studying his grave.
25:25But to protect the sanctity of his final resting place,
25:28it lay untouched.
25:30Until now.
25:33In 2016, the church allowed for a non-invasive study to be carried out.
25:39Ground-penetrating radar revealed that his skeleton did not have a skull.
25:45If the skull was taken, could this mean the gothic tale published so many years ago could be based in some truth?
25:52One vital detail from the investigation suggests so.
25:57The men had dug to the depth of three feet.
26:09I know we were nearing the level where the body had formerly molded.
26:13There may be some truth to the magazine article because to get two very significant details right,
26:21which is that the grave was only three feet deep and that the skull is missing and the person claims to have the skull.
26:28So now are they cursed?
26:32Who knows?
26:34The author of the original magazine story wrote a sequel wherein the character from the first story, Frank Chambers,
26:42who was hired to retrieve Shakespeare's skull, is experiencing difficulty selling it.
26:48He panics.
26:49He wants to get rid of it.
26:51And he hides it in St. Leonard's Church in Bioli.
26:55The Bealy Skull, a mysterious archaeological discovery, was found in the village of Bealy, located in Worcestershire, England.
27:04This discovery brings to mind one of the most enduring questions in history.
27:10Who was William Shakespeare?
27:12How reliable is our perceived knowledge of this literary icon?
27:17The Bealy skull was examined and now we know it belonged to a female who was 70 years old when they died.
27:24There have been several theories about the identity of Shakespeare. Who was he?
27:29There is, of course, ongoing controversy whether he was in fact, you know, the stage name for an earl.
27:38Working theories, one is that he was a nobleman, another that he was a lawyer,
27:43and there's even one that suggests he may have been a woman.
27:48His true identity may be lost to time.
27:51How much can we learn about the great author if the seal on his tomb was lifted?
27:56A long-standing rumor involving an organization said to move in the shadows suggests there may be some alive today who have the answer in their possession.
28:07Some claim that Shakespeare's skull is being kept by a secret order at Yale University.
28:13Yale's Skull and Bone Society, also known as The Order, Order 322, or The Brotherhood of Death, is the oldest senior class society at the university.
28:26For decades, this organization in the United States has been the center of several conspiracies.
28:32One of the claims about this society is that they have the skull of William Shakespeare.
28:39A tale that has followed the society for years claims members broke into his grave in Stratford-upon-Avon in the 19th century, claiming his skull as their prize.
28:49It's believed the skull was brought back to their headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut, and has since been used for their top-secret initiation rituals.
29:02The fact that the skull remains part of popular culture, or that it's being kept and used for secret society purposes, is obviously tantalizing.
29:13Of the many questions this discovery has raised, one that may never be answered.
29:19If somebody did disturb Shakespeare's bones and ignore the curse, did that come with a consequence?
29:27Did the curse actually work?
29:29Perhaps there are a trail of disaster stories that are out there that allow us to trace the movements of the skulls.
29:35The only way we would really know is if we actually had the ability to remove that stone slab from Shakespeare's grave, lift it up, and start to remove the earth just to see if there has been any disturbance or if he is actually laying under there where he was placed in peace.
29:58Do we take the chance?
30:01Do we risk it?
30:03Do we cut theition?
30:04Do we?
30:05Do we?
30:06Do we?
30:07Do we?
30:09Do we?
30:10Do we?
30:11Do we?
30:12Do we?
30:13In the Sartoon province of Thailand, a park official rips open a package adorned with stamps that tell
30:25of the long journey it's taken to reach its final destination.
30:29Inside a handwritten letter, the desperation in the writer's words can be felt in the room.
30:36Everything we do, something else bad will come along.
30:40It has been a long streak of bad luck. One after another, we lost all our money and have a lot of debt.
30:48Inside the package, mere stones.
30:53It is not an uncommon experience for park employees to receive small packages with small black shiny pebbles and a letter apologising for having taken those pebbles.
31:09You have to wonder why they would send these packages, often from all over the world. Why send these pebbles back?
31:19These aren't just rocks from any beach. These are stones from Koh-i-Niam, Thailand, also known as the Cursed Island of Black Pebbles.
31:28Dare to take a stone from its rightful place on the island and disaster will follow you no matter how far you go.
31:36This is no ancient curse waiting to be triggered.
31:39This is fluid, active, alive right now. Modern travellers are coming home, probably this week, with stones from Koh-i-Niam and deciding in due course to return them.
31:53What disaster could be so bad that tourists are sending sandy souvenirs back to Thailand months, even years after they've left?
32:02This is a small, remote, uninhabited island in the Amandam Sea. It's hard to reach. It's a private oasis, almost like a paradise.
32:18And one has the sense that it needs and wants to be protected from people, certainly from outsiders.
32:28Those visitors who make it here are rewarded by a fantastic sight, the millions of smooth black stones that cover the island.
32:36Koh-i-Niam is really special, I think, when those who visit it now talk about this remote, unspoiled space, but also very dramatic because you have this beach filled with black pebbles and it has its own sort of mysterious allure.
32:54They may not be diamonds or gold, but they are just as enticing. It's no wonder those who find themselves on the remote beach are often tempted to pocket a piece of the island.
33:05So when we go on vacation and we want to take a piece of it home, what we're trying to do is set ourselves up with a physical tag to those memories.
33:16And whether that is a pebble from the beach or whether that's a series of photos, there's still something there that can bring back those memories when we want to.
33:25But forgo its one rule, and the island of Koh-i-Niam will not let you forget.
33:32According to mythology, the island was created by Tauru Tao, a supreme deity of Thailand.
33:39To protect his creation, he laid a curse on the island.
33:43Any visitor who takes even a single stone will be cursed for life.
33:49The god Tauru Tao is described as wise and compassionate.
33:54The once great warrior has the power to control the wind, seas and storms.
33:59He is sort of the ultimate god of nature.
34:03Koh-i-Niam isn't the only place under his protection.
34:07Nearby, the island that bears his name shares the same curse.
34:12Nearby, we have another island that also has its own sort of mysterious past and resonance.
34:19Koh-i-Taru Tao, a small neighbouring island, was used as a prison in the late 18th and early 19th century.
34:30Koh-i-Taru Tao was used for prisoners of serious crimes, political prisoners and other undesirables.
34:38The conditions were said to be incredibly harsh and inhospitable, with prisoners forced to labour in the hot sun and subject to disease, malnutrition and abuse by their captors.
34:50Many, many prisoners died on this island and it's said that their spirits still haunt the island today.
35:00During the Second World War, supplies to Koh-i-Taru Tao were severely restricted.
35:06The convicts and prison wardens resorted to piracy in the Straits of Malacca.
35:11It was also then lent itself to piracy because, of course, what do pirates want?
35:16Pirates want places where they can conceal, where they can hide, where they can attack with ease and still disappear.
35:23So these islands have their own rich past.
35:26The island's rugged terrain and dense forests made an ideal location for pirates to store their wealth.
35:33Stories claim treasures were hidden in secret locations on the island beach and jungle.
35:40But it is said that the Thai god Taru Tao was called upon to protect the island from invaders and their fortunes were cursed.
35:49It's believed they're guarded by the supernatural force of Taru Tao.
35:55He's not a malicious god, but he is fiercely protective of his domain, his islands.
36:08On Koh-i-Niam, a sign looms on the beach, warning visitors of the consequences of disobeying the deity.
36:15Those who take these stones from the island will be cursed to face disasters.
36:21Even now, if you go to visit the island, you're going to find a sign on the beach in several languages,
36:26which is warning people not to remove the pebbles.
36:30And that if they do remove the pebbles, something terrible is going to happen to them.
36:34Despite the warning on the beach, so many tourists decide to tempt fate and take a pebble home with them.
36:44And more often than not, disaster of some kind does seem to follow.
36:51Every year, people test the god's threat.
36:54And every year, those same people ask the god for forgiveness.
37:00Anecdotes from travelers say they've been harmed in various accidents, lost their jobs and fallen into debt.
37:07A string of unfortunate events involving friends, family and finances that all seem to start after they leave the island with one of the stones.
37:16The whole point of this curse is very different.
37:19It's a protective curse. It is not out to harm people.
37:23It is about preserving the spiritual perfection and integrity of the space.
37:28What's fascinating about this curse is almost the delayed reaction that it seems to provoke.
37:35That people take a stone away, but then later something happens in their life.
37:41Maybe their health takes a downturn or their finances.
37:45And they think, oh my goodness, I must get that stone back.
37:49The curse seems to have a deep psychological impact.
37:54It certainly appeals to the guilt instinct of those who have taken those stones away.
38:01And so you can end the curse, but it means you have to restore the pebble.
38:05Thankfully, the curse can be reversed if what was taken is returned.
38:10This curse, unlike so many other curses, offers a safety net.
38:15If you want the curse to end, you just have to return the stones.
38:20Some people just take away these stones just to test the curse, see if it actually works.
38:25Maybe they just want to participate in the narrative.
38:27But the story of the curse creates a kind of guilty conscience in people.
38:33The question then, with all these packages coming back, is whether the senders of these stones
38:39are trying to blame the island for their misfortunes, or is it that the curse is very real?
38:482019 has certainly been a rough year filled with loss, and I hope to start a new year fresh.
38:55I'm so sorry for disrespecting your beautiful park by taking something so special.
39:01The cursed stones of this remote Thai island have taken on a dual role for those who believe.
39:07The poison infecting their lives with bad luck, and the cure that can rid them of such adversity.
39:13So you've taken these pebbles, you've gone home, you know, you saw the curse while you were there,
39:18but you don't believe it.
39:19But what happens at that point is you start getting into a confirmation bias.
39:23So every time something bad happens, you associate with the pebble, you start adding a ton of weight
39:28to this pebble of all the bad things that have happened to your life.
39:31You've sent it back, you've broken the curse, so now you're going to be looking for the good things that happen
39:38to confirm that you've broken the curse. And so you're going to immediately get into a better mindset
39:43because you're going to be focusing on the positives and not the negatives.
39:47And so all of that is going to give you a different emotional state.
39:51Halfway around the world, a similar phenomenon unfolds in Hawaii.
39:55The curse in Thailand isn't particularly unique. We do see it in other places around the world.
40:02One thinks of Hawaii with the molten lava, the Pele.
40:06The Hawaiian word Pele means molten lava. Pele is known as she who shapes the land.
40:13She represents resilience and passion.
40:16The idea of Pele has been distorted in recent decades. Many tourists believe her to be a fiery volcano goddess
40:24who punishes those who dare take anything that belongs to her.
40:28The stories have conjured fear in those who believe they are being tortured by her curse.
40:33And so there again we see tourists who every year are sending back lava rocks
40:38and other elements from the natural landscape that they've taken, convinced that they have been cursed.
40:43Some lava thieves have gone to great extents to return the molten lava to Hawaii,
40:49mailing packages that can cost up to $100 just to get the stuff back to where it belongs.
40:56However, the true story of Pele paints a very different picture.
41:01The problem with the Pele story and the tourists taking things away
41:06is that it isn't actually part of the culture. It isn't part of the history of the god Pele.
41:12So when we look at the goddess Pele, she is not the type of god that is vindictive or is out to hurt anyone.
41:22Part of the traditional Hawaiian belief is that every rock has manner or power,
41:27serves a function and has a place it belongs. In nature, you should ask permission to take something
41:33and respect the natural environment.
41:36Unlike the Tai Park, the Hawaiian stories isn't part of any Hawaiian tradition outside of the increased tourist trade in Hawaii,
41:49which seems to have invented this story.
41:52It's about using the idea of a mystical power, curse or ill fortune to ensure good behaviour.
42:01What we're hearing from the case of Pele and Hawaii is somebody creating a mystical penalty
42:08when they couldn't create a legal one.
42:11Perhaps the true nature of this curse is the guilt felt by those who have mistreated the island.
42:16The tourist has this idea that when she or he travels that they need to bring something back,
42:24whether it's pebbles from Thailand or molten lava from Hawaii.
42:28We feel entitled and we need to prove that we've been there and this is some sort of innocuous way that we can do that.
42:34There's something about just picking a rock up off that shoreline and holding it and feeling that energy
42:42and the beauty of everything around us that we don't really think about it as an act of, you know, destruction.
42:51But if you have thousands of people every single year and you're just picking up rocks or you're taking shells,
42:59that leads to a certain destruction of the actual natural habitat.
43:04As the saying goes, feel free to touch the stones but leave them be as you go.
43:10If you look around this isolated island, it's clear that the curse has done its job.
43:17But as more people learn about this private paradise, the threat of the curse stands as a last line of defence,
43:23protecting this sacred space from those who reach its shores.
43:27You may be welcome to visit, but every part of the island down to the last pebble must remain after you leave.
43:57I'm young, you may wanna know it all in but wherever it is.
44:08Have you seen it?
44:11It's brilliant.
44:14Whoops.