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Cursed Histories S01E06
Transcript
00:00In 1972, a curator of the Natural History Museum in London, England,
00:28stumbles upon a curious box in the museum's archive.
00:33He cautiously lifts its lid to reveal another box, and another.
00:39After opening several packages, he finally lays eyes on the prize inside.
00:45A vibrant purple gem.
00:47We have this beautiful deep purple-coloured stone in the centre,
00:51and it's laid inside silver metal.
00:54On first glance, it's not the most remarkable or largest gem of its kind,
00:58but it does stand out as being unique on its placement and setting alone.
01:04A note with it names it as the Delhi Purple Sapphire,
01:07although it's not what it seems.
01:11The name the Delhi Purple Sapphire is actually a bit of a misnomer.
01:17Museum mineralogists studying the so-called sapphire
01:21actually discovered that it was an amethyst.
01:25Why was this amethyst stored thusly?
01:29Was it to keep it safe?
01:32Or was it indeed to protect onlookers from perhaps what was inside?
01:38The answer is laid out in the letter that told of the stone's sinister nature
01:44and the tragedy that seemed to follow wherever it went.
01:47This stone is terribly accursed and is stained with the blood and the dishonour
01:53of everyone who has ever owned it.
01:55Whoever shall then open it shall first read out this warning
01:59and then do as he pleases with the jewel.
02:02The letter is signed, Edward Heron Allen.
02:06Edward Heron Allen is a Victorian polymath with a huge variety of interests.
02:16He's a lawyer, he's a musician, he's a writer.
02:20Heron Allen was a notorious and celebrated figure in his own lifetime
02:25and to this day there is a society named after him
02:28that continues exploring a lot of his areas of interest.
02:32He was a highly intelligent and worldly man of science.
02:36So what could have transpired that led him to believe in this gem's power
02:41so strongly that he describes it as trebly or three times accursed?
02:47According to the letter, the gem can be traced back to a temple
02:51halfway around the world.
02:53In 1857 the British Indian army revolted against the British.
02:59The revolt became quickly very violent.
03:03This was during a time when the British Empire was raiding and looting temples
03:08and other institutions and taking all their natural resources.
03:12After successfully suppressing the rebellion,
03:15the British are dead set on sending a message to those who have revolted.
03:20They systematically ransacked hundreds of temples and palaces throughout the country,
03:25stealing tons of ancient treasures along the way.
03:29In Delhi and other parts of Hindu culture, gems were used to dedicate temples,
03:35to decorate them, to recognize them as places belonging to a god.
03:41One of these sacred places is the Temple of Indra in the city of Kanpur,
03:47the sanctuary dedicated to the Hindu god Indra.
03:52Indra is one of the most powerful of the gods, the most revered.
03:56He had many, many temples dedicated to him.
03:58In particular, he was the god of war and also the god of weather.
04:03During the raid, a cavalryman named Colonel W. Ferris steals what was believed to be a purple sapphire
04:13from Indra's temple and returns with it to England.
04:18Many relics which have been pillaged and stolen from their home
04:23are associated with a curse, some form of divine retribution for the wrong done.
04:31Upon his return to England, Colonel Ferris' life begins to unravel.
04:37His health deteriorates and his family faces a series of failed investments
04:42which drive them into financial ruin.
04:45After inheriting the jewel from his father, Ferris' son suffers the same fate,
04:50losing both his health and money.
04:53But the misfortune is not just confined to the thief and his kin.
04:57As the story goes, Ferris' son gives the stone to a friend, who soon after commits suicide.
05:05In an unsettling twist of fate, the stone is willed back to him, to whom it was returned.
05:12So begins a string of obscure events, which together becomes known as the Amethyst's Curse,
05:18or the Curse of the Delhi Purple Sapphire.
05:22Why do these individuals feel like they're being cursed?
05:26Do they have this guilt knowing that they have retrieved these gemstones
05:30from a place so sacred to other individuals?
05:34Struck by grief and driven by a desperate attempt to rid himself of the gem's dark energy,
05:40In 1890, Ferris sells the stone to a collector of such objects, Edward Heron Allen.
05:47For a person who had a wide variety of interests,
05:50we could think of such a person actually being intrigued by this backstory of the gem,
05:56and being drawn to it precisely because of these unfortunate incidents which were associated with it.
06:02Often people don't accept these curses and things until they experience it themselves.
06:09Perhaps it's because he's such a rational man that the scholar agrees to purchase the stone,
06:15believing he will not be affected by the same misfortune that had previously beleaguered the Ferris family.
06:21However, this sensibility is soon abandoned, as he too comes to experience the stone's eerie aura.
06:29We can only imagine the negative energies that plagued Heron Allen's time with the cursed gem.
06:36All we know is from his own words.
06:39From the moment I had it, misfortunes attacked me.
06:44And just like the Ferris's before him, he began to experience a series of calamities,
06:50including financial difficulties and health problems.
06:54The issues were perceived as being directly connected to acquiring this amethyst.
07:04Heron Allen realizes that the curse must originate from the sin and dishonor of the original owners.
07:11His intention is to neutralize these powers, and he has the gem reset by a jeweler.
07:19The gem is set in silver. However, Heron Allen doesn't stop there.
07:25He's using every kind of religious or sacred or esoteric symbol he can think of
07:31to try and neutralize whatever it is that this jewel is doing.
07:36In 1902, Heron Allen has done all he can to contain the curse of the gemstone, or so he believes.
07:43In the years that followed, the curse seemed dormant, save for one eerie phenomenon.
07:51Heron Allen witnessed the recurring apparition of a Hindu man in his library.
07:56It was as if the man was on a relentless quest for the mysterious stone.
08:01Each time he manifested, he would huddle in a dark corner of the room,
08:05digging furiously into the floor with his bare hands, but his efforts were always in vain.
08:11This eerie presence cast a chilling shadow over the bookshelves, leaving no doubt that something sinister lingered within.
08:19Believing the curse had been pacified, he lends the gem out to a friend.
08:25But almost immediately after his friend gets a hold of the gem, she is beset by a series of unlucky events.
08:33By Heron Allen's account, she is overwhelmed with every possible disaster.
08:39What actually happened to her, he never reveals.
08:43At this point, he must be wondering, is the curse back?
08:46And is it become so strong that anyone who merely touches it is going to meet with misfortune?
08:51In 1903, Heron Allen makes his first attempt to rid himself of the cursed gem by tossing it into the Regent Canal.
09:00Unbelievably, three months later, this gem is found and taken to a local jeweller.
09:07The jeweller instantly recognizes the work and says, I know where that belongs, and takes it back to Heron Allen.
09:16What are the chances that it was found in the canal and returned to Heron Allen?
09:22The scholar finally reaches his breaking point in 1904.
09:27Once again, he makes the mistake of lending the jewel to another friend, a singer.
09:33The next time she tries to sing, she is distraught to discover her voice is dead and gone.
09:39The curse has a lasting impact on the unfortunate soul, as not a single note passes her lips again.
09:46Alan is trying to figure out how to deal with this gem.
09:52He keeps it for several years after he came back up from the canal.
09:55He had it for another 14 years.
09:57But it's when he had the birth of his daughter that he decided that this is just simply too dangerous to have around.
10:03If he can't get rid of it, he's going to have to contain it.
10:06He decides to keep it locked in a bank vault with strict instructions to keep it sealed until long after his death.
10:13I feel that it's exerting a baleful influence over my newborn daughter.
10:18And I'm now packing it into seven boxes with directions that it is not to see the light again until I have been dead by 33 years.
10:28The stone is kept in several boxes, along with the letter that describes its dreadful past.
10:34What's the significance here? 33 years, seven boxes. Do these numbers hold another significance, maybe in numerology?
10:45One box, you know, the smaller box into the next larger, larger, larger, bit like the Egyptian sarcophagi.
10:52So it was really a layer of protection.
10:55And he's put it into seven boxes.
10:58And of course, the number seven, it's generally perceived to be good luck.
11:03If you look at many of these secret orders, these societies, they were all about numerology.
11:09And odd numbers tend to have more power than even numbers because it therefore made it harder to form a sequence.
11:19Edward Heron Allen dies in 1943, 39 years after sealing the stone away.
11:27His death is attributed to natural causes.
11:30The letter he penned that would accompany the amethyst to its new home was the last he ever wrote of the curse.
11:36There are no signs that he or his family suffered any remarkable misfortune since the day he banished the cursed gem to the vault of his bank.
11:46It should have stayed hidden away until 1976.
11:50But his daughter, Etha, did not heed this warning.
11:55Less than 12 months after his death, she withdraws the gem in all its boxes from the bank.
12:01For what reason, no one is sure.
12:03His daughter ends up giving it to the Museum of Natural History and it gets lost in the archives, as many things do.
12:13But we have this curator who comes along and discovers it, four years shy of the 33 year mark.
12:21So we have to wonder, when this is opened, does it actually completely wipe out all of these attempts to neutralize this amethyst negative energy?
12:36We have this museum curator who is opening up these seven boxes and in the last one he finds the jewel.
12:45But he also finds a communication from Edward Heron-Allen.
12:49And he is warning whoever opens the box to just get rid of this sapphire, throw it into the sea.
12:58Well, the question arises, why didn't Edward do that?
13:02A line in his letter suggests it wasn't fear, but a pledge that prevented him from doing so.
13:08My advice from him is to cast it into the sea.
13:11I am forbidden by the Rosicrucian oath to do this, or will have done it.
13:17The Rosicrucians are an ancient, esoteric, secret society, a global brotherhood.
13:25They believed in the power of symbols and they believed that they could use darker forces to effect transformation in this life.
13:36He created this piece in true Rosicrucian fashion.
13:40All of these symbols represent very specific things.
13:44And in order to take something like that and just throw it away into the sea is almost blasphemous in the views of, you know, his Rosicrucian beliefs.
13:55Because of the rules of the Rosicrucians, he cannot get rid of the jewel. Somebody else has to.
14:02The gem is dusted off and put on display in the museum's vault gallery, where it seems to sit peacefully on display.
14:09That is, until the Heron-Allen Society makes a request that it's brought out of the museum for a lecture.
14:16The seemingly simple favour falls on museum curator John Whittaker.
14:21In 2004, curator John Whittaker is asked to transport the gem from the Natural History Museum to the Heron-Allen Society.
14:31Each time he tried to bring the gem to the Heron-Allen Society, something happened.
14:36In one occasion he fell ill, another occasion there was a powerful storm.
14:41And the third time he was in agony and would, a few hours later, pass kidney stones.
14:47Is this evidence that the curse lives on today?
14:51The story of this gem has all the makings of a film or a really great novel.
14:57So much so that some people think he may have just made the whole thing up.
15:01And the only evidence of the curse that we have comes from the story that he weaved in the letter.
15:06In fact, a gothic short story written in 1921 titled The Purple Sapphire told the story of a cursed gemstone that is believed to bring misfortune to its owners.
15:19The sapphire, purple in colour, is said to carry a curse that brings suffering and death to anyone who possesses it.
15:26This story was published under the name Christopher Blair, who just happened to be one of Heron-Allen's many pseudonyms.
15:34It does make you wonder, is this art imitating life or life imitating art?
15:43Did he just fabricate the entire story to achieve some fame and renown, to create some intrigue around this gem?
15:54Or was this story a reflection of the realities in how the gem inspired misfortune in life?
16:05We'll never know the truth of the story because we only have his account.
16:09There's great reason to doubt the story, but alas, so many people have reached out to the museum to substantiate the curse with their own claims and their own ideas of what happened to them.
16:22To this day, members of the Heron-Allen family want nothing to do with it, they don't want to touch it, so the idea of the curse is very much alive in the hearts of many people.
16:35Among the likes of the Star of Africa Diamond and the Arnito meteorite, the cursed amethyst is featured not for its rarity or size, but for the story of a wretched curse.
16:48As museum guests steal a glance at the striking purple stone, an important question has yet to be answered.
16:57Has its wicked energy finally been claimed? Or is it destined to be damned until it has returned to its true home?
17:04The curse is not gone just because somebody tried to remove it. The only way they might neutralize the negativity of this stone is return the object back to its people and back to where they took it from.
17:23January 16th, 1909. Whispers of a strange occurrence are spreading and can be heard throughout South Jersey in the United States.
17:38Residents are tilting their heads at the sight of curiously shaped footprints that litter the freshly fallen snow.
17:47No one can seem to connect the tracks to an animal that makes sense.
17:51They appear through fields, in backyards and stranger still across the rooftops of houses.
17:59The sightings of the hoofs are particularly perplexing. They're not just out on the roadside or out in fields somewhere.
18:06They're in people's backyards. They're on their roofs. They're in all kinds of strange places.
18:11These tracks are seen all over the city of Woodbury in New Jersey and resemble the hoof of a small two-legged horse.
18:20In the following days, newspapers and local radio stations are inundated with more and more reports of the mysterious tracks.
18:29They've now spread to North Jersey, Delaware Valley, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
18:35But things are about to take a devilish turn when a local councillor of New Jersey's state capital is awoken in terror.
18:45E.P. Whedon, a Trenton councilman, told reporters that he had been woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of these giant flapping wings on this creature outside of his bedroom window.
19:00Just like the rest, he claims to find pairs of cloven footprints in the snow outside his home.
19:07In an article, the Trenton Times writes of the strange goings-on.
19:12The unknown animal, believed by local residents to be a one-legged, one-footed bird, has been lurking about the city the past 36 hours.
19:21Panic ensues, and for eight straight days, those who are brave enough to leave their homes are wide-eyed as they hope to spot the mysterious creatures.
19:32The rest shelter indoors, fearful of what it could be capable of.
19:36Over the decades, it's been given many names, but today, most know it as the Jersey Devil.
19:49Prior to the 1900s, the Jersey Devil was also known as the Leeds Devil, or the Devil of Leeds.
19:56The origin story is from the town of Leeds. There are prominent families with the name of Leeds in the area as well, so it may be connected to the family he comes from, as well as the county.
20:09Most of these stories place the birth of this monstrous offspring with a woman who was cursed in some way, and gave birth to this child.
20:20But that's not the only version of this cursed story.
20:25One of the dominant versions of the story is of an American woman in 1778, so during the American Revolution, who falls in love with a British soldier, and whose community curses her and their relationship.
20:43The townsfolk become enraged when they learn of the couple's forbidden love, calling the affair an act of treason.
20:51The matter escalates when she becomes pregnant with the soldier's child.
20:55She is cursed by the town, and when she gives birth, the child becomes known as the Leeds Devil.
21:01We see again and again, in history and in society, that women often take the blame. And you have to wonder, in this case, is it just another example of a woman being scapegoated for the misfortunes of a town?
21:19The Jersey Devil, who is born of this young woman and the British soldier, is really a little bit more of a metaphor, that this child is monstrous because it is between the union of an American girl and a British soldier.
21:35A more prominent version of the story leaves no room to debate what becomes of the cursed child.
21:40There was a woman known as Mother Leeds, who lived in abject poverty, and had 12 children, and a drunkard for a husband.
21:55In 1735, Mother Leeds discovers that she is pregnant for the 13th time. The news pushes her to the point of absolute exasperation.
22:04Of course, the fact that it's the 13th child that becomes a monster fits in with a kind of numerological pattern. The number 13 is viewed as being unlucky in many cultures.
22:20She raises her hands to the heavens and curses the unborn child in frustration, and cries out, let this one be the devil.
22:28She'll soon learn that she should have bit her tongue, as her words would come back to haunt her.
22:35When the child is born, it very briefly appears to be human.
22:41Mother Leeds, her husband, a collection of midwives, and all the 12 children are around her when she delivers number 13, and for a moment, there is peace.
22:54The happy moment was short-lived, as within minutes, Mother Leeds' unholy wish came to fruition.
23:02It appears to have horns, it appears to have hooves.
23:06Some say the child was consumed by anger at being rejected by his family.
23:11It immediately attacks the family.
23:14Everyone in that household has been murdered or maimed by the New Jersey Devil.
23:20When the deed is done, the beast breaks through the house and disappears into the nearby forest.
23:27It flies towards the desolate forest, the Pine Barrens, where it's said to make its home.
23:33The Leeds, or Jersey Devil, is said to live in the shadows of the woods, largely unseen.
23:40Those who do catch a glimpse of it are believed to suffer.
23:43That story grows from a small, local story to one that is notable for a much larger area.
23:57The stories of the Jersey Devil come out, and then now the Jersey Devil's being found everywhere across the state.
24:03You know, chickens that are dying because a fox got in, now it's the Jersey Devil has killed it.
24:07So we're getting to the point, because of the publicity, that there is a bit of potential mass hysteria or hallucination going in,
24:16where things that would normally be attributed to normal things are being just assigned to the Jersey Devil.
24:22In the case of the Jersey Devil, there's no doubt that the tale of the cursed child's story has planted itself in the history of the region.
24:29In both the 18th and 19th centuries, there were sporadic sightings of the Jersey Devil.
24:39It's usually seen in the form of swift moving shadows, and heard in unearthly cries.
24:45The Jersey Devil is seen as a bad omen.
24:47The forsaken creature is believed to feast on livestock, and the local folks start to blame the Devil for a lot of things, be it crop failures, war, and other unfortunate events.
25:05To better understand the legend of the Jersey Devil, it's important to understand the area he was born.
25:10One of the places where the Jersey Devil is often seen, and is certainly associated with, is called the Pine Barren.
25:18Pine Barrens is located in the southeast of Jersey, but it's really hard to get to, it's quite isolated and surrounded by swamps.
25:26It was the place where fugitive slaves hid.
25:30It was where criminals and outcasts would find a home, so anyone that wasn't from the region would look down on those that were.
25:41This was the place where social outcasts lived.
25:46At times the locals leaned into this reputation, fueling rumours and fostering certain frightening stories about themselves as a way to discourage outsiders or intruders from entering the Barrens.
25:58The Pine Barrens were thought to be used by outlaws and criminals, and maybe the idea of the Jersey Devil was a way to try to keep people out, keep the law out, keep regular people out, because this was their space, this was their territory.
26:14One theory has it that because society othered those from the Pine Barrens, they formulated this mythical monster as a form of self-protection and preservation, saying to outsiders, don't come here, leave us alone, stay away.
26:36But sightings of the Jersey Devil weren't limited to locals. In fact, some famous names give credence to the tales that a winged beast roams the woods. One such encounter takes place around 1820.
26:50One of the most prominent was the brother Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Bonaparte, who apparently was hunting in the woods when suddenly they caught sight of this beast. It gives added weight to what people believe is the existence of this real beast living in the woods.
27:06The names Leeds Devil, Jersey Devil, and the What Is It? are frequently plastered across newspaper headlines.
27:13We often think of folklore as something that is passed just mouth-to-mouth, person-to-person orally, but media does have something to do with it as well.
27:23Journalism was a field at this time where people had enormous faith in it, so it's not surprising that if you start to see these stories showing up in the papers, there are many people who might think, well, you know, maybe there's some truth in it.
27:37Well, growing up in New Jersey, when we heard about the Jersey Devil, it was about don't go off the beaten path down south.
27:45But the Jersey Devil was the boogeyman. And when you're scared is when you start looking at the world around you and you start seeing things to be fearful of.
27:54Without a doubt, the media must bear some responsibility for the frenzy that engulfed the region in 1909 in an event known as the Jersey Devil Panic.
28:05For a brief week, upwards of a thousand reports claim the Jersey Devil has once again reappeared.
28:12There's a kind of hysteria in the Pine Barrens where lots of people are sighting the Jersey Devil.
28:21All of the sudden, so many people are finding the strange hoof prints, are finding damage to crops, are seeing sightings of the Jersey Devil themselves, and they're reporting them to their neighbours and to the media.
28:34The trail leads right up to the houses and then disappears, as though he or she or it, or whatever the thing is, has taken flight into the realms of space.
28:44The entire week, people reported that their livestock had been slaughtered. Schools were closed due to low attendance. Everyone was afraid to leave their home.
28:55The mania fuelled by the media resulted in the scientific community being asked for possible explanations.
29:03Reportedly, professors from Philadelphia and experts from the Smithsonian Institution thought the Devil could be a prehistoric creature from the Jurassic period.
29:13Had the creature survived in the nearby limestone caves? New York scientists thought it was some kind of marsupial carnivore.
29:22However, the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia could not locate any record of any species, living or dead, that matched the description of the creature dwelling in Jersey.
29:34The Jersey or Leeds Devil is what we call a cryptid. A cryptid is a creature that is not recognised by modern science and is associated with a particular area. So, for example, the Loch Ness Monster.
29:52Skeptics chalk the reported sightings and attacks up to nothing more than historical local disdain for the Leeds family, negative perception of the local rural population and a misidentified animal sighting.
30:06But what kind of animal could match the alarming size and unique features of the alleged Jersey Devil?
30:13There is, of course, one decent contender, and that's the New Jersey species of the Sandhill Crane.
30:20It's a tall, slender bird with a massive two-meter wingspan, bat-like wings that it flaps.
30:28And its ability to walk on these two massive legs and fly goes some way in explaining the mysterious footprints found in the fields and rooftops of Jersey.
30:40The Sandhill Crane seems to be a likely possibility when we consider that if you saw it out of context, if you saw it in the dark,
30:49you might think that it really is some magical being.
30:55Sociologists suggest the eventful week, where so many people claim to have seen it, could be attributed to a collective psychological experience sparked by the historic urban legend.
31:07And you have to wonder whether this was a case of mass hysteria.
31:14Non-believers are challenged to debunk the curse by spending even a single night in the ghostly mists of the Pine Barrens.
31:22Whether it's deep in our psyche, or deep in the Jersey forest, one thing is certain, the Devil still lurks in New Jersey, and likely always will.
31:34The End
31:38At the request of Lord Erskine, the first Earl of Mar, a band of soldiers and masons are sent out to Cambus Kenneth Abbey in Stirling, Scotland.
31:51Upon arrival, they begin to demolish the monastery, or what's left of it, taking it apart brick by brick.
31:59Cambus Kenneth Abbey is one of many abbeys that now look very haunting, that stand there in the landscape in total ruins.
32:08This is a 12th century medieval abbey that served as the centre for the order of St. Augustine, a monastic order that followed the rule of St. Augustine.
32:18In the distance, Abbot Patrick, head of the monastery, anguishes over the news.
32:25He and his chapter of monks are now homeless, and must watch as their holy building is being desecrated.
32:33The very stones that housed the monks in their religious practice were taken by the Lord to build his mansion.
32:40What the first Earl of Mar fails to realise is the true cost of his self-indulgent decision.
32:47The mansion he erects will be the setting for a cryptic curse that will plague his family for generations.
32:54With each stone, he unwittingly seals the fate of his lineage, interweaving it with the fate of the mansion itself.
33:01A curse assures their eventual doom. The Urskins are predicted to rise only to crash and burn until there is virtually nothing left.
33:12Who cast such a curse over this place and those who own it?
33:17What did the curse predict? And will the family ever be able to break free from it?
33:24The initial destruction of Cambus Kenneth Abbey was triggered by the Scottish Reformation, a time when symbols of the Roman Catholic Church were being removed all across Scotland.
33:37During the Reformation, the power of the Roman Catholic Church was being broken in Scotland by the new Protestant ascendancy, by the new Calvinist ascendancy in Scotland,
33:50that wanted to destroy the authority of the Pope, the power of the monks and the bishops.
33:57And their particular target was those rich and ornate abbeys. They had to come down.
34:05The Reformation struck fear into the hearts of so many who lived in the monasteries.
34:10Those residing in Cambus Kenneth Abbey were no exception.
34:13The abbey was also known as the Monastery of Stirling, or Stirling's Abbey, because it was built in the site of Stirling Castle.
34:25One version of events suggests the abbey was destined to be destroyed in the Reformation by Protestants, as so many others before it.
34:33However, an alternative story states the abbey would have been safe if it wasn't for a call made by one man, John Erskine, the Earl of Marr, who ordered its demolition in order to grab the materials he needed.
34:48Erskine was the Regent of Scotland and wanted to flaunt his position by building a manor that was so grand that it would rival Stirling Castle.
35:01As John Erskine is looking around his newly purchased land, he finds that there is an abbey on it.
35:07And it makes sense to him if he wants to build a new modern home to maybe appropriate some of the stones from the old abbey.
35:18The appropriation of this building for the Erskine family would have been regarded as an act of desecration by Catholics.
35:26The last abbot of Cambus Kenneth was not impressed by the desecration of this ancient place.
35:33He patiently waits for the construction of the mansion, known as Marr's Walk, before confronting the Earl of Marr himself.
35:41One night, Abbot Patrick, who was the last abbot of the now ruined abbey, turns up and hammers on the door of Lord Erskine.
35:52Abbot Patrick tells him face to face of the fate that awaits he and his family.
35:58He speaks cryptically of what is to come and describes what is now known as the doom of Marr.
36:05Today is the day he enacts his revenge.
36:07Thy walk shall be after thy name, thy walk shall be the emblem of thy house, and shall teach mankind that he who cruelly and haughtily raiseth himself upon the ruins of the holy cannot prosper.
36:24The abbot lays an elaborate curse on the Erskines and their home in the form of eight ominous predictions.
36:29He laid a curse on the family, not just the lord of the manor himself, but his children and his grandchildren and down through the generations, that they would suffer for the crime of the lord Erskine himself.
36:48It was foretold that the family will rise and rule and destroy only to fall. The war will be cursed and never finished.
36:58All their estates and property would fall into the hands of strangers.
37:02A future Erskine will live to see his home alight in flames with his wife inside, and three of his children will never see the light of day.
37:12The great hall of the family seat would be used to stable horses, and a lowly weaver would work in the grand chamber of state.
37:20The curse would only end after all this had passed, and an ash sapling has taken root at the top of the tower.
37:28The Earl of Marr is confused by the old man, who seems to be rambling on about a future he would not be part of.
37:37The lord dismisses him, and returns to enjoy the spoils of his new home.
37:42To John Erskine, it seems the abbot's wrathful utterings were nothing more than the fiery words of a scorned man.
37:49The end of John Erskine's life, nothing really bad has happened. The curse hasn't seemed to have taken effect.
37:55The opposite seems to happen, as Erskine becomes one of the most powerful men in Scotland.
38:02When King James inherited the throne, he was still a child.
38:06So he needed to have a regent, someone in charge, until he was old enough.
38:10So the Earl of Marr was the one who was able to rise to that status, and as regent, that's when he was essentially governing Scotland.
38:18But little did Erskine realise, the curse was already in play.
38:25Proud chief of Marr, thou shalt be raised still higher, until thou sittest in the place of the king.
38:33Thou shalt rule and destroy, and thy walk shall be cursed and shall never be finished.
38:37Although reaching the pinnacle of Scottish power, he dies before his manna is completed.
38:44But the curse doesn't die with him.
38:47The concept of generational curses goes with the idea that, you know, it's passed down through the family.
38:56But thou shalt have riches and greatness, and shalt be true to thy sovereign, and shalt raise his banner in the field of blood.
39:08So for two centuries, the Erskines enjoyed wealth and power.
39:13But that would all change during the early part of the 18th century, when there was a push to restore the exiled Stuart monarchs to the British throne.
39:21In 1715, the 6th Earl of Marr declares allegiance to James Stuart of Scotland, and he leads a Jacobite rebellion.
39:36But during this rebellion, he's defeated.
39:40And the next part of the curse is set.
39:42Then, when thou seemest to be highest, when thy power is mightiest, then shall come thy fall.
39:51Thy land shall be given to the stranger, and thy title shall be among the dead.
39:57Because he was associated with these rebels, he himself found that he lost his titles and his claim to family status.
40:06So this was the first major blow to the family.
40:09The most tragic of predictions would play out in 1801, over two centuries after the curse was cast.
40:17John Francis Erskine, the 7th Earl, was unlucky enough to bear the brunt of the prophecy, and so paid the highest price for his ancestors' mistakes.
40:28The branch that springs from thee shall see his dwellings burnt, his wife a sacrifice in the same flame, his children, three born and grown, who shall never see the light of day.
40:42So the curse does come to fruition, it would seem, with the 7th Earl of Erskine.
40:50First of all, he had three blind daughters, and so that meant they couldn't see the light of day.
40:55He has sons who, for various reasons, are unable to restore the name of the family, and in fact are able to contribute nothing except to growing debt.
41:03One night, a fire breaks out of the work, taking the life of the Earl of Myra's wife. By now, the Erskines have lost everything, including their home.
41:15One of the curses predicted that the house would be turned into a stable.
41:20Well, we know that at one point, cavalry officers had to use part of the work as a stable while they were going through the area.
41:30The work becomes a shelter for horses, and a homeless weaver takes up residence in one of the ruins of the building.
41:37In 1820, a glimmer of hope appeared as a young ash tree sprouted amidst the ruins of one of the towers.
41:44Despite this, the curse and its ominous prophecy were finally fulfilled.
41:49By the time the final events that are prophesied in the curse have come to pass, we're looking at about two centuries, 200 years.
42:01Some people believe the entire tale was concocted in the years that followed the Reformation,
42:07some sort of religious and political tale spun by those opposed to Father Abbott and his orders
42:12to make them seem malevolent, or to explain the eventual misfortune of the Erskines as out of their control.
42:21However, a close inspection of the Mars Walk will reveal that at least a part of the story must be true.
42:28Even today, stones from the original abbey can be seen in the walls of the once-cursed building.
42:37The propaganda use of the story is certainly great.
42:41That, oh, look at the church and its officials, look what they're doing, they're going about cursing people, using witchcraft or things like that.
42:48It's a very good propaganda piece.
42:51It would be easy to say that if you analyse any family tree over decades, you would see them achieve success and face tragedy.
42:59But in the case of the Erskines and the Mars Walk, parallels to the abbot's curse seem far too close to be chalked up to coincidence.
43:07Whatever the truth of the matter, it seems that the mystical powers of the abbot of Cambus Kenneth were so great that they are remembered to this very day.
43:18Do I think it's real? I think that places are potent, and histories are potent, and so, who knows?
43:26Who knows?
43:56To.
44:03envioce from the Ala.
44:04To.
44:06To.
44:09To.
44:13To.
44:15To.
44:17To.