curse

The Curse of the Hope Diamond: A Jewel, a Legend, and a Salesman

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The Hope Diamond in its necklace setting on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

About 4 min readBeheadings, bankruptcies, a family gutted by tragedy — the Hope Diamond’s trail of ruin is the most famous curse in the world. Yet the curse is barely a century old, and the man who sharpened it was the jeweller trying to sell the stone. What really doomed the McLeans — a diamond, or their own lives?

Bhangarh Fort: India’s Only Monument You’re Forbidden to Enter After Dark

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The ruins of Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India

About 4 min readBhangarh was once a thriving walled city of ten thousand people in Rajasthan. It was abandoned after the famine of 1783 — and today it is the only protected monument in India where entry is legally forbidden between sunset and sunrise. The curse legends are unproven. The sign is real.