This 1913 article describes how the rich of England would gift their antique cursed objects to museums as a way to get rid of curses and bad luck.
A Bank For Hoodoos
Very Odd Behavior of Idols and Images in the British Museum Reveals the Fact That Superstitious Aristocrats Turn Their Haunted Heirlooms Over to the Public Care
THE British aristocracy and wealthy classes have been driven by terror or superstition to confide many seemingly haunted heirlooms and valuable objects of art to the public museums.
There must be some Americans in a similar predicament. Mrs. Charles Gilpin, the noted society beauty of Philadelphia, is the possessor of a singularly beautiful emerald which she says has brought her domestic misfortune and persistent ill luck. So afraid is she of the emerald that she never wears it, and no one can find out what has become of it.
She might get rid of her troubles in the British way by turning her emerald over to some respectable museum. She has not the superstition defying courage of Mrs. Edward McLean, who has bought, and is wearing, the beautiful Hope diamond which has the most amazing history of tragedy and ill luck ever associated with a lifeless object.
Very strange behavior on the part of idols and images in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. has called attention to the practice among the British aristocracy of “banking their hoodoos” in a museum.
Watchmen left to guard the museum at night have heard blood curdling groans, unearthly cries, noises suggestive of the pattering of ghostly feet. Many of the keepers having certain antiquities in their care have suffered serious illness and other misfortunes.
Investigation has shown that there are really in the museum many objects which have had a tragic and ill omened history.
Among them is a carved teak wood image of Buddha, which belongs, until recently, to a mrs. Evans, whose father, a sea captain, had obtained it in Lower Burma. The captain too the object by “strategy” from a Buddhist temple and being interrupted by the priest killed the poor fellow.
After that the image brought ill luck to every white man who came in contact with it. When the ship carrying it was near Liverpool a fire broke out on board. The crew, who attributed all their troubles to the Buddha, threw it overboard, and after that they reached port safely.
By a rather strange accident the Buddha was washed ashore in Wales and the captain claimed i and obtained it with much difficulty and expense. Soon afterward he died.
His daughter kept the Buddha in her house for several years, during which it gave rise to continual trouble. The servants refused to stay in the house. They declared that the image wandered about the house at night and that its eyes were constantly upon them.
Then a young daughter of the owner, who had been observed gazing fixedly at the image, died. This final misfortune made Mrs. Evans decide to get rid of the ill omened image. She presented it to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it has been the reputed cause of many mysterious disturbances.
It is in this museum that a large part of Pierpont Morgan’s collection has hitherto been housed. Report says that a curious sixteenth century Flemish copper ewer in the form of a human head belonging to Mr. Morgan, has been heard uttering unearthly groans at night.
Not all antique idols and images are credited with bringing misfortune. Madame Catulle Mendes, the noted Parisian novelist, possesses a strange little ivory Buddha which she consults before embarking in any new undertaking. She says that when she is acting according to the Buddha’s direction she never fails to enjoy good fortune.
Scientific psychologists tell us that there may be a basis of fact in the yarns associated with these idols and images. The inanimate objects themselves can have no power over human beings or events, but it is possible that superstitious persons, believing in the supernatural powers attributed to the objects, may bring upon themselves the troubles which they fear. This theory would account for some of the tragedies associated with the Hope diamond.
Another prominent British hoodoo is the mummy case of the Egyptian high priest Nes-Amsu, which belonged to the wealthy and eccentric Lady Meux. The original discoverer of the artist Whistler, the widow of a wealthy baronet, she possessed one of the most valuable collection of art antiquities in the country.
Among them was the mummy case of Nes-Amsu, a magnificent representation of the dead priest, whose body it once contained, in red, green, black and gold upon wood.
It was presented to Lady Meux by Walter Ingram, a noted traveller. He was killed in an elephant hunt shortly after making the gift. The case bears an inscription stating that a curse will fall upon him who removes it from its resting place.
Lady Meux, who was a vigorous character, defied the curse, and certainly it did not prevent her from living to an advanced age. But she became estranged from all her friends. She quarreled violently with Whistler.
She quarreled as savagely with her husband’s relatives. She had no children and thus she had the bitterness of knowing that her treasures must go to her husband’s hated relatives or pass into the hands of strangers.
She left the bulk of her property including the mummy case of Nes-Amsu, to Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton, a brother of the Earl of Durham. The Admiral is distinguished for having saved the British garrison at Ladysmith during the Boer War by taking his naval guns into the besieged town at the critical moment. He is considered one of the bravest men in the British navy. But he was not brave enough to keep the mummy case of the Egyptian high priest and he turned it over to the museum.
Another object in the museum seemingly possessed of supernatural qualities is a bambino, or holy child, lying on a miniature four post bed hung with Neapolitan and Burmese charms. It originally belonged to Lady Nevill, whose sons complained that a constant series of misfortunes pursued them. They therefore turned the handsome and valuable relic over to the museum. Presumably in this case the misfortunes must have happened because a holy relic had been removed from its proper resting place in a church.
Even before the recent alleged activity of the haunted objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum all England was excited by the strange behavior of the mummy case of the priestess of Amen Ra.
This priestess, Hetare by name, belonged to the royal family of Egypt. In early life she was ordained a priestess of Amen Ra, but on the accession of her brother as Pharaoh Amen-hotep IV, she followed the new religion to which he belonged and left the temple of Amen Ra. Thus she may have incurred the wrath of the ancient gods.
A party of four young Englishmen secured her mummy in its case some thirty years ago. Before they left Egypt the mummy was stolen and subsequent misfortunes followed the case. One of the young men was crippled in Egypt and another was shot shortly after reaching England. A third died suddenly and the fourth followed him after losing his large fortune.
The sister of the last hastily presented the mummy case to the museum. The man who drove it there died within a week, while one who helped to carry it into the building soon afterward had both legs cut off in a railroad accident.
The first man who attempted to photograph the mummy case fell, smashed his camera and cut his face severely. The first journalist who described the tragedies accompanying the object died soon afterward.
The daughter of the Marchioness of Salisbury, who went to look at the notorious object, fell and sprained her ankle. Other more serious accidents followed and finally the authorities withdrew the case from public view on account of the reign of terror and excitement it had created.
Source: El Paso Herald. Newspaper. April 07, 1913.
