Uncanny Atlas
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Famous cursed objects

Uncanny Atlas has 17 entries on objects said to be cursed, including The Busby Stoop chair, James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder and The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and 14 more. Each says how well its claim stands (16 folklore, 1 claimed sighting) and links to the sources it is told from.

17 entries
Folklore
The Busby Stoop chair
A chair shown at Thirsk Museum and linked by legend to Thomas Busby, who was hanged for murder in 1702, though a furniture historian dated it to 1840.
Something Left BehindObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder
The Porsche 550 Spyder in which the actor James Dean died, and the curse story that grew around its wreck, which Dean archivist Warren Beath traces to the car customiser George Barris.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
The Koh-i-Noor diamond
A 105.6-carat diamond in the British Crown Jewels, said to bring bad luck to men who wear it, whose ownership is disputed.
Something Left BehindObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
The Black Prince's Ruby
A large red spinel, long called a ruby, set in the Imperial State Crown of England at the Tower of London, which Wikipedia's list of allegedly cursed objects says brings misfortune to its owners.
Something Left BehindObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Heron-Allen's Cursed Amethyst
A stone at the Natural History Museum in London, known from Edward Heron-Allen's story as the purple sapphire, which the museum calls a cursed amethyst. The museum repeats a rumour that Heron-Allen made up the curse himself.
Something Left BehindObscurity 6 of 7
Folklore
The Crying Boy painting
Prints of a painting of a weeping child, sold in department stores, that were blamed for house fires in the 1980s, including one in Rotherham reported by The Sun.
Something Left BehindObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
The Conjured Chest
A hand-carved chest held by the Kentucky Historical Society since 1976, which one family said carried a curse laid after the enslaved man who made it was beaten to death.
Something Left BehindObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Ed Gein's cauldron
A cauldron that Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas lists among its exhibits, calling it cursed and linking it to Ed Gein.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
Bela Lugosi's mirror
A mirror in Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum that Bagans says hung in a house once lived in by Bela Lugosi and later by Frank Saletri. Skeptical Inquirer reports that Saletri's body was found in his master bedroom in 1982.
Something Left BehindObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
The Devil's Rocking Chair
A rocking chair tied to a claimed possession case told in The Devil in Connecticut, a book, bought by Zak Bagans in 2019 and shown at his Haunted Museum in Las Vegas. A Glatzel brother has called the possession story phony.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Claimed sighting
Jack Kevorkian's Volkswagen van
The 1968 Volkswagen van in which Mrs. Adkins died in 1990 using Dr. Jack Kevorkian's suicide device, now shown as a haunted object in Zak Bagans' museum in Las Vegas.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
The Myrtles Plantation mirror
A mirror at the Myrtles Plantation said to trap Sara Woodruff and two children, part of a poisoning story that Wikipedia and Troy Taylor say the records don't support.
Something Left BehindObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Mi Novia by Juan Luna
A painting by Juan Luna that Wikipedia says is rumoured to be cursed, though Esquire Philippines tells its curse story about a Luna work titled Portrait of a Lady.
Something Left BehindObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Man Proposes, God Disposes
An 1864 Edwin Landseer painting at Royal Holloway, University of London, which students have long believed makes them fail exams. The college covers it with a Union Flag during exams.
Something Left BehindObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Anna Baker's wedding dress
A ghost story attached to the Baker Mansion, a museum of the Blair County Historical Society, about a wedding dress that Anna Baker is said to have bought for a marriage her father stopped.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
The Bernardo de Gálvez portrait
A painting of Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish general, that hangs in Galveston's Hotel Galvez in Texas. Local folklore says photographs of it fail unless you ask his permission first.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Portrait of Henrietta Nelson
A portrait of Henrietta Nelson, who died at Yaxley Hall in Suffolk in 1816, said to carry her ghost wherever it goes.
Something Left BehindObscurity 7 of 7