Cursed Artifacts Being Returned to Australia
Monday May 12, 2008
Another interesting tidbit of news from the UK Independent: apparently, tourists who have been illegally sneaking bits of Uluru rock out of Australia are being plagued with bad luck, and are mailing them back in an effort to escape the negative juju. Uluru, formerly called Ayers Rock, is one of Australia's most well-known Aboriginal sites and is visited by nearly half a million tourists each year. Despite the fact that it's Aboriginal sacred land, there are no restrictions in place to keep people from trompling all over it. Taking rocks out of the country is against the law, but that hasn't stopped visitors from taking bits of Uluru home with them.
However, now people are sending back rocks on a daily basis with letters of apology, and about a quarter of them state that they've had runs of bad luck since they took the rocks home. A tourist from Britain sent back his rock, with a note saying, "Things were good in my life before I took some of Ayers Rock home with me, but since then my wife has had a stroke and things have worked out terribly for my children – we have had nothing but bad luck."
However, now people are sending back rocks on a daily basis with letters of apology, and about a quarter of them state that they've had runs of bad luck since they took the rocks home. A tourist from Britain sent back his rock, with a note saying, "Things were good in my life before I took some of Ayers Rock home with me, but since then my wife has had a stroke and things have worked out terribly for my children – we have had nothing but bad luck."
Comments
Wow! Scary! I good reminder to always try to tread anywhere with respect!!
With it being such a huge problem I’m actually surprised the Australian government lets people wander on the site. My niece just went to Stonehenge last week, and it’s made very clear that you’re not allowed to get anywhere near the stones for this very reason.
Kinda makes you think, though, doesn’t it? Maybe the Aborigines are on to something
patti
I think the Aussie government is only recently getting better with their relationship with the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people (whom Uluru is sacred to), but for a long time white Australians just didn’t get why aboriginal Australians preferred to live in the outback with few amenities and lots of people still think aboriginals are simple-minded folks…
I guess the government didn’t really care if a major tourist attraction was also sacred to the indigenous people as long as the tourists kept coming to Australia and spending money. I think their policies are changing now though, because endless feet walking over a sandstone rock mass will cause massive erosion.
Pele gets a bit upset when people take pieces of Hawaii off the Island, too!