Cursed Motorway
Location: Twyford (Hampshire) - Twyford Down (now area of the M3)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: A week after a motorway construction team disturbed the graves of eighteen men, some two metres tall, two of the men suffered fatal heart attacks and a night watchman dropped dead at his post. People protesting the construction of the motorway pronounced the incidents 'the curse of the giants'.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2005-02-07
Last updated: 2005-02-07
ID: #5852
Field of the Dead
Location: Unst (Shetland) - Burra Fiord
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Anyone who plants a spade in the earth at this location in Burra Fiord shall be struck by tragedy (according to folklore). One woman who dug there lost her best cow. When she dug there a second time, her husband died.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2017-06-16
Last updated: 2017-06-16
ID: #10955
Soothsayer Curse
Location: Urray (Highland) - Brahan Castle, former site of
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before being boiled alive in a cauldron of tar, a local soothsayer predicted the downfall of the family that owned the castle. His every word came true...
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2003-05-25
Last updated: 2003-05-25
ID: #4218
Fire
Location: Vale (Guernsey) - L'Ancresse Bay - large stone (no longer standing)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown - pre twentieth century
Further Comments: Despite dire warnings from locals, Mr Hocart of Belval had workers cut this former monolith into stone for his new house. The day the building work had finished, a fire broke out, killing two servants. Two ships which carried spare stone to the UK sank within the year, and even though Hocart moved into a second house to Alderney, the fire curse followed him, destroying that dwelling also. Hocart finally returned to Guernsey, but just prior to landing, some rigging fell and landed on his head, killing him instantly.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2012-04-01
Last updated: 2012-04-01
ID: #10776
No Touching
Location: Walsham Le Willows (Suffolk) - Gypsy's Grave, under oak tree along Hundred Lane
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The rumoured curse on this grave prevented it from being disturbed by workers in the area.
Source:
Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2025-11-09
Last updated: 2025-11-09
ID: #16162
Chainsaw Accident
Location: Walsham Le Willows (Suffolk) - Tree (no longer standing), exact location not known
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Warnings concerning a cursed tree were not taken seriously by one farmer, who took a chainsaw to it and died in the process.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2025-11-09
Last updated: 2025-11-09
ID: #16161
Roman Coins
Location: Watton-at-Stone (Hertfordshire) - Close to the River Beane
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: One story says misfortunes befell the family of a man who found a cache of Roman coins near the river and kept them for himself.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2025-01-18
Last updated: 2025-01-18
ID: #15788
Marcus Beck
Location: WC1 (Greater London) - University College Hospital
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before being stolen in January 2001, the portrait of Beck was considered cursed. People who fell asleep under the painting quickly became ill, and in some cases died. It was also said that if the shutters were not closed on the painting at night, a patient would unexpectedly die.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2005-04-13
Last updated: 2005-04-13
ID: #6182
Crop Curse
Location: Wetherden (Suffolk) - Field between Wetherden and Woolpit
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: Robert Rosier was burnt to death in this field in 1556 by a former friend; since that day, no one has been able to raise a successful harvest in that pasture.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2006-02-19
Last updated: 2006-02-19
ID: #6703
Bad Luck Stone
Location: Wexford (County Wexford) - Lightship Guillemot Museum (no longer open, cut up for scrap)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: After the decommissioning lightship 'Guillemot', it became a maritime museum that housed a stone that caused ill-luck to anyone who touched it (taken from a fairy fort by a lorry driver who refused to return it. One woman who held the stone injured her leg, while another man who touched it slipped off the ship into the water.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2024-03-02
Last updated: 2024-03-02
ID: #15288
Cursed Hoard
Location: Wherwell (Hampshire) - Exact location unknown
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Somewhere in the village, a fabulous treasure is hidden; searching for it will do little good, however, as anyone who finds it will die.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2008-09-25
Last updated: 2008-09-25
ID: #8977
Cursed Land
Location: Whitchurch (Berkshire) - Unidentified barrows
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Nineteenth / early twentieth century
Further Comments: Earthworks upon which a castle was once believed to have stood were said to be cursed and could never be levelled. The current state of the barrows is unknown.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2012-10-20
Last updated: 2026-06-14
ID: #11141
Sir Laurence Tanfield
Location: Whittington (Gloucestershire) - General area
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former landowner in the area, Sir Laurence returned after dying and can be seen driving a coach pulled by four black horses. It is said that bad luck falls on any witnesses.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2004-05-03
Last updated: 2004-05-03
ID: #5120
Blue Lady
Location: Winterbourne Dauntsey (Wiltshire) - Manor House
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A painting of a blue woman (who died after being banished from the property) that hanged in the manor house was thought to have been cursed, with the destruction of the property a promised result of any movement of the work.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2009-06-13
Last updated: 2009-06-13
ID: #9484
William the giant and his stones.
William the Giant
Location: Wroot (Lincolnshire) - Thumb Stone and Little Finger Stone (no longer present?)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These two boulders were thrown into position by William, the local giant and wizard. A farmer who tried to move one using six horses failed to do so, and all the horses died shortly after their attempt - it became known that to mess with the stones was unlucky.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2017-12-11
Last updated: 2017-12-11
ID: #12678
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