Originally published 2020-10-14.
In October 2020 a Canadian woman mailed a small parcel to Pompeii. Inside were two mosaic tiles, pieces of an amphora and some ceramic fragments she had taken from the ruins as a young tourist in 2005, along with a letter of apology. She wrote that the objects had brought her fifteen years of misfortune and asked for them to be taken back.
Her story went around the world because it touched two old ideas at once: that ancient objects can carry a curse, and that taking a souvenir from a famous site is harmless. Here is what happened, what Pompeii's archaeologists actually do with returned pieces, and why the "curse" says more about guilt than about magic.
What the Canadian tourist sent back
The woman, identified in Italian reports only by her first name, Nicole, sent the package to a travel agent in the modern town of Pompeii, who passed it to the police so the pieces could be returned to the archaeological park. According to Italian coverage of the letter, she explained that she had been "young and stupid" and had wanted a piece of history no one else could have.
Now 36, she described the years since her visit as a run of hardship: breast cancer twice, ending in a double mastectomy, and serious money problems for her family. She wrote that she did not want to pass what she saw as a curse on to her children, said the fragments carried negative energy from a place of destruction, and asked the gods for forgiveness.
Nobody should mock her for it. Illness and financial strain are frightening, and it is very human to search for a reason. What the letter shows is regret, and the decision to return the pieces was the right one regardless of why she made it.
She was far from the first
The same parcel season brought a second letter, also from Canada, from a couple who had taken items in 2005. Their note apologised for not thinking about the suffering of the people who died in the eruption and asked that the victims rest in peace.
Pompeii's staff have received such packages for decades. Reported examples include:
- A terracotta roof ornament shaped like a woman's face, mailed back with an Italian apology by someone who said they had taken it fifty years earlier.
- Painted plaster returned by a Spanish visitor, whose family had come to see it as a sign of bad luck.
- A mosaic piece sent in 2015 by an English woman whose parents had taken it in the 1970s.
- A figurine from a Canadian honeymooner, whose letter said her husband died of a heart attack on the way home with it in his suitcase.
- In 2024, pumice stones mailed with an unsigned note saying the sender had not known she should not take any rocks; the park's director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, shared a photo of the note.
The park keeps a small display of returned objects together with their letters, which archaeologists have described as a strange and touching archive of human conscience.
Pompeii: what was destroyed in AD 79
Pompeii was a prosperous Roman town on the Bay of Naples, home to somewhere between about 10,000 and 20,000 people. In AD 79 Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried it under several metres of volcanic ash and pumice, not lava as is often said. The traditional date is 24 August, but evidence including a charcoal inscription found in 2018 now points to an eruption in October.
Most residents probably fled during the first hours, when pumice was falling. Those who stayed or sheltered were killed by the pyroclastic surges that followed. The remains of about 1,150 people have been found so far, and parts of the city are still unexcavated, so the true toll is unknown.
The same ash that killed the town preserved it: houses, frescoes, bakeries, graffiti, and even the hollow shapes of bodies, later filled with plaster. Excavation began in 1748, the site was identified by an inscription in 1763, and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Today it receives millions of visitors a year.
Why taking a "harmless" souvenir is a real problem
A single tile or shard may look insignificant, but archaeology depends on context: where an object lay, what it was next to, and what layer of soil it came from. Once a fragment is pocketed, that information is lost for good, even if the piece is later returned. Multiply one souvenir by millions of visitors and the damage to floors, walls and mosaics becomes serious.
It is also illegal. Italian law treats archaeological finds as state property, and removing material from a site like Pompeii can lead to criminal charges and fines. Visitors have been stopped at the exits with stones and fragments in their bags.
Practical tips for visiting
- Leave everything where it is, including loose stones, pumice and tiles that seem to be lying around.
- Stay on marked paths and respect barriers; many floors and mosaics are fragile.
- If you want a keepsake, the park and licensed shops sell replicas and books that support conservation.
- If you or a relative took something years ago, contacting the archaeological park directly is the best way to return it so it can be recorded.
Is there such a thing as a curse?
There is no scientific evidence that objects carry curses. Breast cancer is, sadly, a common disease, and financial setbacks are common too; over fifteen years, most people experience some serious misfortune. Psychologists describe how we notice and remember the events that fit a story we already believe (confirmation bias), and how guilt about a past act can make it the explanation we reach for.
The best-known "curse" story shows the same pattern. After Tutankhamun's tomb was opened in 1922, newspapers spread tales of a pharaoh's curse when the expedition's sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, died the following year. Yet of the 58 people present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within twelve years, and Howard Carter, who led the excavation, lived until 1939. Stories of fires and breakdowns wherever the treasures went belong to legend, not to any documented record.
What the returned fragments really mean
Whatever Nicole believed, her parcel did some good. The pieces went back to the place they belong, where experts can study and protect them, and her letter reminded thousands of readers that the ruins are not a souvenir shop. Pompeii was a town where real people lived and died, and the best way to honour it is to leave it intact for the next visitor.
Sources: Wanted in Rome; The Guardian, 11 October 2020; Wikipedia: Pompeii; Wikipedia: Curse of the pharaohs.
COMMENTS