Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #508

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Pompeii Artifacts Returned By Tourist Who Claimed ‘Curse'
By Ben Hooper
Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A contrite Canadian woman who took pieces from the ancient Italian city of Pompeii 15 years ago returned the frag- ments with a let- ter explaining how they brought a "curse" to her life.
The woman, who signed the letter with the name Nicole, said she visited the Archaeological Park of Pompeii when she was "young and dumb" about 15 years ago.
She said she took items from the site, where hot rock, volcanic ash and noxious gas had buried the ancient city
and its residents when Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 79.
Nicole's letter -- which accompa- nied a package containing two mosaic tiles, parts of an amphora and a piece of ceramics -- said she
had experienced a string of bad
luck since the theft that includ- ed two bouts with breast cancer.
"Please, take them back, they bring bad luck," she wrote.
The woman said the package con- tained everything she took from Pompeii, except for a tile she had
given away to a friend.
"We are good people and I don't want to pass this curse on to my family, my children or myself anymore," she wrote. "Please forgive my careless act that I did years ago."
The package was sent to a travel agent in Pompeii with a request that the items be returned to the park.
A spokeswoman for the archaeo- logical park said there have been about a hundred previous inci- dents of tourists sending Pompeii
artifacts back to the city along with apologetic notes claiming the objects were cursed. The park has established a museum to dis- play the returned items and the let- ters from apolo- getic tourists.
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