Among the unexplained phenomena occurring in the modern world, a special place is occupied by damned things that bring incalculable suffering to their owners. In Washington, DC, in one of the halls of the National Museum of Natural History, a huge diamond, the size of a walnut, rises on a beautiful marble stand. His name is "Blue Hope". An amazing brilliant miracle, followed by a blood trail several centuries long.
When exactly this gem was found is not known for certain. But there is evidence that in the 17th century one of the most famous jewelers in France, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, brought an incredible blue diamond from India.
How did the stone fall into his hands? Some said that he took it out of the statue of an Indian deity with his own hand. But the sailors who accompanied the jeweler-traveler on the voyage whispered in fright, remembering that the diamond was presented to Tavernier by the priest of the Indian temple of the god Rama. But misfortune befell him during the journey. At night, a terrible cry was heard from the cabin of the former priest, and a few minutes later he was found dead with a frozen mask of horror on his face. One of the sailors heard the priest tell Jean-Baptiste during the deal that the stone was once the left eye of the great ancient god Rama. True, the Indian forgot to mention that this eye was punishing, bringing disaster, illness and death. Surprisingly, it was from the moment this stone appeared in France that the plague epidemic began in Europe.
The jeweler did not pay attention to what had happened, considering everything a mere coincidence. Upon arrival in France, he presented the stone as a gift to the "sun king" Louis XIV, who had an ardent passion for all kinds of jewelry. Blue diamonds are a real rarity. Of the twenty-five diamonds presented to him, the king paid special attention to this one, by that time it weighed about 67 carats.
The king ordered the stone to be cut in the shape of a heart and presented the diamond as a gift to his favorite. However, she soon died in terrible agony. And the stone returned to its crowned owner.
A plague broke out in Europe, but by this time the jeweler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was no longer in the country. He again rushed in search of precious stones. The hunt for diamonds brought him to the snowy Siberian cities of Russia. In a blizzard at night he got lost with a guide. Only a few days later their cart was found. By a strange coincidence, the guide was only very cold and hungry, but Tavernier was bitten by wolves, tearing his body into many parts.
Meanwhile, the happiness left the Great Louis. He suffered one military defeat after another. Death, in fact, became a gift for him - the majestic empire lay in ruins, debts swallowed up a prosperous country. There was no one to wait for help.
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The next owner of the unfortunate stone was the beautiful Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. She loved the blue diamond so much that she did not take it off, day or night. However, several times, yielding to the requests of a friend, Marie-Antoinette gave the princess de Lombal to vilify the stone. But the curse of the diamond overtook them too. The princess was stoned to death by an angry mob, and Marie Antoinette was executed.
In September 1792, France was hit by a wave of revolution. The royal treasury was left to fend for itself. One of the adventurers managed to somehow steal the diamond. Then he fell into the hands of a student of the cadet corps, who sold the jewel to the English jeweler Vaals, who split the stone. Part weighing 45.5 carats was cut and sold to King George IV of Great Britain, and the other, about 14 carats, went to the "diamond duke" Karl of Braunschweig.
Death did not spare for long those whose hands touched the cursed jewel. The jeweler Vaals and his son died under rather strange circumstances. The English monarch died, leaving countless debts. And the duke was torn to pieces by angry burghers.
The diamond, or rather the part that belonged to Georg, was resold many times. But in 1830, the family of the British banker Hope bought the stone. Until 1901, the diamond was inherited until Lord Henry Francis Hope decided to sell the jewel. He won a lengthy lawsuit, and the stone went under the hammer.
The beloved wife of the Turkish Sultan Abdul-Hamid II became the new owner of the stone. But a few days later, according to one of the versions, the woman fell into the hands of the bandits and was killed. Abdul-Hamid was dethroned and killed. However, many are sure that the very wife for whom he bought the ill-fated stone was stabbed to death by the Sultan.
Over the course of several years, the stone is believed to have caused five more deaths. And in the early twenties, a rich American woman, E. W. McLean. She decided that the consecration of the stone in the church would help her avoid the curse hanging over him. But the woman was wrong. Her life turned into a real nightmare. The son, who often played with a stone in childhood, was run over by a car, the husband drank himself and ended his life in a psychiatric clinic, and his brother died under unexplained circumstances. In 1946, the only daughter of an aristocrat died, and a year later McLean herself, unable to withstand grief, died.
But the stone was not sold, but inherited by Madame Maclean's grandchildren. And soon his new mistress, her granddaughter, also died. The relatives of the deceased woman refused even to touch the stone and sold it to the famous jeweler Harry Winston. He did not believe in the tales of a gravitating curse. For some time, the diamond was put on public display for charitable purposes, and then Harry sent the stone as a gift to the Smithsonian Institution, wrapping it in simple paper and valuing it at only $ 148.
Today the diamond is valued at $ 100 million and is kept in one of the museum's safes. And, presumably, it is unlikely that he will be able to harm anyone in the near future. If it does not find a personal owner …