Another corking story from an author who is fast becoming one of my favourites. 

Jack Nightingale, cop with a penchant for the odd supernatural event, is called in to help ‘Scrambled’ a highly trained officer, who was sent in to deal with the gypsies of Dale Farm. Faced with the Romanchial, the true old historic Romany community, a woman’s touch proves life threatening for ‘Scrambled,’ and as his skin turns into scales and fights against his own life force, it’s all up to Jack to track them down, solve the puzzle, and save a man’s life….

A brilliant story, Stephen Leather is a true weaver of the written word and always has me hooked. Check out his other works, Once Bitten being another cracker……

This story is currently FREE on Amazon….absolute bargain at double the price….

5 star read!

Rachel Dove, The Kindle Book Review

It can get to you. It can grip you, turn you inside out, and even kill you. At least, that’s what some people believe. But even if you don’t believe, the idea of the curse can still send a frightening tingle down the spine.
From witches sticking pins in an effigy, to the Voodoo bokor placing a curse on you, occult literature is full of incidences of successful curses, driving people mad and making them have accidents. But is there a reality to the curse?

COINCIDENCE
The usual sceptic’s answer to the curse is that life is full of coincidences, and some time, some place, life will throw up incidences that suggest a curse could be at work. But in reality, it is nothing at all. It’s just the inevitability of chance.

Those who take a Jungian view would add synchronicity to coincidence. Here, coincidences become meaningful, as if your own mind is affecting the world about you. In this scenario, if you believe a curse can work, then you make it happen yourself.
And then there are the people who just seem to have bad luck. Obstacles rise up before them, and they can form an attitude that they are cursed throughout life. Studies suggest luck is all to do with being able to calculate odds. Is this important to the issue?

A CALCULATING MIND
Clearly if you can calculate odds better than the average, good luck will seem to cling to you; and equally clearly, if you cannot, then you’ll go through life from one disaster to another. In one sense, this can be related to an optimistic or pessimistic state of mind.

For instance, the optimist tends to walk through life, whilst the pessimist expects to see disaster and so he does. Indeed, pessimism can have an effect if you think you’re cursed. And it is all to do with a feeling of absolute hopelessness.
There is a medical term called ‘vegal inhibition.’ This is a state where a sense of hopelessness slowly shuts down the autonomic nervous system. If it goes to the ultimate, death can be the result. A belief in a curse can, it seems, be a killer.

SUPERNATURAL REALITY?
At the other end of the scale is the idea that a curse really does involve supernatural forces. Some malign power invested in an adept can literally change the world about the person and cause ill to befall them.

One possible explanation for this can be the power of telepathy. For instance, if it exists, then can a thought be implanted in the person at a distance – a thought that directs them towards fulfillment of the curse?
Some researchers claim to have successfully done this – a form of telepathic hypnosis. But whether it really could work, we have to invoke a possible reality in that hypnosis cannot, it seems, make someone do something that is against their morality.

MAGIC MOMENTS
Even telepathy should not be able to make a curse happen – unless the person believes it can. But what about magic? Is there a reality to this – a means through which a curse could work? Many researchers believe magic is all to do with the mind.

An adept spends an eternity learning exact ritual in order to perform magic. In a real sense, this hones the mind and allows the adept to see a clear way through life. This gives him confidence, and fortuitous events seem to fall as they are ‘magically’ demanded.
We could be back to calculating odds, the clear mind allowing it to occur. But in a diluted form, we all live this form of magic. We call it routine. We all have our morning rituals to clear the mind. But what happens when these rituals are disturbed?

CHAOTIC MIND
When our routines of life are interrupted, our path through life becomes chaotic. Nothing goes to plan, and obstacles appear before us. We say it has been ‘one of those days.’ Our mind has been knocked out of equilibrium, and this is reflected in our actions.

Perhaps the answer to the curse can be found in this reality. There seem to be definite rules to the curse. Primarily, the person must know, or at least suspect, that a curse is upon him. What would this do to his routines of life?
If he believes the curse could work, his actions would be different. He would be more careful of everything he does. But in doing so, his routines – his rituals – have been shattered. And the odds increase that, in trying to avoid disaster, disaster will strike.

CULTURE AND INEVITABILITY
Could this be the reality to the curse – a mind knocked out of equilibrium by the belief that a curse has been made? Possibly. But to truly make the curse work, something from ‘outside’ the person may, indeed, infect the mind to increase the possibility of success.

One outer force we are all infected by is culture. It is the sociology of our validation. For it is culture that defines your place in a society, and the knowledge you live by. But what if you live in a culture that says a curse is a reality?

The chances of the curse working increase. Your mind is predisposed to its reality, and as you analyse the culture to which you belong, you seek out, and find, further validation. The culture to which you belong is a guarantee that death or injury awaits you.

IN CONCLUSION
We do not need to invoke the supernatural to find a ‘mechanism’ through which a curse can work. A mind knocked out of equilibrium, within a culture that offers validation, is all that is required for the curse to work. Sometimes, a culture can even build up around a curse. Consider the Curse of Tutankhamun. As more and more ‘victims’ seem to fall to the curse, could the culture of those involved change, and within it they see the validation they dread?

A curse, it seems, is not to be taken lightly. But there remains a defence to the curse. Fundamental to its success is the belief that it will work. It seems skepticism may well be the one factor that can render a curse benign.

Watch this video.

Watched it? Now, nothing should happen, because it’s just a movie, right? And you don’t believe in curses and ghosts, right?

But… If you actually receive a phone call from a strange person who talks like Justin Bieber; it means you’ve been cursed and have only 7 days to live and/or stop the girl from emerging out of a water well and literally crawls out of your TV like so:

Here are some suggestions for you to deal with her.

1. Place a washing machine in front of the TV.
2. Carry your TV to an open window, facing outward.
3. Place another TV in front of the your TV.
4. Place a weight on top of the TV screen.
5. Position the TV into toilet.
6. Sell the TV.
7. Place the TV on top of another well, facing into the water well.
8. Place the TV on top of a cliff.
9. Place the TV in sand surrounded by quick sand.
10. Carry the TV to the Pakistani mountains where Osama Bin Laden is hiding and let him deal with her.

Do you have any more suggestions to deal with her? 

Revan(profile) @ Triond!(Sign up/Login)

Dear Jessie;

As always you have just melted my heart and made everything better with just one birthday message. I am so proud of you and astonished at your determination and pride. I love you so very much and any thing I ever say or do is just because I love you and do not want you to suffer one single ounce of heart ache in life. I have no doubt in my mind you will be awesome at anything you choose to do in life. I also know that you will be a terrific mother and wife; as well as achieve everything you want you’re my Gem xxx Do not stress; you will be great J

Dear David,

Your message touched my heart- I am able to see that my crazy philosophical parenting has rubbed off J but most of all you hoped my wishes come true and my dreams follow- this is exactly what I wish each day. I must tell you that my very first dream as an adult was to give my baby (you) a life of happiness with me and that you would love me when you were older. You changed my life; I know you love me and you’ve turned out perfect. I am so very proud of you! You bring me a lot of pride that can’t be denied and I will always be grateful that my dream of keeping you forever came true. Thank you xxx

Dear Joeleo,

You are the best. You listen to me have a cry so often and you always listen with out ignorance. I know you get where I’m coming from some times and I love you for it. You have grown up in just one short year- you have so much potential in life. The world is your oyster and you are the type of person with enough balls to grab it with both hands. You have that inner sense about people and a huge heart; don’t let it get hurt too much; big hearts suffer so much more pain. Your words are exactly what you know I need to hear some times. Thank you; bought tears! You are both my friend and son J

Heno,

Your Frickin Awesome and your defiant out spoken ways are what makes you you! You are a leader with a beautiful heart; A frickin awesome shit giver! Love it! And have the balls and ability to take over the world. Don’t doubt yourself you can do anything! And you will! I love you so much!!!! You really look after me. You deserve every cent.

Eddie!

Gangster Eddie; you’ve grown up so much now! My little university baby! You are going to be a Rock Star or famous in some way. I’m very proud of you and can’t believe how grown up you are now. I love you heaps J

Nathan,

Thank you for your wishes! You definitely are part of our family for ever and were very happy about that J. We love ya! Sucked in lol!

This e-card from you basically eliminates any curse dated from old or new- My black Friday is a myth (so far)

posted 659am friday 13th 2010

Dorothy Stratten

Image Source

Dorothy Stratten’s death was by far the most shocking due to the nature of the crime. The 1980 Playmate of the Year was brutally murdered on August 14, 1980 by her estranged husband, who then killed himself.  Her death shocked the nation just as her film career was beginning.  She is best remembered not only for her beauty and Playmate status, but also her cult classic movie Galaxina.

Marilyn Monroe

Image Source

Marilyn Monroe became a great Hollywood star after appearing on the front cover of the first issue of Playboy Magazine in December of 1953.  Although she was one of the greatest stars of all time, she led a troubled life full of misfortune and disappointment.  All her troubles came to a head in the early morning hours of August 5, 1962.  The official cause of death is self inflicted prescription overdose at the age of 36, however there will always be a controversy regarding that and her death will always be a mystery.  Some believe there was a murder conspiracy because of her association with mobsters and her affair with President John Kennedy and his brother Robert.

Tiffany Marie Sloan

Image Source

Tiffany Marie Sloan appeared in the centerfold in the October, 1992 issue of Playboy. She died from a drug overdose in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 1, 2008 at the age of 35.  Sources disclosed that she had an ongoing drug and alcohol problems and had recently been hospitalized.

Claudia Jennings

Image Source

Claudia Jennings was named Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for 1970.  She later became an actress and is best remembered for her athletic roles that portray a smart, strong and sexy female character type.  She died in a car crash in Malibu, California on October 3, 1979 at the age of 29.

Jayne Mansfield

Image Source

Jayne Mansfield became a famous Hollywood movie star and first appeared in the centerfold for the February 1955 issue of Playboy Magazine.  She appeared in the magazine several times after that.  On June 29th, 1967, Jayne Mansfield was killed instantly at the age of 34 when her car rear ended a tractor trailer on a country road on her way from New Orleans for an early morning television interview.  Witnesses agree that the crash was horrendous and shirred off the top of the car.  Many believe she was decapitated because her blond wig was thrown onto the dashboard. 

What is really outstanding about her death is that it came shortly after her decision to sever her ties with a questionable cult of worshipers.  The leader of the cult, upon learning of her decision, told her to stay away from her boyfriend Sam Brody because it was believed that he influenced her decision.  According to the cult leader’s grandson, his grandfather happened to cut out an article from a newspaper on the day of her death.  When he turned the clipping over, he discovered he had accidentally cut off the head of Jayne’s picture that had been printed on the other side of the page.

Other Playmates Who have died unexpectedly include:

• Carol Willis - She appeared in the July 1970 issue and was killed in a car crash just a year and a half later on November 24, 1971.
• Tonya Crews – Tonya appeared as the playmate of the month in the March, 1961 issue of Playboy.  She died in a car crash in Oklahoma on August 7, 1966 at the age of 38.
• Willy Rey - Willy was the playmate of the month in the February, 1971 issue of Playboy.  She was found dead  a drug overdose of sleeping pills on August 13, 1973.  She was just a few day shy of her 24th birthday.
• Paige Young – She appeared in the November, 1968 issue of Playboy.  She died from an overdose of sleeping pills on April 7, 1974 at the age of 30.
• Eve Meyer – She appeared in the June 1955 issue of Playboy died tragically in a plane crash on March 27 1977 at the age of forty eight.  What is uncanny is that the plane crash occurred on the ground between two commercial airliners at an airport in Spain.
• Elisa Bridges – Elisa appeared in the December 1994 issue of Playboy.  She later died at the mansion belonging to Edward Nahem, a friend of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner on February 7, 2002.
• Sue Williams - She became an actresses whose credits included five motion pictures and appeared in the centerfold of the April, 1965 issue of Playboy Magazine.  She committed suicide four years later on September 2, 1969 on her 24th birthday.

Other articles by Bren Parks include:

• Making Movies: Stars Who Died Undone
• Making Movies: Stars Who Collide
• Strange Acts of Entertainment
• Rock and Roll Suicides
• Making Movies: Beyond the Call of Duty

 Almost all religions make mention of both blessings and curses as actual realities. In Hinduism, the Fakir has the ability to effect ritual curses. In Islam, it can be the mullahs. In Judaism, the rabbi or even lay person has that power. Both the Tanakh and Talmud have specific references to the placing of curses and their intended effect, but it clearly states that if the curse is leveled at someone who doesn’t deserve it, the results will backfire. Western Christian tradition also recognizes that the power of curses are real, as the Bible both Old and New Testaments, contain many instances of both blessings and curses being leveled at both individuals, nations, animals, even fig trees. The New Testament mentions Jesus cursing a perfectly healthy fig tree. The next day it withered.

The Generational Curse

There are many types of curses, including the short-term curse and the long-term curse. The long-term curse is known as a generational curse which extends throughout the bloodline of an individual person or group. This kind of generational curse has been known to bring about inexplicable misfortune in the descendents of the person the original curse was placed upon. The Bible speaks of such a generational curse which extends down to the seventh son, or generation. It is believed by most occult researchers that these types of generational curses are known to bring about otherwise inexplicable failures both personal and financial in the descendents of the originally cursed victim. This kind of generational or bloodline curse can and often does involve certain descendants becoming demonically possessed or oppressed. Only through intercessory prayer, or through a reversal of the original curse through specific magical ritual, can such original curses be revoked or rescinded.

A similar curse to the generational curse, is the curse which is placed upon houses, places, or objects. The effect is that successive generations of tenants who live in a cursed house, are effected, regardless of whether they are related or not related to the original group responsible for charging the habitation with negative energies. The same effect holds true for those people who enter a cursed location out of doors, or come into contact with a cursed object. Their lives are often times placed in mortal danger just by coming into contact with these substances. One is reminded of the infamous Hope Diamond, and the uncanny misfortunes befalling the successive possessors of that unique jewel.

Is Its Power Psychological or Supernatural?

Many occult researchers are divided on the question of whether the effects of curses are merely psychological or the actual result of independent preternatural forces of nature. If the effects are merely psychological, then the intended target or victim must be aware that a curse is being cast upon them, in order for the curse to work. However, if the power is due to preternatural forces, then the intended victim will be affected whether the victim knows they are being cursed or not. This second viewpoint is based upon the belief that curses involve extraordinarily powerful natural or preternatural forces which once when put into motion, continue on until it hits the intended target and in some instances, continues on working its destructive power against that victim until that victim is completely destroyed. In Celtic culture, there are talismans used for curses called “Curse Stones”, specifically charged to be used for such curses. As well, as curses, which can place onto eggs, meant to damage an enemy’s reproductive system? 

Tecumseh’s Curse

The Indian warlord Tecumseh was reported to have placed a curse on the U.S. Presidency, which has, according to the belief, affected all presidents having been elected in a year divisible by 20. It supposedly began affecting presidents in the year 1840, and continued on to even affect the Reagan presidency, (Reagan successfully recovered from an assassination attempt, while Kennedy, also elected in a year divisible by 20, the year 1960, was not as lucky). It appears however, that Tecumseh’s curse has now been broken since Reagan survived. 

The Curse of the Pharaohs

Almost everyone who has watched horror movies involving the Egyptian mummies will be aware of this legendary curse of King Tut. Historical evidence shows that the Egyptian royal families had issued specific warnings not to disturb their graves under pain of being cursed. Interesting to note that these curses were usually placed in writing inside the entrances to their tombs. Also interesting to note that archeologists who excavated their tombs apparently took no notice of these curses or thought it was mere ancient superstition. Even so, is it just coincidence that a series of curious misfortunes befell archeologist Howard Carter and the other archeologists who participated in the excavations? Are these peculiar misfortunes just coincides, or are they the real power of ancient curses comes back to life?

The Curse of 27

Well-known modern curses are still the subject of controversy. There is The Curse of 27, or The 27 Club, which supposedly claimed the lives of rock stars, all of whom died at that fatefully cursed age of 27. A list of such club members read as a Who’s Who in the world of Rock: Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead’s Pigpen, and Kurt Cobain. Interesting to note that Morrison was aware of the significance of occult spells and curses, as was Hendrix, and even Rolling Stones co-founder Jones, who briefly studied black magic and Satanism.

Sports Curses

Curious that many professional athletes, especially in the game of baseball, are unusually superstitious, and take their blessings and curses quite literally. Sports fans are well aware of the infamous Billy Goat Curse supposedly placed on the Chicago Cubs, preventing them from ever winning a World Series or National Division playoff. This curse or hex, which has  allegedly been placed on that team so many years ago, some believe make it impossible for that team to win another World Series. Then of course, there is the alleged Curse of the Bambino who supposedly affects the Boston Red Sox.

Basketball lovers might be aware of the alleged curse supposedly affecting the L.A. Lakers whenever they play the Celtics in the NBA Finals, details of which involve the alleged talisman of a “smoking cigar”, and was nicknamed “the leprechaun jinx”.

Sports fans may also have heard of the alleged curses affecting the fates of athletes who appear on the cover of a famous sports magazine with the curse of the same name. The urban legend goes that once the athlete appears on this cover, they usually encounter physical injuries, which affect their playing power.

The Deadly Boomerang Effect

It must be stressed that the casting of curses upon one’s enemies is never recommended or advisable. Every occult practitioner is well aware that curses can and do often times have the unwanted effect of coming back to attack the spell caster. If not properly effected, such curse casting can have such a devastating unwanted boomerang effect as to attack and kill the person who placed the curse. It is colloquially known as playing with fire. Most ritual traditions advise that the person wanting to cast a curse upon an enemy must exercise extreme caution. He or she must really consider this to be a last resort,  because once such a force is put into motion, it cannot easily be rescinded, and unfortunate side effects can and often times do effect third parties not intended as targets. It must be remembered, however, that curses can be lifted, annulled,or broken.

During 1963, a commercial shipping vessel named the Alkimos, shipwrecked on the north coast of Perth, Western Australia. Part of the ship can still be seen today, although it is no longer a complete ship.

There are a number of ghostly rumors that surround the ship, including tales of curses or ill luck that falls upon anyone who ventured aboard or near the ship, which has sparked interest from local paranormal investigators. Those who have ventured aboard the ship are hesitant to return for the second time.

The Alkimos was built by the U.S Navy during world war two and was used as a Liberty ship. Originally, she was to be named the George M. Shriver. The ship served its purpose in the U.S Navy for eighteen months when the military sold her off to the Norwegian armed forces, who then changed her name to the Viggo Hansteen. Finally, the vessel was then sold to a Greek shipping company when she was again renamed as the Alkimos.

As the legend has it, never change the name of a ship or bad luck shall follow. It possibly seems to be the case with the ill fated Alkimos.

Apparently, the ship had been jinxed right from the time during construction where it has been said two workmen had died after being trapped in the hull of the ship. Their bodies had not been retrieved, for unknown reasons.

Anyone who tried to salvage the ship had suffered from broken bones, had burns inflicted upon them and family deaths that could not be written off as mere coincidences.

Several people, who cannot be named, opted to spend a night on the ship. During the night, footsteps were heard throughout the ship by all seven ghost hunters. There had also been a sighting of a large tall man dressed in oil skins.

Soon after, the group suffered from ill fate that included bankruptcy and mysterious illnesses that doctors could not diagnose or cure.

Other Phenomenon Include

• Groans had been heard from cabins throughout the ship
• Dogs have been heard barking from inside the engine room
• Lights have been visible aboard the ship from land
• Occupants who have ventured aboard the ship have said to be held down by an invisible entity

I haven’t actually visited the Alkimos myself, but after hearing the countless stories of the paranormal and the curses, I wouldn’t even dare to so much as even look at it from afar!