Jinxed 

All these precautions were double necessary with the U-65, because one day at the shipyard a heavy steel girder crashed to the ground and killed two workmen. And some time later yells were heard, coming from the engine room. The rescuers found the sliding door in the bulkhead jammed and when they got through, three men were lying dead on the floor, amid lethal fumes. An inquiry failed to establish what had happened. It couldn’t have been carbon monoxide from the diesels, because they were not running. Chlorine from sea water getting into the batteries then? But the submarine had been in dry-dock…

The U-65 sailed for her trails off the Schelde Estuary (between Belgium and the Netherlands) in good conditions: sea force 3, light airs, excellent visibility. A submarine’s first dive always is an anxious moment, so before diving the captain sent someone to check the upper deck. The bridge watch later declared that the man deliberately walked overboard, without a sound.

Perhaps those anxious looks and muttered words would cease if the U-65 could have a successful first dive. So the heavy hatch cover was closed and the U-boat angled down to the sea-bed… and there she stuck. It took the crew twelve hours to cure the trouble, staggering about like drunkards, some of them already fainted for lack of oxygen.

But okay, there was a Great War going on and German soldiers were not fighting ghosts. Jinxed or not, the U-65 had to sink ships. So she loaded supplies for her first patrol and when the last torpedo was being lowered down the forward hatch the warhead exploded. Five men were instantly killed, among them the second officer, known to the crew as “der Schwarze”, because of his dark complexion. The U-65 was badly damaged and put into dry-dock, and the dead men were taken to Wilhelmshaven for burial.

Image via Wikipedia

Der Schwarze

While the boat was in the dock, the men were given leave. When they were coming up with their kit-bags again for the delayed patrol, an officer counted them all: 31, including the new men, that was correct. And then number 32 appeared, also known as der Schwarze. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the officer from those dark eyes of his, which got the poor man white-faced and trembling like an old lady. The captain believed some joker from ashore had played the dangerous trick. Two days later however, and just before the U-65 was due to sail, the officer deserted what he called a “death boat”.

On her first patrols down-Channel nothing unusual happened with the U-65. She sank some ships, she eluded pursuit… and the morale of the crew slowly improved. In January 1918, the U-boat was heading for a dock-side in Flanders again, and nothing happened there either. The captain of the U-65 got orders to seek out shipping off Portland and one evening, when the weather was stormy, the U-boat surfaced to recharge the batteries. As they were near an enemy naval base, the captain had three men on the bridge keeping a lookout. 

It was the lieutenant of the U-65 who was the first to see a figure standing on deck near the bow, with his feet straddling the plates as the submarine lurched and pitched in the seas. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the lieutenant shouted. “Get below or you’ll be overboard!”

Then the figure turned, and it was Der Schwarze.

The lieutenant called the other lookouts and the captain, and they all stared in numbed horror as the apparition folded its arms and stared back… until, after nearly a minute, it vanished.

Image via Wikipedia

The Death Boat

Some weeks later,  when the U-65 was tied up again at the port of Bruges, the captain went ashore to visit an officers club. There was an air-raid and a splinter from a shell neatly sliced his head from his body.

The new captain found the crew in a state of shock. High-ranking officers came on board and listened carefully to what each man had to say. Those most demoralized were drafted to other duties and the gap was filled with a fresh draft. A priest was called in to exorcise the U-65 and drive out all evil spirits in the name of God. To decommission the submarine on the grounds of diabolic possession would have created a dangerous precedent, so in May 1918 the Death Boat set out for another patrol, this time in the Bay of Biscay.

It was a terrible trip. The seas were high and the success against enemy shipping was poor. A torpedoman went mad and had to be given morphia. When he came round he was sent to the upper deck to get some air, accompanied by another man. The torpedoman went berserk again and took a running jump overboard. He made no attempt to swim.

Off Ushant, when the U-65 was rolling heavily, the chief engineer slipped and was washed overboard. Twenty-nine of the men were left now. Everyone felt that a malevolent fate had the U-65 in its grip. And it had yet to pass through the Straits of Dover on the way home… Three U-boats had recently been destroyed there.

On 31 July 1918, German naval headquarters reported that the U-65 was missing, presumed lost… and that would have been the end of the story. But three weeks previously an American submarine on the west coast of Ireland had spotted from periscope depth a surfaced U-boat and read the number on the cunning tower: “U-65″. The captain already was manoeuvring for attack, when right in front of his eyes the U-boat just blew up, “sky high, with a roar you could have heard in Arizona”.

Had a warhead exploded by accident? Was it sabotage by an unhinged crewman? Had another U-boat attacked the U-65 in error and then made off undetected? This one thing can be said for sure: once belief in the haunting had established itself among the crew, panic was inevitable, and from that much else may have flowed.

And you can leave a haunted house, but you can’t leave a steel cigar, fathoms beneath the sea, amid the perils of a Great War…

Other True Ghost Stories of the Great War:

• The Hell Hound of No Man’s Land
• Ghost Cavalry of the Great War
• Phantoms of the Great War
• The Angels of Mons

 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.