More information on Curses

This isn't "Harry Potter" stuff...Some notes on Curses and their effects

"The curse, like the blessing, once uttered, has a potency of its own. The curse generally in the Bible is God's just wrath."
Rev. W.K. Lowther Clarke, in Concise Bible Commentary (1952)

The Bible is full of references to curses and the effects following from being declared. Psalm 109 is devoted to the utterance of a curse and the effects upon those subject to it and is reproduced here as a link.

The theme of all the examples is clear. Sacrilege brings its own penalty. Nothing prospers when alienated from God.

Effects of a Curse

The curse of St Edmund and the effects of his power may manifest in many forms, as records of victims shows. [See link] Some general observations may also be added about curses, all of which are subject to on-going scholarship and research.

Destruction of property

The destruction of property and the loss of wealth is familiar theme in stories of curses throughout the ages, both in Britain and abroad. Those beset by a curse will suffer financial injury and loss, often in ways which could never have been foreseen at time. Fortunes have been lost "over night".

Sickness and accident

While periods of ill-health may be expected in anyone's life, illness caused by curses are particularly insidious. They are a common punishment for sacrilege throughout the world. Headaches and accelerated heart beat, a sense that something is wrong can all initial symptoms followed by a wide variety of symptoms covering the whole medical textbook.

In other cases the injury is caused by an unforeseen accident. Many examples, ancient and modern could be cited from around the British Isles and globally.

Two instances are noted here:

A Puritan attempting to hack down the holy Glastonbury Thorn, at Glastonbury,Somerset during the Civil War was blinded by a chip of wood and later lost a leg as a result of a cut.

John Aubrey pointed out that the iconoclast Henry Sherfield broke not only a stained glass window at St Edmund's Church, Salisbury but also his own leg whilst standing on a pew to do it. (See Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (1881)). (Readers will note that this was at a church dedicated to St Edmund).

Physical death

Physical death of the person cursed is the most severe effect of a curse on the earthly level. Examples are well-documented in the Bible, the stories of medieval saints and by doctors today, albeit usually outside a Christian context owing to the rarity of the use of the appropriate Book of Common Prayer ceremony.

There is an extensive literature in both English and other languages of curses causing death, apparently being occasioned by stoppage of the heart. (This may be way of a heart attack or by way the rhythm of the heart being interrupted).

It has been dubbed the "Hound of the Baskervilles effect" after the Sherlock Holmes story in which Sir Charles Baskerville dies of shock on seeing the monstrous hound (the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle drew upon his knowledge as a doctor and his expertise in psychic matters). Evidence of death by the "Hound of the Baskervilles effect" is revealed in a study conducted by David P. Phillips, Professor of sociology at the University of California. Examining the computerised death certificates between 1973 and 1998 researchers discovered that cardiac death rates among people with a Chinese and Japanese ethnic background peaked on the 4th of the month, exceeding those of other American citizens by a measurable degree. The number four is associated with bad luck, disaster and negative beliefs in both Chinese and Japanese culture and the words for death and four are pronounced the same in both languages. The findings have been published in the British Medical Journal. (Philips, David P. et al (2001) in "The Hound of the Baskervilles effect: natural experiment on the influence of psychological stress on the timing of death" in British Medical Journal 2001;323: 1443-1446: December 22-29). It seems possible that the effect may trigger a heart attack, particularly in a person with an existing heart condition; in other cases it is possible that the rhythm of the heart may be interrupted.

Another expert was the late Dr J.C. Barker who wrote up a number of cases in the 1960s. It is interestingly to note that Dr Barker himself died at the early age of 44 after completing a book on curses and their effects after issuing various challenges against individuals who had threatened to lay curses against him.

Insanity

Insanity seems to be a separate effect in its own right as well as a by-product of physical illness or disorder which may arise independently. In other cases, a temporary bout of insanity may result in the victim engaging in a reckless or fatal action with serious consequences to his/her self and others (for example, where a crime is committed during a bout of insanity.)

Naturally, no decent person, particularly a Christian, wishes harm to another. But the Bible and Christian tradition recognises that as well as praying for the salvation of those who offend God's laws there are also ceremonies and rituals in the Prayer Book and the rites of the Church which may be performed and which may have the effect of unleashing God's power upon the sinner. We pray that it will not be necessary for the conducting of prayers and the appropriate ceremonies at Bury St Edmunds and elsewhere for the protection of the town, its people and its shrine.