Curses

"We are cursed men, Miss Turner. Compelled by greed we were, but now, we are consumed by it!"

- Barbossa to Elizabeth Swann

A Curse is a supernatural phenomena or black magic that causes harm to a person, group or area - ranging from causing bad luck and minor haunting activities to death and demonic invasion.

Curses can be cast on people, objects or entire worlds - either via the work of a wicked or resentful sorcerer or from an act of defilement that causes the gods (or similiar supernatural entity) to take vengeance on those responsible.

Although dismissed by scientists as superstition, there has been some degree of evidence that curses can work if a victim believes strong enough in their apparent "doom" - due to this many compare the practice of leaving behind voodoo dolls or "cursed items" as a fearmongering tool designed to convince someone they are afflicted by supernatural threat.

Famous Curses (Fiction/Legend)

 * Beauty and The Beast (the titular "Beast" is cursed by a sorceress to become a monster in retribution for his selfish nature, the cure to the curse was to find true love.)
 * Medusa (Medusa, a once beautiful young woman, was cursed by a jealous chief Greek goddess Hera into becoming a hideous Gorgon, although in other variation of the legend of Medusa, it was a disgusted wisdom goddess Athena who cursed Medusa, her former virginal worshipper, into a Gorgon after she was raped by the sea god Poseidon inside the temple of Athena which was an act of defilement.)
 * Mark of Cain (supposedly after killing Abel, Cain was cursed by God to walk the Earth with a mark that forbade anyone from killing him but also branded him an outcast (some tales argue he became immortal, akin to a similar tale known as the "Wandering Jew" (see below).)
 * The Wandering Jew (another biblical curse supposedly exacted upon an unnamed Jew who mocked Jesus as he was being crucified and was denied death, having to aimlessly wander Earth until the Day of Judgement.)

Famous Curses (Real World)

 * Poltergeist Curse (a supposed curse placed on those involved in the horror move "Poltergeist" due to the use of real skeletons in the climatic end scene.)
 * The Mummy's Curse (a supposed cursed placed on those who explored the Egyptian Pyramids, new evidence suggests this curse may actually be microbes that lurked in the pyramids and thus caused the fatal illnesses (though this, much like the curse, is largely theory).)