Posted on 02/11/2005 11:01:19 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
German tourist sends 'unlucky' old stone back to Thailand
Fri Feb 11,12:41 AM ET Offbeat - AFP
BANGKOK (AFP) - A German tourist has sent a stone he found in historic ruins back to Thailand, blaming it for three years' of bad luck, officials in Bangkok said.
AFP Photo
The Tourism Authority of Thailand said the tourist, Michael Beil, told officials in a letter that he found the stone in 2001 during a visit to a temple in the old royal capital of Ayutthaya and took it home to Germany.
He had a change of heart however and sent the stone back to the authority's Ayutthaya office in a package from Gottingen in Germany.
"Since (finding the stone) I've had only trouble and misfortune in my life," Beil said in the letter.
"I think the stone from Ayutthaya and my lack of respect for its sanctity has brought the bad luck to me.
"That's why I wish that this stone should be returned to its original place. Please put this stone back at the temple in Ayutthaya and pray for me so that my luck can return."
Tourism Authority director Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhay told AFP the stone would be sent to Ministry of Culture's fine arts department, but added it would be difficult to ensure it was returned to the temple from which it originated.
Ayutthaya was Thailand's capital for more than 400 years until 1767, a period known as Thailand's "Golden Age" when it had a population of up to a million people and Thai culture and trade flourished.
OK!
Hm, I'd love to know what kind of bad luck he was experiencing ... sounds more interesting than the news story, I'll bet ....
My initial reaction to this is to say what a superstitious guy! Glad I'm not like that! ... and then I remembered a visit to the Kimball Art Museum a few years ago. They had a big exhibit of old African art, including one room full of carved masks, god images, etc. I could not stay in that room. The air felt like it was vibrating, just thick with anger. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I'd taken one of those angry masks home with me! Yikes!
Well, yes, there are things too creepy to get used to.:)
"Seven years of bad luck/Brought the magic stone..." (To paraphrase Stevie Wonder)
ideally , if you feel lead to pick up a rock at a special spot like that , you want to take a moment and request permission from the nature spirits that may be there . Esp. in a place like Ayuttaya where countless people have died sad and brutal deaths , it's important to show respect . As for the rock itself bringing bad luck , doubtful , it's just a rock.
Just as spirits are spirits . It's the spirits that will cause the problem , not the rock ;^)
Sounds like a Ministry of Culture's "planted story". To me, if the guy was this supersticious, he should have purchased a votive image of Buddha or a revered monk at a temple and have gotten an explination as to how good fortune was to anoint him. Some of the ceramic or carved immages are quite old.
Not a bad idea. Even if only to show some respect.
hour = your Sorry.
When I was a kid growing up in Hawaii I found an ancient artifact. It was a grinding stone. I sent it back to Hawaii to the Bishop Museum last year, after reading about what Pele does to people who desecrate Hawaiian cultural objects.
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