Cursed...ish

New Orleans has no shortage of haunted history, but the Superdome Curse is one of the city’s lesser-known legends hiding in plain sight. In this episode of Cursed...ish, Angela and Daniel head to the Big Easy to explore the eerie story connecting the New Orleans Saints, the Louisiana Superdome, and the old Girod Street Cemetery, a burial ground once overwhelmed by cholera, yellow fever, decay, and...

Winning the lottery is supposed to change your life for the better, but for some jackpot winners, sudden wealth has brought bankruptcy, betrayal, addiction, lawsuits, murder, and the uncomfortable realization that money can solve plenty of problems while creating entirely new ones. In this episode of Cursed...ish, Daniel and Angela investigate the so-called lottery curse. From the British tabloid...

What happens when some of the most brilliant musicians in history all seem to meet the same tragic end? In this episode of Cursed...ish, Angela and Daniel dig into the legend of the 27 Club: the eerie cultural grouping of famous artists who died at just 27 years old. From Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse, the so-called “...

For decades, American families gathered in their backyards to throw giant metal spikes through the air and called it wholesome fun. What could possibly go wrong? In this episode of Cursed...ish, Daniel and Angela trace the astonishing history of lawn darts, better known by the popular brand name Jarts. Beginning with a 1957 patent for a projectile that combined an indoor dart with a javelin, lawn...

In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath ash, pumice, and deadly pyroclastic flows, preserving the final moments of two ancient Roman cities in horrifying detail. But was that the end of Pompeii’s misfortune, or did something cursed remain beneath the ruins? Fresh from visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum, Angela takes Daniel through the catastrophic eruption of Moun...

Yosemite National Park is one of the most beautiful places in America, with towering granite cliffs, roaring waterfalls, Half Dome, El Capitan, and a valley so stunning it helped inspire the entire national park system. But tucked into that landscape is Tenaya Canyon, a dangerous stretch of wilderness sometimes called the “Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite,” where hikers, climbers, park employees, and...

The Hope Diamond is one of the most famous jewels in the world, but is it also one of the most cursed? In this episode of Cursed...ish , we follow the allegedly-cursed Hope Diamond from its origins as the Tavernier Blue to the French royal court, through revolution, scandal, suspiciously dramatic deaths, and eventually into its current home at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Along the way, we...

A warning for delicate ears: this episode contains explicit language. We hope you’ll pardon us; when the topic is cursed words, some of those words do insist on showing up and being heard. On the 13th episode of Cursed…ish , Daniel and Angela investigate curses of a more etymological persuasion: curse words . Why do certain sounds become dangerous, filthy, or forbidden? Why did ancient speakers st...

Why do theater people refuse to say Macbeth inside a theater? This week on Cursed...ish , we step into the blood-soaked, witchy world of Shakespeare’s most allegedly-cursed play: Macbeth , also known by the superstitious as “The Scottish Play.” Angela takes Daniel through the strange history behind the curse of Macbeth , from one king's weird, misplaced obsession with witchcraft and Shakespea...

Is the Poltergeist curse real, or is it just one of Hollywood’s darkest tabloid legends? In this episode of Cursed...ish , we dig into the alleged Poltergeist movie curse , from Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper’s creation of the 1982 horror classic to the tragic deaths of Dominique Dunne and Heather O’Rourke , the eerie stories surrounding Poltergeist 2 and Poltergeist 3 , and the infamous rumor t...

In this episode of Cursed...ish, Angela and Daniel dig into the Curse of Cassandra, the Greek myth of a woman who could literally predict disaster and still got treated like she was being dramatic. From Apollo’s extremely petty curse of a punishment to the Trojan Horse , the fall of Troy , and the brutal aftermath of war, they trace how Cassandra became mythology’s patron saint of I told you so ....

In Part II of Cursed...ish’s King Tutankhamun coverage, Daniel and Angela pick up where the tomb story turns ancient history to archaeology and legend. From Napoleon’s role in fueling Europe’s obsession with ancient Egypt to the Rosetta Stone, Howard Carter’s excavation, Lord Carnarvon’s mysterious death, and the media frenzy that helped create the so-called Pharaoh’s Curse, they trace how a burie...

Before Tutankhamun became the most famous mummy in the world, he was a teenage pharaoh buried in secrecy beneath the sands of ancient Egypt. In Part 1 of this story, the Cursed...ish hosts trace the origins of the Curse of King Tut by exploring the world that created him: the religious beliefs of ancient Egypt, mummification, tomb protection, funerary rituals, and the supernatural fear of disturbi...

In this episode of Cursed...ish , Angela Mattes and Daniel Stevens investigate one of America’s most infamous allegedly-hexed families: the Kennedys . From the death of Joseph Kennedy Jr. in World War II to the tragedies of Rosemary Kennedy, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy , the scandal of Chappaquiddick , and the plane crash that killed JFK Jr. , the Kennedy family sto...

In this episode of Cursed...ish , Angela Mattes and Daniel Stevens head into one of the darkest corners of the Harry Potter universe: the Unforgivable Curses . From Avada Kedavra to the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse , they unpack how the wizarding world casually hands children the power to torture, control minds, and kill instantly, then somehow treats that as normal school-adjacent infor...

The Dybbuk Box may be the perfect cursed object for the internet age: part ghost story, part folklore confusion, part viral marketing miracle, and part “sir, please stop gifting this to relatives.” In this episode of Cursed...ish , we trace the story of the haunted eBay cabinet said to unleash nightmares, misfortune, illness, and general psychic bad vibes on anyone unlucky enough to own it. From H...

The Curse of the Billy Goat is one of the most famous sports curse legends in American history. In 1945, Chicago Cubs fan and Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis was kicked out of Wrigley Field after trying to bring his pet goat to the World Series, and according to legend, he cursed the Cubs on the spot. What followed was decades of heartbreak, near-misses, black-cat omens, failed curse-breaki...

Winning an Academy Award is supposed to be the greatest moment of an actor’s career.  So why do so many winners say it ruined their lives?  In this episode of Cursed...ish , Daniel and Angela investigate the long-rumored Oscar Curse : the idea that winning an Academy Award can derail careers, destroy relationships, or both.  The story begins in 1985 , when Sally Field won her second Oscar for Plac...

A diamond that promised invincibility … and left a trail of war, betrayal, and ruin across centuries of European history.  In this episode of Cursed...ish , Daniel and Angela investigate the legend of one of the world’s most famous cursed diamonds : the Sancy Diamond .  We begin in medieval Europe, where the stone, once known as the The Balle de Flandres , became associated with kings, warlords, a...

Why do so many buildings skip the 13th floor? Why do airlines avoid row 13? And why does a single number carry so much cultural dread?  In the first episode of Cursed...ish , Daniel and Angela dig into the long, strange history of the world’s most infamous number: 13 .  From Friday the 13th superstitions to the tongue-twisting fear known as triskaidekaphobia , we explore why the number 13 has been...