10 Historic Families with Cursed Bloodlines
The Nepalese Royal Family
According to legend, the first king of Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, brought a curse upon his bloodline when he refused an offering of food from a holy man. That holy man was said to be Baba Gorakhnath, an immortal yogi with supernatural powers. The offended Gorakhnath told the King his dynasty would end after ten generations. The 10th King of Nepal, Birendra Shah, was killed in a brutal massacre carried out by his son, the Crown Prince Dipendra. Ten members of the family were killed, allegedly over the family forbidding Dipendra to be with the daughter of a rival family.
The Guinness Family
Arthur Guinness made a name for himself when he established his famous brewery in the mid-18th century, but it seems his good fortune ended there. Rumors of a Guinness family curse began after multiple generations of Guinnesses appeared to be plagued with tragedy. Out of Arthur’s 21 children, 11 died before reaching adulthood. His grandchildren were said to suffer from alcohol use disorder, and his great-great-grandson, the politician Lord Moyne, was assassinated in Cairo in 1944. In 1966, Oonagh Guinness lost her son in an infamous car accident, Lady Henrietta Guinness took her own life in 1978, and across the extended family tree there can be found a litany of tragedies over the years. The Guinness misfortune have continued, with several other Guinness descendants losing their lives in tragic accidents persisting into the 2020s.
The House of Grimaldi
The ultra-luxe microstate of Monaco has been ruled by the Grimaldi family since 1297, but for much of their reign the family has been rumored to be cursed. As the story goes, in the fourteenth century Prince Rainier I kidnapped a woman who turned out to be a witch. The witch cursed the Grimaldi family to suffer from eternal unhappiness in marriage. Since the alleged curse, several generations appear to have been plagued by divorce, infidelity, and tragedy. The wife of Prince Louis I had several affairs before she left him to become the mistress of King Louis XIV of France, and Prince Rainier III married Grace Kelly, who died aged 52 after a tragic car accident. Family curse, or just endless bad luck?
The Wodeyar Royal Family
The legend of the Mysore curse states that in 1612 when the Wodeyar royal family captured Queen Alamelamma of the Vijayanagara empire, she put a curse upon the family before taking her own life. Remarkably, the curse came true. The old city of Talkād was buried in sand, the river became a whirlpool, and male heirs were only produced every other generation. It wasn’t until 2017 when the current ruler and his wife welcomed a healthy baby son that it was believed the curse had been ended.
The Von Erich Family
The 2023 film “The Iron Claw” depicted a dramatized version of a very real chain of tragic events that came to be known as the “Von Erich curse.” Patriarch Fritz Von Erich, whose real name was Jack Adkisson, built one of the most famous professional wrestling dynasties in the history of the sport, but he lost five of his six sons before his own death in 1997. His eldest, Jack Jr., drowned at just six years old, David died of enteritis aged 25, and Mike, Chris, and Kerry all took their own lives. Only Kevin survived, and his two sons would continue their family legacy by becoming professional wrestlers as well.
The House of Borgia
This Spanish family was incredibly powerful during the Renaissance, producing two popes in two generations. The Borgias also made some powerful enemies at this time, who alleged their rise to power had been achieved through corruption, scandal, and betrayal. Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI, murdered one of his political opponents and kept many mistresses. His illegitimate son, Cesare, was suspected of murdering his sister Lucrezia’s lover and his own brother, Giovanni. Lucrezia herself was accused of several poisonings. While murder for political gain was not uncommon in this era, some recent historians have alleged that the Borgias’ bad reputation was primarily rumors spread by their prominent enemies.
The House of Stuart
The Stuart family was marked by death, infertility, and rebellion from the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587. Mary’s grandson, Charles I, was beheaded as well after a devastating Civil War broke out in England. Though his son, Charles II, was a popular king, he was unable to produce any legitimate heirs. His death led to a crisis of succession when his illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, sparked a bloody uprising against his uncle, James II, who had taken the throne. Monmouth was then, you guessed it, beheaded. But James II was so unpopular that he was removed during the Glorious Revolution, replaced by William and Mary. The Stuart reign ended with Queen Anne, who died in 1714 and produced no heirs.
The Romanov Family
Grigori Rasputin was a mystic and faith healer who earned the favor of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra when he appeared to be able to ease the pains of their son, Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. Though the royal family liked and trusted Rasputin, other members of the imperial court conspired against him. Knowing this, Rasputin sent a letter to Nicholas containing a dire warning. Nicholas’ cousin, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, led the group of assassins responsible for Rasputin’s death in 1916. Within months, Russian Revolutionaries forced Nicholas to abdicate the throne. Following a period of house arrest, the Bolsheviks murdered the Romanov imperial family in July of 1918.
The Kennedy Family
One of the most famous families in American history is also said to have suffered from one of the most infamous family curses. The first incident occurred in 1944, when pilot Joe Kennedy Jr. died in an aircraft explosion. His sister Kathleen died just a few years later in a plane crash. Before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, he had lost two children in infancy. It’s said that his wife Jackie even brought the curse with her when she remarried, as the Onassis family also experienced similar losses. Other deaths include Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s death in a plane crash, and a trail of other accidents, heartbreaking incidents, and sudden losses continuing up to more recent times.
The House of Habsburg
One of the most prominent and powerful royal families in history, the Habsburgs met their fair share of suffering during their centuries-long reign. One alleged Habsburg curse states that the family slighted a flock of supernatural ravens called Turnfalken, which began haunting the family. It was said that whenever misfortune was coming for the Habsburgs, ravens would appear, including at the beheading of Marie Antoinette. The family was also known for its rampant inbreeding which resulted in physical deformities, and likely contributed to the high mortality rate of Habsburg children. Finally, it was the death of a Habsburg, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, that set off World War I, one of the bloodiest conflicts in European history.
Do you think these historical bloodlines were really cursed, or were they just unfortunate coincidences? Let us know in the comments!
