Woman Returns Stolen Items From Pompeii After 15 Years of Bad Luck
Ancient relic theft -- not even once. It's a film trope as old as, well, film itself, appearing in movies like The Mummy, National Treasure, and Moana, if you steal priceless historical artifacts, things probably won't end too well for you. Yet these tales of ancient-theft related woe weren't enough to deter one Canadian woman from nabbing four items from the ancient, volcano-ruined Italian city of Pompeii in 2005.
According to Vice News, the woman, who is known only as Nicole, stole "two ancient white mosaic tiles, a piece of a ceramic wall, and fragments of an amphora case," 15 years ago, after visiting the ancient city that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. Since then, her luck has been, well, pretty abysmal, including financial struggles and multiple battles with breast cancer, as well as a double mastectomy. After a decade and a half, Nicole, who is now 36 has finally stepped forward to return the nabbed relics to a local Pompeii travel agent along with an apology letter, explaining how she made the mistake when she was "young and stupid."
"We are good people and I don't want to pass this curse on to my family or children," she wrote. "Forgive me for the gesture made years ago, I learned my lesson...I am asking the forgiveness of the Gods."
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Eerily enough, Nicole, who says she also plans on revisiting Pompeii to apologize in person, isn't alone -- according to a statement from Pompeii Archeological Park, the site received about 100 other letters from thieves elaborating how their luck drastically turned after sneaking off with a priceless artifact. Yikes.
So dear reader, please, please, please, don't steal priceless ancient artifacts, take it from Indiana Jones, Tarzan, Erik Killmonger in that one museum scene, and now, dear Canadian Nicole. Here's to hoping the apology letter to Jupiter works and that Nicole has her luck restored. Come on, she's suffered enough.
You can find Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
