These women stole valuable rocks but went home with so much more3 min read
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Earlier this year, Nicole admitted to a crime. She wrote a guilty letter to the Italian government telling them that she had pickpocketed fragments of the planet’s most famous ruins. She claimed that she had been swarmed with illnesses and financial troubles since she stole charred ruins from Pompeii 13 years ago. No one could understand why all these events weighed down on Nicole like a stack of bulky bricks. There was but one explanation remaining for the tragedies that enveloped her; a nefarious curse!
What was even more surprising was that she was not the only one. She was part of a string of people that have written to Italian officials asking for forgiveness after they felt guilty about that stealing from the ruins of Pompeii. But here is the spine-chilling bit: several of them claimed that they had been cursed!
Guilt strikes again!
Just a few months later comes yet another admission of guilt. No one suspected or accused her but a young lady named Jess just returned the marble she stole from a Roman monument. She sent the National Roman Museum a bulky package. In it was a block of marble with the message: “To Sam, love Jess, Rome 2017.” She also included a letter apologizing for her theft.
“I feel terrible for not only stealing this item from its rightful place but placing writing on it,” she wrote. “It was a big mistake on my part and only now, as an adult, do I realize just how thoughtless and despicable it was.”
The Guardian
Nicole tried to scrub off the message she had written to Sam, but unfortunately, she was unable to wipe clean the precious marble.The authorities at the museum claimed that Jess stole this piece in 2017 from a monument called the Roman Forum. Thousands of years ago, it was a place where important religious, social, and political activities occurred. Now, the Roman Forum is a wildly popular monument that receives millions of visitors every year.
No one really knows what made Jess return the marble, but theories abound. Could it be that all this lockdown thinking made Jess reflect on her actions? Did she feel cursed too? Did Nicole inspire Jess? Who really is Jess? Where does she live? Is this crime punishable by law?
Well, whatever it was, there are a few things of which we are certain. First of all, the National Roman Museum is delighted that they have been given back a missing part of their precious monument. Secondly, when you steal from a monumental place, you return with monumental guilt ( and perhaps a curse?)
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With Excerpts From: History.com, The Guardian, Owliver’s Post
