Is Ayers Rock Cursed

by BY LINDA PRESTONAyers Rock in Uluru National Park, Australia, has long been regarded as a sacred monument to the Aboriginal people.And every year thousands of tourists visit to witness its magnificent sunsets.The rock, which stands at 1,100ft above the arid plains of Alice Springs, is transformed in the dying sunlight.It becomes a spectacular sight flushed with pink and then blood red.The Aborigines regard it as being a spiritual place inhabited byfriendly spirits but some tourists have good reason to disagree.Hundreds of visitors who casually pocketed chunks of the sacredlandmark and took them home found they brought nothing but bad luck,including illness, marriage break-ups and even death.And tourists in fear for their lives regularly return rocks that they've taken from the sacred landmarkPark managers are bombarded daily with packages of "sorry rocks" Some packages - ranging from small stones to a five stone slab - have arrived with apologies.But a number of senders have included details of tragedies which havebefallen them since they took the rocks, including illness,relationship break-ups and even death.One British tourist who returned a small chunk of rock, was quoted inan Australian newspaper as saying: "Things were good in my life beforeI took some of Ayers Rock with me, but since then my wife has had astroke and things have worked out badly for my children, we have hadnothing but bad luck".Another letter from Arizona claims that by removing some rock it hadbrought nothing but sickness to the person who had taken it.And an Australian women said that she had suffered a still birth sincetaking a piece of rock and that she hoped by returning the rockwhatever evils that may have been unleashed would now subside.To deter tourists from taking souvenirs, park managers hype up the ideathat rock is cursed and even go as far as displaying the returned rocksand letters from those suffering bad luck.But despite the fact that the curse has been invented by park officialsto stop the rock being carried away "piece by piece", for those whobelieve it may indeed become a self-fulfilling prophesy, i.e. "you arecursed if you think you are".ABOUT THE AUTHOR LINDA PRESTON WORKS AS A FREELANCE WRITER AND SHE CAN BE CONTACTED VIA HER WEBSITE AT http://www.psychicreach.co.uk