It's a real-life Indiana Jones story. This is a tale of explorers looking for a legendary and cursed city in the jungle in central America - along with Indy's biggest fear, snakes, and even more exciting, a cursed city. The story of the great city in the jungle in Honduras had slipped into legend, but it seems after a series of unfortunate events that the local people thought the gods were angry at them and left their homes.
Credit: Lucasfilm
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People have been obsessed with finding this city since the 1500s, but the rainforest of Mosquitia in Honduras is so thick and dangerous that it has been impossible to find. Until now.
Explorer Steve Elkins has been after the city since the '90s and tried unsuccessfully to find it in '94. But this time he had technology on his side.
The explorers used LIDO, a high-tech laser mapping system which can draw out land through the thick jungle. It was the only way to find the lost city in the huge deluge of nature. The intrepid explorers cut a hole in their small plane, flew over hundreds of miles and mapped out the jungle with lasers, looking for buildings.
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When rectangles showed up on the map, the explorers knew they must have found the City of the Monkey God.
It took a further three years to plan the trip.
Steve put together a motley crew of author Doug Preston, Colorado State archaeologist Chris Fisher and documentary filmmaker Bill Benenson and some other people to help them through the jungle. But the people of Honduras said they shouldn't go - the city was cursed and the explorers would upset the Monkey God.
Credit: National Geographic
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Even though they had mapped the Mosquitia jungle, it was still very tough going.
"Just to get into this jungle is extremely dangerous," Elkins said. "And once you're there, it's thick, thick with poisonous snakes."
A deadly pit viper called the Fer-de-Lance attacked the camp one night, shooting venom at the explorers until the jungle warfare expert - yes that is a real job - chopped off the viper's head. To warn other snakes, he nailed the snake head to a tree.
Brutal, but effective. They weren't attacked by any more snakes.
And only a few days later, they had found the lost city!
At first they were disappointed - it looked like all the stones were gone and there were only pyramids made of earth. Then someone saw some 'weird stones' and they realised that underneath all the fauna were stone carvings.
One of the coolest was a snarling jaguar head! Underneath their feet was a treasure trove of historical artefacts from the 16th century that had just been left behind.
Credit: National Geographic
The team took photos but it was impossible to bring the heavy stones back through the jungle with them.
But the story didn't end here. And here is where the mystic curse comes in.
Months after leaving the jungle, Doug Preston and Chris Fisher noticed they had a few bites from a sand fly that hadn't healed. When they checked with the doctor, they found they had Leishmaniasis, also known as flesh eating disease.
Credit: CBS
Half the expedition had the flesh eating disease and had to have treatment, which was very painful. Was it a curse from the Monkey God who was angry that they dared to come onto their sacred ground?
Only part of the site had been explored, but Doug isn't going to go back anytime soon - after all, a flesh-eating virus is pretty off-putting. It appears the Monkey God doesn't want any more visitors.
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You can find out all about it in Douglas Preston's book, 'The Lost City Of The Monkey God'.
Credit: Grand Central Publishing
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Which got me thinking, what other terrifying real-life curses are out there in the world?
The 27 Club
This curse has claimed the lives of too many talented musicians. Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrisson and, more recently, Amy Winehouse have all passed away at the age of 27 and left us with not enough music to mourn them.
The Poltergeist Curse
In the Poltergeist film in '82, they actually used real cadavers as props and some people think that's the reason that six of the cast members died over the next decade. At any rate, the cast members were as scared making the film as I am watching it.
The Kennedy Curse
The Kennedys might be American political royalty, but they also have another reputation - and that's for being cursed. It all started with JFK - he was assassinated in '63 to the shock of the world and, since then, many more family members have passed away. JFK's brother, Robert, was also assassinated later and his sons died of an OD and a skiing accident, respectively. His wife hanged herself. Senator Ted drove off a cliff. Even JFK's son, John F. Kennedy Jr didn't escape it - he and his equally famous socialite wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and sister died in a plane crash.
The Pompeii Curse
Everyone knows the story. The Italian town sat at the foot of an active volcano - not a great place to decide to live - and one day it erupted, covering the entire town and killing everyone. The lava perfectly preserved the people in the town, including animals and household items - that pesky tourists have been stealing. But these are no ordinary souvenirs - apparently the relics have been causing problem after problem for the thieves and distraught with the trauma, hundreds of relics have been returned to Pompeii.
Steal me and I will curse you! Credit: PA
Tutankhamun's Curse
Another historical curse comes from Egypt. In 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun and, a few days later, his financial backer, Lord Carvenon, died. The Egyptian tomb which had been untouched for centuries was said to have been protected by a curse. By 1929, 11 people connected with the tomb and the excavation site had died - some of them from unknown causes. Everyone who had been sent anything Egyptian as a gift returned it quickly.
Credit: PA
The Curse of Rasputin
A shady religious man from Siberia, Rasputin won over the Tsarina of Russia by looking after her son, Alexei. The boy had a rare blood disease which meant that he would bleed to death if he was hurt as his blood couldn't clot properly and he had a lot of fits - but Rasputin was the only one who could calm him with his exciting stories.
A lot of people in Russia didn't like the influence that Rasputin had over the royal family and a group of men got together to assassinate him. They invited him over for tea and put poison in his cup - but Rasputin kept drinking, so they put more poison in his drink. After they ran out of poison, they shot him several times - but still he didn't die. They threw him down the stairs and into a river covered in ice - when he was discovered he had ice under his fingertips - he tried to claw his way through the ice. Before he died, legend has it he had cursed the royal family and all of Russia. Not long after the Russian Revolution happened and the entire family was killed or exiled. Coincidence?
Words Laura Hamilton
Featured Image Credit: Grand Central Publishing