Curse of the Carlisle stone.

An ancient curse on the city of Carlisle has again reared its ugly head, according to some residents there who blame the installation of a commemorative sculpture for a streak of bad luck that has plagued the town the last few years. Carlisle is an English town on the border of Scotland, a border that was cause for much strife throughout the ages.

A particularly bad year was 1525, when then-archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar, set a curse upon the warring parties on the English side of the border. According to the Guardian (U.K.), it went something like this: "I curse their head and all the hairs of their head. I curse their face, their brain, their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth," etc.

Since the sculpture was installed in 2001, Carlisle has seen a string of misfortune, including a massive outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in its livestock, major floods and a fire, job loss, and losing seasons for the Carlisle United soccer team. Town councilman Jim Tootle is leading the charge to have the statue smashed to pieces or moved out of the city. The Anglican bishop of Carlisle has even asked the Catholic archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, to lift the curse of his predecessor.

Local artist Gordon Young, himself a descendant of the cursed parties, created the sculpture. "If I thought the sculpture would have affected one Carlisle United result," he told the Guardian, "I would have smashed it myself years ago."