Curse of the Hope Diamond | Ancient Mysteries (S4, E11) | Full Episode | History

here on ancient mysteries join us as we  unravel the legend of the hope diamond   45 carats of indestructible blue crystal whose  beauty is equaled by the deadly power of its curse before we unlock the future we  must find the keys to the past   i'm leonard nimoy join me and open the door  to ancient mysteries beginning now here on a e dazzling yet deadly flawless yet  cursed the ultimate gift of love   and a hypnotic talisman of evil all of these  and more are facets of a single magical gem   the extraordinary blue diamond called the hope at 45 and a half carats the hope diamond  is the largest blue diamond in the world   it is also the most notorious for  it is said to carry with it a curse   according to legend the hope diamond  was pried from the eye of a hindu statue   in a remote indian jungle the gem was said  to have destroyed careers lives marriages   and entire empires as it passed relentlessly  from hand to hand and generation to generation many believe the hope diamond harbored a deadly  curse which led one owner to commit suicide and   drove another insane some tales insist that the  cursed jewel was directly responsible for the   deaths of its most renowned owners marie  antoinette and king louis xvi of france could this fabled gemstone possess the terrible  power to destroy the lives of all who touch it join us as we explore the spellbinding legend   and the even stranger reality  behind the curse of the hope diamond   it has been called the blue mystery  and a fragment of midnight sky   at 45 and a half carats the hope diamond  is the largest blue diamond ever discovered   the fabulous gem has a tangled history  that can be traced back across centuries given its rarity and splendor it is not surprising  that such a gem should acquire a reputation for some say that the hope diamond is cursed   and that the jewel has brought disaster  and early death to all who have owned it humanity has assigned mysterious abilities  to precious stones from the time that the   first primitive people discovered and worshiped  the glittering pebbles that we now call jewels   legends from the ancient past describe how  precious stones cast their spell over mankind one ancient persian creation myth gives a vital  role to gems in the story of the garden of eden   and the temptations of satan   satan was watching people trying to figure out  how he could get weapons over the human race   and one of the things he noticed was how  tempted people were by the colors of the   flowers so he tried to duplicate the colors of the  flowers out of earth and thus created gemstones   whether they were considered a force  for good or evil gems were assigned   magical properties when worn as talismans  ranging from healing energy to deadly curses when you look at gems as talismans the  the qualities the obvious qualities of these gems   generally lend a great deal of color to what  they're used for as talismans so the diamond   has two major qualities that jump out at you  it's clear and so it's associated with purity   and it's the hardest uh element known to us so  it's also associated with strength with protection   throughout the medieval and renaissance world the  diamond was prized as a gem with the power to heal the 15th century italian  doctor camillus leopardous   ascribed strange medicinal abilities to diamonds  could this stone possess the power to heal   the diamond is a help to lunatics and such as  are possessed with the devil it gives victory   over enemies it tames wild beasts it helps those  who are troubled with phantoms and the nightmare   and it makes him that wears it bold and daring in  his transactions camillus leopardis 15th century   it was also believed that this most precious of  gems possessed powers for evil as well as good   in the middle ages diamonds were  regarded as the deadliest poison on earth   renaissance princess catherine de medici  renowned for her patronage of the arts   and notorious for her political manipulations   reportedly used diamond powder to  poison her family's rivals to the throne modern science however has shown that there's  nothing intrinsically poisonous about the gem   swallowing diamond dust would be  no more harmful than eating sand how then did this sinister myth become  accepted fact in the ancient world tales of the poisonous effects of  diamonds may well have originated in india   nearly 3 000 years ago scholars believe that the owners of ancient  gem mines fabricated the story of the jewel's   deadly properties in order to prevent workers  from stealing diamonds by swallowing them   scholars believe the glorious hope diamond itself  must have originated in india for until the mid   19th century all the diamonds in the world  had come from the mining pits of the punjab diamonds were being mined in india as  long as 800 years before the birth of jesus the gem was so highly prized that  indian diamond merchants counted as   their customers the caesars of  rome and the emperors of china   by the 17th century indian mining towns  were among the wealthiest cities in the world yet the allegedly lethal  powers of the hope diamond   seem to extend far beyond its supposedly  poisonous effects for legend asserts that   merely being in the presence of the splendid  blue jewel may cause chaos ruin and death according to tradition the curse of the hope  diamond originated in 17th century india   during the reign of the mughal emperors on a sweltering evening during monsoon season   a french adventurer by the name of john batiste  tavignay begged for shelter at a remote hindu temple the center of worship for the temple was an  enormous jewel-covered statue of a hindu god the gods all-seeing eyes were fashioned from  huge diamonds of the darkest and rarest blue   each of them weighing over 100 carats late that  night tavernier crept into the inner sanctum of   the temple intent on stripping the god of its  treasures but at the very moment the frenchman   pried out the first glittering diamond eye he  was discovered by one of the temple priests pursued by the enraged holy men savage  barely escaped from the temple with his life   but he clutched in his hand a glittering prize the  largest blue diamond in the history of the world   the hope diamond is supposed  to have been the eye of an idol   and such stones if stolen from their original  owners were inevitably supposed to be cursed   um rather like the curse of  king tut throughout history   sacred things put to profane uses have always  brought horror and harm to the to the profaner does the curse of the hope diamond originate  with this shadowy tale of ancient india the source of the hope diamond  is the first big mystery   because we don't know positively where  it did come from they have said that the   the hope was an idol's eye but in all candor i  think they say that about almost any old historic   diamond i think it's extremely unlikely the cut  of the hope isn't appropriate for an idol's eye the hope diamond probably was found in the  early 1600s we know that the diamond was   eventually acquired by jean-baptiste habernae  who was a well-known gem merchant at that time   we're not sure where he acquired it whether he got  it in india or whether he bought it somewhere else   wherever chaverny acquired the  diamond we can trace its journeys   simply by following the trail of  death and disaster it left behind the extraordinary blue diamond that would later be  called the hope possesses a curse that is at least   three centuries old was jean-baptiste cavanier  the first recorded owner of the fabled diamond   his identity seems as mysterious as  the gem itself for tavernier had a   strangely paradoxical reputation as both  the pillar of society and a greedy scoundrel kamine traveled the world and became the premier   diamond merchant of europe  and asia in the 17th century his fame was such that the king of  persia awarded him a title jeweler   in ordinary a rank which entitled him to wear  the lavish turban and robe of persian nobility   in 1642 tavernier first recorded his  possession of an incredible blue diamond and an astonishing 112 carats it  was nearly the size of a man's fist   but for some unknown reason kevin yeah's  usually precise records never mention   how he came to acquire the extraordinary gem did chavigny come by the  diamond through illegal means tavernier was a man of great integrity tabernier  would not have taken the diamond because he was   honest and i think there's proof of that but  so that the only way he could have taken it   was to have paid the local prince for it and  in fact one of the things he's commended for   is that when they had local taxes  on stones he always paid the tax all that is certain is that somehow  jean-baptiste cavanier had come into   possession of one of the most extraordinary  diamonds in the history of the world when he made the momentous decision to  leave india and bring the diamond to   europe was tavernier unleashing  a powerful and deadly curse for no sooner had the gem  merchant arrived in france in 1645   then he was summoned to show his  wares before the mighty king louis xiv   louis had dubbed himself the sun king a fitting  title for he was the most powerful monarch in   europe his glittering courted versailles the envy  of the world louis was obsessed with gems and   his unlimited wealth allowed him to indulge  his extravagant tastes a single royal coat   from his lavish wardrobe glittered with 123  diamond buttons and 396 jeweled buttonholes kevinye's arrival from the diamond mines of india   instantly caught the attention of  the king with a passion for jewels   upon seeing tavignay's treasure trove louis  xiv immediately bought 44 large diamonds   and more than a thousand smaller diamonds but for the king one jewel outshone all the others   to the dazzled monarch the great blue  diamond was a treasure beyond price   the king paid tavernier the princely sum of  220 000 levers the equivalent of 75 000 today to further express his gratitude to tavignay  the king granted him a title of nobility   suddenly with the sale of his most precious jewel   cabinet rose from an itinerant  merchant to a prosperous aristocrat but no sooner had tavignay left the royal court of   france then the curse of the hope diamond  seemingly began to take its dreaded effect   according to the legend cavanier's nephew  defrauded him of his entire fortune in gems destitute the broken and aging  cabinet returned to india   in a last desperate attempt to rebuild his fortune   according to the tale he died a grisly death   in the indian desert torn  apart by a pack of wild dogs although these accounts were widely  believed kavanese body was never recovered   the mystery of tavini's disappearance would  not be solved for over a hundred years it was not until 1875 that researchers  discovered in an obscure graveyard   the actual tomb of joan baptiste  cavanier the great gem merchant   had not perished in an indian wasteland he  had died in russia in the heart of moscow   and far from being a broken man chavigny  had in fact lived a long and prosperous life despite the surprising truth  about tavernier's final destiny   the curse of the hope diamond seemed to wreak  havoc on its new owners the royal family of france by the 1700s the crown jewels of france  were considered the most fabulous gem   collection in the world thanks in no  small part to the glorious blue diamond   but no sooner had louis xiv acquired the blue  diamond from tavernier and the king suffered a   slow and agonizing death from gangrene a result  it was said of the curse of the blue diamond his heir louis xv passed the deadly gem  to his own grandson when he died in 1774.   tragically the new king also seems to have  inherited the blue diamond's deadly legacy   as louis xvi ascended to the throne  in 1774 revolution was in the air elsewhere in the world the american colonies  teetered on the brink of independence   a slave revolt was brewing in haiti   democracy and the rights of man  were hotly debated throughout europe yet louis and his young austrian wife marie  antoinette seemed more concerned with the   latest fashions and the scandalous gossip  of the court than they were about politics   or the starring masses an avid collector of  jewels marie antoinette's favorite gem was the   magnificent great blue diamond which legend says  she flaunted at royal balls and intimate soirees but did marie antoinette ever  really wear the hope diamond herself   there's absolutely no evidence to show that  marie antoinette ever wore the hope diamond it was put into an insignia that was only worn by  the king as far as the hope diamond is concerned   it's up to you whether you decide that it's bad  luck good luck or has it brings any luck at all   but if you're going to reach some conclusion  please please base it on a true story i don't   for example say that marie antoinette had bad  luck because she wore the diamond when she didn't whether or not marie antoinette wore the hope  diamond it seemed as if the blue jewel was an   outward metaphor for the greed and avarice  that led to the royal family's downfall   july 14 1789 an angry parisian mob stormed the  french prison called the best deal   the french revolution had begun wealthy aristocrats suddenly found themselves  on trial for crimes against the people   a new and fearsome invention the  guillotine would soon prove its   grim effectiveness in separating the french  nobility from their fortunes and their heads sensing mortal danger the king  and marie antoinette fled the   palace of versailles under cover of darkness   they took with them only their most cherished  possessions including the great blue diamond within a day they were captured  and placed under arrest in 1793 marie antoinette and king louis xvi of  france marched up the steps to the guillotine   before a vengeful mob of thousands the necks that had according to legend  once worn the magnificent blue diamond   now felt the deadly kiss of the guillotine's blade yet even as marie antoinette's head rolled the  strange saga of the hope diamond was far from over for with the hope diamond and the crown  jewels now in the hands of the french national   assembly the story of the great blue diamond would  take an even more bizarre turn the crown jewels   were put into a building that was translated  as furniture warehouse and they had a number   of the jewels in several rooms a man who was in  prison heard about the warehouse and he recruited   a lot of other people to join him in robbing the  crown jewels the aftermath of all this is a little   bit like a musical comedy or something because  they robbed the jewels over a six day period and   at times they have they invited their girlfriends  in and had a picnic while they were there   by the time the parisian police learned  of the crime the crown jewels of france   the greatest gem collection in all of  europe had disappeared without a trace swept up in the reign of terror  following the french revolution   and the execution of king louis xvi the great  blue diamond of the crown vanished from sight and yet despite its disappearance  its sinister legend was far from over 20 years after the french revolution in 1813   a much smaller blue diamond turned  up in an obscure london jewelry store   though differing in size and  shape the gems color was the same   deep rich hue as the great blue diamond of france   was this the same rare jewel  recut to disguise its source most experts agree that the  striking similarities between   the two stones must certainly  be more than just coincidence the logical reasons that one can state that  make you believe that the hope really came   from the french blue are just that they're  not many blue diamonds in the first place   there are not many dark blue diamonds or even  fewer dark blue diamonds that are that big   yet even if the hope diamond was  carved from the body of the french blue   a tantalizing mystery remains what happened to the  22 carats carved from the body of the french blue   to create the 45-carat hope diamond are there other smaller stones cut from  the giant blue diamond of the french crown the biggest mystery of the whole diamond  it would seem to me if there is a curse what happened to the rest of tavernier blue   if there are one or two other  stones are they similarly cursed   if other tavernier blue stones exist have they  too brought misfortune and horror to their owners   if so which has certainly shed a lot more credence  on the notion that the hope diamond is cursed some experts however believe that the  missing jewels will never be found   the diamond was recut between 1792 and 1812 and  it was cut from 67 carats down to the present   45 and a half carats the shape of the french  blue at that time and the current hope diamond   pretty much preclude having had any  other diamond cut from it it would   have been lost during the cutting process  and unfortunately that is lost forever at this crucial juncture a  diamond said to carry a curse   would now ironically take on the name of hope in 1830 british aristocrat henry phillip hope heir  to a banking fortune purchased the blue diamond   from a london gem merchant for ninety thousand  dollars the equivalent of 1.5 million today   he died childless his fortune inherited by his  nephew henry thomas hope who died suddenly as well   in 1887 lord francis henry hope became  the sole owner of the hope diamond and   heir to the hope family's fabulous wealth   he seems to have been a gambler and  someone who frequently was short of money   while he was single he went to a music hall in  england and saw mayor who was an american singer   he was captivated by her he went to every  time she performed and sat and watched her in 1894 madcap may joy as the  press caller was as famous for   her notorious offstage escapades  as she was for her onstage roles despite their difference in social class  lord hope and the young singer became engaged the aristocratic groom bestowed  the hope diamond on the chorus girl   as her wedding present could true  love triumph over the fabled curse it was not to be within a year of  his wedding lord hope was bankrupt a year after that madcap may left her husband financially and emotionally devastated  lord hope sold the dazzling blue diamond   he had given to his bride for a sum of  a hundred and forty thousand dollars   the equivalent of nearly two million dollars today   the flamboyant may yoy became so obsessed  with the infamous gem that despite her   divorce from lord hope she wore a replica of  the hope diamond for the rest of her career   tragically the curse seemed to cast its  shadow across her life as well for when   she founded a hotel she named the blue diamond  it burned to the ground within months of opening   when may your died in 1938 the woman who once  owned the hope diamond was on government relief   earning a meager 16 a week did the curse of the  hope diamond destroyed generations of the hope   family or is the string of disasters that  befell them simply a matter of coincidence   if you ask me that question straight out is  there a curse on the hope diamond i would   hem and i would haul and i would  say well perhaps it's coincidence   uh remember that precious gems carry with them  a great deal of temptation to steal the sort of   people who can generally afford to own such things  very often have difficult private lives i could   tell you all sorts of things like that if you ask  me would i like it for a christmas gift i'd say no   for the three centuries of its  recorded existence the hope diamond   shimmered like a sinister omen a jewel  with a deadly mystery at its core as the 20th century began the legend of the hope   diamond continued to cast its spell  over all who came in contact with it yet scholars today believe that surprisingly  the entire legend of the hope diamond's curse   may be traced to a single man his name was  pierre cartier and though a jeweler by trade   his dramatic flair for showmanship may have  created one of the most enduring myths in history cartier acquired the hope diamond in 1908.  he planned to sell the fabled gem to his   most eccentric client evelyn walsh mclean was the  pampered daughter of a wealthy colorado gold miner   her extravagant wedding to newspaper tycoon  thomas mclean was the talk of washington dc in 1909 the newlyweds traveled to paris   to purchase a wedding present at  pierre cartier's jewelry establishment we're not sure how much pierre cartier himself had  to do with really creating the story of a curse on   the hope diamond but clearly he was interested  in selling this diamond to evelyn walsh mclean   he was aware that she was interested  in stones that had a bit of history   she's also been quoted as having said that stones  that were gems that were bad luck for other people   were good luck for her she was flamboyant she  said in her biography that she would gladly have   hung by her heels from the top of the building or  something she had thought it would cause attention historians believe cartier was the  first person to claim that the hope   diamond was pried from the eye of a stone idol   it was cartier who first told the story of the  diamond's discoverer john baptiste tavernier   being torn apart by wild dogs and it was cartier who first claimed that the hope  was worn by marie antoinette before her beheading apparently cartier's consummate salesmanship  had the desired effect in 1911 evelyn walsh   maclean bought the hope diamond for 000 the  equivalent of three million dollars today   so it seems that that had to be the the  origin of the story of the curse because   we don't really have any documentation that  that speaks of a curse any earlier than that the tale continued to grow for mrs mclean herself  helped enhance the diamond's bizarre reputation   she flaunted her disdain for the diamond's  legendary curse in the most outrageous ways   keeping it under the pillows of her couch  and even mounting it on a collar for her dog tragically evelyn mclean  herself would seemingly fall   victim to the very curse she had dared to embrace mrs mclean's eldest son was killed in a  car accident when he was nine years old   her husband became an alcoholic  and died in a mental institution   and her only daughter committed  suicide of a drug overdose at age 25. a broken woman mrs mclean herself  died less than a year later is the tragic fate of mrs mclean and her  family only a bizarre coincidence or when   cartier invented the tale of the hope diamond's  curse did it contain more truth than he ever knew   i just don't believe that it was the  hope it did that i think that the same   things would have happened to them in any  event and some of the things that they say   were caused by the hope diamond were things that  happened before she ever had the hope diamond   with evelyn mclean's death in 1947   her heirs sold the diamond to the  renowned new york jeweler harry winston   winston publicly denied the existence of the curse   in 1958 he donated the hope diamond to the  smithsonian institution in washington dc the world's most fabulous and most feared  diamond now belonged to the american people but when the gem went to the  smithsonian did the curse go with it since 1958 it's been in the hands of the  smithsonian institution it's been in the hands   of the people of the united states and some might  claim that we've had a lot of trouble since 1958   i've actually actually read in one one place  the claim made that uh everything from the   vietnam war to the kennedy assassination  could be laid at its nefarious doorstep what is it about this sparkling  piece of blue stone that spawns   dark legends of chaos and destruction  even as it touches the hearts of millions perhaps our need to believe in the ancient  curse is as old as the human imagination   curses certainly answer a lot of questions  there are a lot of things that happen in   human life a lot of patterns we cannot explain  the curse certainly takes the guesswork out a   lot of these things uh if the hope diamond  has no curse if these are simply random   things it makes life a lot more difficult  to understand the human mind hates disorder i think probably as long as there are gems   and as long as there are unpleasant  patterns in life we will have cursed gems beautiful yet seemingly deadly flawless  yet apparently cursed perhaps it is this   forbidden attraction that makes the curse of  the hope diamond such a haunting seductive story whether the tale is true or  not is less important than the   effect the story has had on succeeding  generations for over three centuries the legend of the mysterious hope diamond endures  with the strength and dazzling fire of the   diamond itself reflecting a thousand different  viewpoints and lasting like the diamond into eternity you

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Id: SnfOywEIS8I

Length: 46min 5sec (2765 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 03 2021