Today is February 13th and it is also Friday the 13th and I thus decided to write an article on curses, notably one allegedly connected to Shakespeare's grave. It is said that there are 197 references to curses in Shakespeare's plays, and that superstitious actors frequently will not mention "Macbeth" by name, but preferring to call it "the Scottish Play". We frequently hear of horror films like The Exorcist being a cursed film, but Shakespeare's Macbeth was considered so cursed that to even speak of it was to bring about misfortune.      The rumor held that witches were so insulted by the play that they cast a curse upon it. I'm sure that when the play required a reference to Macbeth that they had to say his name, but outside of the play itself it was taboo to mention it. Anyway, back to the play. Shakespeare was laid to rest in the Holy Trinity church and was placed inside the church itself and not in the churchyard but instead laid to rest inside the church near the church's altar. He is also buried with his wife and daughter Susanna. On Shakespeare's tomb is written the disclaimer:

 

"Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbeare.

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed be the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he that moves my bones."

 

      Shakespeare wrote this warning himself to discourage grave robbers. At this time it was a common fear of bodies being stolen by medical students or even sorcerers using them for black magic. People were often buried with a variety of jewels and treasures and were the target of grave robbers. So, this disclaimer was a kind of curse. There was even a fear that people might chip away at the grave looking for souvenirs. We all know that was done to rock star Jim Morrison's grave in Paris. At any rate, the warning worked, as people take this threat of the curse quite seriously. When renovations were being done on the church, great care was taken to not disturb the Bard's grave. X-rays were taken of Shakespeare's grave and one x-ray showed the skull was missing. So, theory was that Shakespeare's skull may have been stolen to be used as a prop for Hamlet as a “poor Yorick.” In 2016 researchers did more research to see if the skull was actually gone or the victim of natural decay. The missing skull is still a mystery. Years later, When Roman Polanski created his own film of Macbeth it was one of the goriest versions of the play. When you then consider the circumstances of Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate being murdered by the Manson family we might have expected him to go on the direct G-Rated Disney films. And so it goes.