Is The Lava Rock Curse Real?
Last Updated on Apr 12 2019 by Bruddah Ron
In Hawaii, there is a popular belief that people who take a lava rock home from the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island will be cursed by the Hawaiian goddess of fire, Pele. According to Hawaiian mythology, Pele lives in the volcano on the Big Island and is an extremely vengeful being. There are also lava rocks mailed to the park office all the time by tourists who claim to have had bad luck after taking lava rocks home. So what’s the deal with this curse? Is it fact or fiction?
First of all, if you want a souvenir from Hawaii, please don’t take a lava rock from the national park. Removing lava rock from a national park is illegal. As for the Hawaiian Lava Rock Curse, don’t worry, it’s 100% NOT TRUE.
It was made-up by a park ranger.
Removing property from a national park is prohibited because the park and everything in it is meant to be preserved. If every visitor took something from the park, then in 10 years, there would be nothing left to see. Even though it’s illegal to remove property from national parks, people still do it because they want a cool souvenir. Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, for example, loses an estimated 12 tons of petrified wood each year (source). That’s a lot of wood. Theft is a big problem for park rangers. The parks are so big, yet the park rangers are so few… so what’s a park ranger to do? Make up a curse, of course!
The lava rock curse was originally thought up by a park ranger to deter theft of park property. It’s a brilliant idea that helps park rangers do their job, even when they’re not there, since many people prefer not to anger supernatural forces. A curse is such a brilliant way that several other parks have made their own curses, like the Petrified Forest in Arizona and Ayers Rock in Australia.
If this curse were true, everyone who stepped in the park would be cursed.
Everyday as we are walking, we are picking up extremely small traces of dirt, concrete, and dust from abrasion caused by our shoes rubbing into the ground. If we were were to walk into the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, we would inevitably pick up small traces of lava rock in our shoes or socks. So, unless Pele has a size requirement for cursed rocks, everyone who has ever stepped into the park would be cursed by now… but they aren’t.
What about all the lava rocks returned to the park?
There are indeed a lot of lava rocks that were taken from the park and then mailed back with claims of sudden bad luck – I am not doubting this. What I am doubting is the claim of “bad luck.”
Unemployment… financial problems… marital problems… these are all issues I’ve heard on news reports that cover the phenomenon or have been mentioned by some of the comments on this article. However… aren’t these normal problems in life? Either this “Lava Rock Curse” is the most plain curse ever or…
The curse is in our heads.
Bad things will happen to people all the time and we will accept it as part of life. When bad things happen and we’re holding a “cursed” lava rock though, we suddenly forget that bad things happen on a normal basis and we blame a rock and supernatural forces. Everyone that is aware of the lava rock curse is also victim of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is “a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses” (wiki). In other words, “we see what we want to see.” An example of confirmation bias would be the movie “The Number 23,” starring Jim Carrey (got average reviews, but I thought it was really interesting). In that movie, the character believes that the number “23” is special and suddenly starts seeing the number 23 everywhere. 23 does appear everywhere… but so are many other numbers – no single number is special. 23 only becomes special if someone starts looking for it exclusively, in which case, they’ll find multiple instances of it. The picture below is a screencap from the movie showing that if you look for it, you’ll eventually find it.
The same with the cursed lava rock: if we think that a rock is cursed, we’ll look for anything bad that happens to us and blame them all on the rock, even though bad things would happen regardless. So is the lava rock curse real? No. But our minds sure like to convince us that it is.
Closing Thoughts
Just because I do not believe in this myth does not mean you should go out a find a lava rock to take home. Again, our national park is meant to be preserved – take a picture instead. Besides, you should find your souvenirs in stores, and not off-the-ground, for free, you cheapskate :). So what do you think? Makes sense to you? Still disagree? I’d be interested to hear what you think. Write your thoughts in the comments below. Or if you’d like to read more about Hawaiian trivia, take a look at this book.
84 thoughts on “Is The Lava Rock Curse Real?”
Have there been any documented cases or personal accounts of people experiencing misfortune after taking lava rocks from Hawaii?
thank you for the article
Say, you got a nice article post.Really thank you! Really Great.
I don’t know if it’s real or not !
I don’t know if it’s real or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is real i have one and bad thing’s have happen to me and my 3 other friends
It’s very true I took a rock home from the Volcanic national park when I was 15,I began having bad luck shortly after I got home,I eventually lost the rock so I ca nd ever return it,and let’s just say my life has been all bad luck.[removed for vile language].i liked Hawaii but only the island.i will never go back.i prefer key west.but yeah the curse is real don’t listen to this article.its real.
Pele is obviously very angry right now!
Ie. The Volcano.
My story…I went to the Big Island last year and brought back coral and black rocks. There was an annoying tour guide who told us not to take anything from the island as it would deplete it of the resources if every tourist took something home. He also talked about himself for ten hours straight so I ignored him. I had taken the rocks a day or so before so I thought it would be ok since I didn’t know about it at the time I took it. It stuck with me though and I kept thinking about it. I meant to leave it at the hotel I was staying in before my flight home. I forgot to unpack it.
I went to south America for a.few weeks after and then came my birthday. The flight I thought was booked, wasn’t. I was sick and my hotel, by the time I reached Santiago, Chile was not booked either. Ten days went by, things went ok and then I rerurned home to NY.
I told my daughter I had rocks and coral and didn’t know I shouldn’t have brought it. I knew inside that I REALLY shouldn’t have! She told me it was ok since I didn’t know.
About a month later, we had a serious disagreement and haveN’t spoken since. It will be a year in three weeks.
I have had anxiety and depression which I have never ever in my life EVER experienced! Had an operation to remove a cyst, gained twenty-five pounds, and no, I am not overweight nor do I have eating disorders. Stopped running and yoga. All in the last year. Or, should I say..it all started within three weeks to ten months of my return. Also, I was extremely sensitive to heat and sun for the first time in my life.
To get over my anxiety and weight gain, I slowly but surely forced myself outside. I have always and forever been an outdoors person. Always been physically active and healthy. All of this was very scary!
I made my way.back to the.Big Island almost three weeks ago, fourteen months since my last visit, forgot AGAIN to put damn stuff back! Got to Maui and remembered. Guess what? I paid for a.plane.ticket JUST to bring the.rocks.and coral to the Island myself, even in the heat and vog that’s going on there. I left it on the grass at the airport. I spoke to locals and they said.you can leave it on the island, some say to bring it to the exact spot, most say as long as it’s back on the.island. Pele is happy.
I went to the airport restaurant, waiting for.my flight and met a handsome man and we exchanged numbers. This was about an hour after I gave Pele her things back.
People, please speak to the locals, they are superstitious for a reason. Respect their culture, love their ways and bring your wonderful experience of the place with you in your memories and photos.
Be a good guest in their homeland.
Lastly, ignorance and dismissiveness are not excuses for misfortune. You get what you deserve. I’m not sure I deserved all of that shit though, I thought I had already paid hefty dues in the past twelve years but…
Just…
DON’T TAKE WHAT DOESN’T BELONG TO YOU.
You see what happened right after the person who posted on My 8th don’t you?
Save yourself from misery and agony and Just DON’T DO IT!
P.S. The Hawaiian post offices get tons of black rocks every single year! There is truth to this. Don’t take chances.
What if you got a lava rock in the big Island but you moved it to a different part of the big Island but didn’t leave the big Island?
There is no curse if you purchase a rock from someone in Hawaii so don’t steal a rock.
It is real. Even Snopes.com can’t debunk it. Way too many things have happened to people for them all to be coincidences.
My husband’s work friend’s house burned to the ground within a year of visiting the volcano. She later said her husband told her not to take it while they were there, but she took it anyway. Only after the fire, did she confess to having the rock in her possession. She then sent it back to HI and cautions others till this day.
This goes for any lava rocks outside of the park as well, including black sand. My daughter’s tutor went to Hawaii and told me she brought some black sand back for one of her teacher friends to show her students in Science. After I told her all about it, she thanked me, apologized and sent it back. She said she wished her tour guide had told them.
Whether you believe or not, it’s just not worth the risk.
That the curse is real showed supernatural things which happened to some people who took stones from Hawaii volcano (even though such people do not write here).
Different accidents which happened to people, you can dismiss as just a bad luck that do happen from time to time.
But when things start to move at your house at night, after you took such stones, you hear steps and no one is there, things are broken at night without any human has toutched them, than it shows that such a curse is real.
I think that this happened to Loren Cunningham and if I remember correctly, he describes it in his book ” Is that really you God? Hearing the voice of God”.
And even though he was a mighty men of God , he did not dare to keep those stones, or try to cast those demons out, but returned stones back to Hawai and than those demonic activities stopped.
I have personally prayed for possesed people (demons speaking through them) and I know that in the name of Jesus those demons left them, have seen how Jesus healed blind eayes, paralised people (in this way I myself belived in Jesus when Jesus healed me – since doctors told me after 2 h. operation they can not help me any more and I thought I would be invalid for rest of my life) so I know very well How great power Jesus has and for sure more power than those demons in those stones, but I would never dare to take such stones and than think that Jesus has to fix those demonic activities, and problems caused by that curse, since we should not test (tempt) the God !
Says God and Jesus in the bible.
So I think we should not delibertly play with demons (asking them for future by palm reading, or by alfabet on table, astrology, asking dead people and so on as God warns us about it in the Bible Deuteronomy 18:10, First Samuel 15:23, 2 Kings 17:17) or taking them with us in stones or african masks and think we will not have any problems because of that!
When my daughter graduated from high school, my gift to her was a trip to Hawaii which included the 7 day Pride of America cruise. One of our land excursions was visiting Volcano National Park and yes, we took a couple pieces of lava rock back home. However, in hopes of making peace with Pele we decided to give something to her that was special to us. So, we went out on our balcony as we were sailing and had our own little ceremony thanking Pele for the lava rock and in return we gave her our flower leis that we received at the airport when we arrived. We each tossed our lei into the ocean as a gift to her. We were a little worried that our gift wouldn’t satisfy Pele but it did and we had no streaks of bad luck….thank God! 🙂
One God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.
Ephesians 4:6
It’s the Law of Attraction. You think it will happen, you attract it, it comes to you.
exactly. i don’t believe in the MYTH.
Dr. Todd reunited me and my husband after being apart for five years. We had no communication, I moved and he had no idea where I lived. He is the one who broke it off with me and he told me that I was dead to him and he never wanted to see my face again. I used so many practitioners and Todd is the only one who helped me and I am glad that he did, for me and my love would not be together today without him! e-mail: manifestspellcast@gmail.com
i dont beleive this i got a ton of stuff sand rocks and nothing happend please dont judge my spelling im from russia lerning englis
I took a handful of lava rocks on my visit to the big island. In the last 8 months I have received a very nice promotion. My wife and I have been able to adopt 2 children and we couldn’t be happier or healthier in our lives.
We brought 1 rock home 8 years ago. (I had a problem with paying for seashells & rocks that were “made in China” while in Hawaii), I wanted to take a piece of Hawaii with me, not more Chinese stuff. Why is Hawaiian lava rock sold at Home Depot if it needs to be “preserved”? 4 months after having the rock, we found our dream home we had been looking for non stop for the 5 years prior. We’ve had nothing but normal life since then with ups and downs but absolutely no curse. We’ve definitely gained more than we lost since the lava has been prominently displayed on our coffee table since 2010. . I didn’t know about the curse either until about a year ago (I’m naive) so maybe that’s proof that we receive it when we believe it?? I love my life & my lava rock but I didn’t know taking a rock was considered stealing so after reading this I made a donation to a non profit in Kona (that’s where I got my rock) because I’m keeping mine
.
https://greatnonprofits.org/city/kailua-kona/HI/sort:relevance/direction:desc
I went to Maui in 2005 with my husband. We had a wonderful, romantic time and visited the Black Sand Beach on the Road to Hana. I took an empty water bottle, scooped up some black sand (I collect sand from every beach I visit as I am an ocean/beach lover) and I brought it back home with me. Since then, I had 3 miscarriages, a cheating spouse and my marriage ended in divorce, and my 3 pets died almost consecutively a year apart. Before you say I am cursed, I must tell you that I had 3 miscarriages PRIOR to my visit to Maui, my husband was cheating since the day we met in 1996 and we had been to marriage counseling and this trip was supposed to revive our marriage, and all my pets were elderly and close in age. So, I attribute these things to life. We live in a fallen and sinful world. Death, illness, and divorce is all a part of it. None of these things, except for one miscarriage, happened directly after I was there. I did lose my job due to my boss leaving and taking all my clients I was working on with him, but that was not until 2012. I was in Maui in 2005. Am I going to attribute all the bad things that happen in my life to this “curse”? No. I am a Christian, and while I believe in generational and self inflicted curses because the Bible does reference those, I am not appeasing anyone else’s god or goddesses. I only serve the one true God, and Pele is an idol and I bow to no idols and serve no other gods except my God. To send my sand back implies I believe in this goddess and that she has power. She has zero power over me. I am under God’s protection and HE IS THE ONE WHO MADE THIS UNIVERSE, INCLUDING THE BLACK SAND. God is delighted with the fact that I love his creation and treasure it so much. I have never been told it was illegal to take any dirt, sand, shells or rocks from anywhere I have traveled with the exception of coral because it is living and it kills it and harms the ecosystem. I will respect the Hawaiian laws existing from now on and not take any back with me from this point forward, but there were no signs anywhere saying not to take it or that it was illegal. This may be different now, since it is 12 years later. On the flip side, I have had 2 beautiful children, I filed for divorce and got rid of my cheating husband and met the love of my life and am getting married soon. He treats me like gold and cherishes me. I am in a great job and in a good place in life! So, I do not believe that I am cursed by Pele. Do I believe in demons? Yes. Do I believe in spiritual warfare? Yes. Is my God bigger than all of that? YES, YES, and YES! All of the “gods” out there are not real. They are images made up by humans inspired by demons and Satan. All of the fake gods are really satan operating behind them. An attorney friend of mine is a Hare Krishna and invited me to lunch one day. I ate at his temple’s café and then he showed me his “god/goddess”….2 statues with real food in front of them and wearing a Rolex watch. Why do inanimate statues need food and to tell time??? My God is REAL and He lives. He is the only living God. All others are driven by the enemy. People, don’t be taken in by the enemy’s lies that Pele is real and that you are cursed by this fake god.
Hahahahaha. Let me know what your God of all Gods really looks like. That way you can be the first person In the history of time to ever see him. Pele is not an idol, idols are made of materialistic objects. She is the fire goddess of Hawaii and will always remain that way. As far as religion goes…..lol you should really do your research on religion and why it even became part of society. Every culture around the world has their own beliefs and their own praised God or Gods. Every culture believed in many gods and goddesses. When you do your research on religion you will realize why, how come and the real reason religion was brought to society. If you do REAL research and not Google, you will be surprised and stunned. Oh and on another note, The Bible has been written and modified many times, even before your time and mines. So therefore you can figure the math out after. Please choose your words carefully next time. Good luck in life
I am from the Big Island of Hawaii and I do appreciate the way you chose to phrase ur words! Madam Pele cleanses and renews our lands with each and every lava flow. The destruction of her rivers of fire may seem devastating but to us Hawaiians we know that she’s creating new life. Thank you very much!
My family went to the Big Island last June and my daughter found a nice coral rocks on kehena beach. Two months later after we went back home my daughter started having symptoms of neurological disorder. After weekly trips to doctors, hospital stays for months, doctors couldn’t find out anything as all mri and xray as well as blood work came back normal. Doctors said it’s all in her head because she of anxiety and stress. Nothing makes any sense because the symptoms keep coming back and doctors can’t find anything. My daughter loss sensation of her limbs and now her vision is blurry and progressively getting worst. As a parent we are getting frustrated and depressed until I remember the rocks she took from the island. I just mailed the coral rocks to my friend in Hawaii and she will help us put the rocks back to where it was taken. My husband is not convinced but I am. My daughter is a very healthy person, in honors class and very happy . Every person who knows her couldn’t believe she is having anxiety. She is very confident and very smart. Her sudden uncontrolled neurologic disorder is from waist down. According to the elder I spoke with who is a friend of a friend who lives in Hawaii, my daughters pain and symptoms are same depth of water where she found the rocks. The coral needs to go back in the water. I am so glad I have a friend who is willing to help. I am hoping once the rocks are returned my daughter will be spared from her illness. Lesson learned.
Did returning the rock helped your daughter?
I laughed off the superstition, and flew home with two golf-ball sized pieces of lava from the lava viewing area of the big island. Four days after I arrived home, my sister very suddenly fell into a coma and died the next day. True story. Three weeks later I’m still feeling completely lost in my work life and can’t seem to reconnect with it. A 30+ year career is on the line. Maybe I’m just grieving and don’t want to acknowledge that. Still doubt the superstition, but my gosh…
The curse is real we lived there for five years a friend of owers brought back some lava rocks she was born there but she wacted something from Hawaii well they had so much bad luck she sent them back then everthing went back to normal. After she sent them back.true story
What if you got a lava rock in the big Island but you moved it to a different part of the big Island but didn’t leave the big Island?
To the guy that said “Pele is a joke” I would love to see you go to Hawaii, but that is when you save enough of your money to get there, and say that up at Pele’s home in Big Island and take a rock from her. It is then you will understand how much of a joke she will make out of you.
Being disrespectful to the fire Godess and taking from her will bring great consequences to you. Many foreigners who travel to and through my islands with the same attitude as yours ends up finding out really quick that none of it is a joke. Some feel cursed but I wouldn’t consider it that, I would say you took energy from our islands that wasn’t supposed to be removed from our islands and in return the energy turned bad and with all the thought of “being cursed” fed that energy even more.
What most have to understand about Hawaiian Culture is our people are very spiritual and it’s been that way for many many generations. Same as traveling else where across America, I’d like to see you take something from Native American grounds and see if something don’t happen to you. Native Americans are very spiritual as well.
In all reality, like someone said earlier, if you ask permission from Pele to take one of her rocks and you have good intentions in doing so, you and your loved ones should be fine. Just do it out of RESPECT for her and the Hawaiian culture. What pisses her off and our culture is when we tell everyone not to take it and they do without asking which means that’s bad intentions because you are STEALING and so in return, BAD ENERGY FOLLOWS.
You steal from her and she takes from you…….PLUS TAX
Just Be RESPECTFUL and It’ll all work out fine.
My family (husband, 2 daughters) visited Maui 12 years ago. My husbans brought home 3 small lava rocks and I brought back 2 baby jars of sand. We were not aware of the culture, sacred land, or gods/goddesses. I had planned to make a shadow box with sands from all beaches our family had visited. I will not go into detail because the list is long. I will say, if numerous extremely bad events began to occur upon immediate return from a vacation, then critics may not be so quick to pass judgment or laugh, insinuating “it’s just life.” If one were to research, you will find numerous comparable variables amongst descriptions of events that take place after taking lava or black sand from the Hawaiian islands. To summarize: financial loss spanning 10 years including job losses for my spouse (after 29 ulyrs with a company) & myself as a respected, highly educated RN, father diagnosed with cancer, died on the operating table when heart “fell apart” &he bled out, daughter arrested and put in jail 1 month after starting college for reasons that other college students do not get arrested for-which has followed her through nursing school and nurse practitioner school, other daughter totaled her car at age 16-hitting another car who was transporting blood to someone in need, dog died of cancer, mom has suffered injuries/illnesses which I have provided care for the past 4 years, sister-in-law diagnosed with breast cancer, brother almost died after he bled out from all orifaces if body because an antiacid wasn’t prescribed following a gastric bypass, and the list goes on and on.
Lava rock was mailed back 3 years after returning from Maui. My oldest daughter and I returned to Maui in October 2015. Upon researching activities in the planning stage, I saw where Black Sand was also considered sacred, thrrefore we returned to Black Sand Beach on the Road to Hana, and returned sand. My laptop computer abruptly stopped working 4 hours before leaving for Maui, which daughter needed for college online studies, half of crown broke off tooth when eating “soft” banana bread at first stop on Road to Hana, my cell phone fell out if my lap in Maui, without me knowing when opened the driver’s door to get a ticket for parking. 30 minutes later after figuring out where I last had the phone, I was told by a security guard at Shops if Wailea, that they had seen my ohone fall out of car on ghe video, 3 cars ran over it, then a boy stold the phone. We had to go to Kihei’s police station and file a report. The officer, who was very kind, then shows up at our hotel and returns the crushed phone. It was like living a nightmare. Ironically, not knowing at the time, a large woodcarving of Pele was hanging behind me in the hitel lobby when the officer returned my phone.
When I share my stories, people are fascinated. Believe it or not, doesn’t matter to me, but if one has a “normal life” followed with immediate onset of tragedies, one after another, then you may think twice. I would not, under no condition, take anything from the islands,of Hawaii that doesn’t rightfully belong to you.
dont touch the lava rock the curse is back for revenge
I innocently picked up a 1 pound volcanic rock off of Haleakula back in 1998, at the age of 43. I had no idea about the law or any island legend until a few years later. Since then I have had both hips replaced, several crowns, couple of speeding tickets and both parents have passed. Oh, and the Bills and Sabres still suck. Probably some other stuff too. All in a life’s work I would suggest. I hope to visit Hawaii again someday. Then I plan to return the rock. [I may mail it as well, but after reading about ranger stories created to preserve the islands, I may not.]
I’m a volcano tour guide in Hawaii. Born and raised here. I find the curse helpful. When I tell whole groups of people it’s illegal to remove rocks, they take it anyway. When I mention the curse, they put it back. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to talk about a curse than to talk about the law.
Please respect Hawaiian culture. It’s one of the most amazing cultures in the world and needs everyone’s preservation effort.
I took a rock and Donald Trump won! And I was on the plane still!!
Well there you have it! Proof that not only is there no curse, but a rock from Hawaii causes extremely fortunate events.
Wow, that’s really messed up! Now, not only did you take a red eye flight but I bet you had the worst jet lag of your life.
My mother had told me about this, we have never been to Hawaii but anyways, I wanted to learn about this… Thanks!
is this for real about lava rocks??
i went to hawaii like 10 years ago never been on a vacation since everything down hill upside down.
a rock came back with me. what do i do? really stange how this came up today was reading about it trying to figure out how to get my life back. tired of suffering with sickness and everything since then.
After I took some sand and a few small rocks….my boyfriend lost his job and then died 2 days later. Financially everything has gone to shit for my sister and I who was with me when I took them. IT’S REAL!!!!!
Being someone born & raised in Hawaii. I find is disrespectful for someone to think they know everything about a culture and island you truly are not a natural part of.
The world would be in better shape, if people just would respect, not judge or belittle everyone elses beliefs especially if you are not a real native thier homeland.
This is the land of Aloha…I live by this with ultimate respect for mother nature and life itself.
For people to actually take the time & energy to speak negative about others legends & beliefs is obviously not a person who lives by the traits of Hawaii. And has no justification to speak for us in general.
With my deepest concern for the life & safety of anyone on this subject I always also say. … “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Nothing like a rock is worth possible endangering your future happiness..And memories from your well earned vacation.
It is wreck less to encourage others to do something that could cause possible harm.
With warmest true Hawaiian Aloha..
Mahalo for reading my comment.
May you have a beautiful blessed life.
Childish Tripe Voodoo unclean spirit Witchcraft. I pray that God of the Living and all Creation will send the Destroyer and you nut cases can put your lives on the line. Let’s see how Hawaii Voodoo shows P to help you numbskulls. Gods 2,000 year judgment next year ends the USA with Hawaii Loving the Pentagon saving them from the Global Nuclear War of Trump, Pope and Pentagon. False Christians and you nut case voodoo idiots get Vaporized. So get ready in this pre Judgment action. BOOH.
Has anyone return their lava and or sand and had better luck after? I’ld like to know.I really want to believe it is all fake. I really do. But ever since I brought back water and sand in a bottle I’ve had so much bad luck in all areas of my life. Part of me feels I am cursed but then part of me feels that it is just life. And as I’m typing this I can count so many bad luck events that are still affecting me right now but I can also count the many blessings in my life. I want to fly back after 9 years and take the sand and water back for piece of mind. But also on the other hand, piece of mind is what we make of it too. We control our emotions and decisions if we take our time. Just confused on what to do. HAS ANYONE RETURNED THEIR SAND AND OR LAVA AND HAD BETTER LUCK? please let me know edgarpre1@aol.com
There is a simple solution to the ‘bad luck’ comments… Before you take possession of a piece of lava in Hawaii, just ask for Madam Pele’s permission. Your conscience should hear her reply. If it’s “YES” then there is no problem at all, as she has granted you the right to take it… there is lava all over the island, so leave the lava in the park alone…as you can bet Madam Pele will say “No!” at park locations. What is real to you may not be real to others…some will hear the reply, some won’t. Just be respectful of all creatures including humans, mahalo, “Kanoa” Young, Volcano, Hawaii.
Great article, love the mythology of Hawaii. True, not true, who knows. All in our head and maybe having that negative outlook leads to other negative things so it’s all our own doing…or maybe that’s all the curse is and it’s still consider a curse 🙂
I really don’t know if this is true or not but I’m at Hawaii right now thinking about taking one from the shore but I don’t want to anger “pele” the goddess. But I know a lot of people send them back in the mail
Can I just have the address of the black beach sand park in Maui please?
A friend of mine brought me back black sand when she went on her trip last year. I haven’t seen her have any bad luck but when she gave it to me 3 weeks ago things have been a bit more stressed for my family. Please the address. Better to be safe than sorry .
Send it to the Hilo post office.
I live in the Hawaiian Islands I went to Big Island to visit. Went to Black Sand Beach, before leaving
I got a handful of Black Sand and brought it home to my Island. Next day I became very sick for 4 days. I believe I made Madam Pele mad.
My daughter took a rock from the Black Sand Beach on the Big Island, and I didn’t know until we got home, even though I told her not to. Nothing but horrible things since we got home, and I never would have believed that! AT ALL!!! But i’m sending it back anyway! Wish I could take it back myself, but I don’t want to wait for at least a year! Not sure how to send it to that beach??? HAHA!
Seriously guys, if you don’t believe it, fine, it’s your right…but don’t be asses and belittle the people who do. Just as it is your right not to believe, it is theirs to do so. There is no need for insulting or belittling others. And for those invoking the name of Christ, pull the log out of your eye before laughing at the speck in others…
Jesus Christ is the lord and savior…. pele is a joke… They thought it was a woman from hair that is actually glass from lava flow
Amen
Hate to break this to you, but about 5.2 billion people disagree with you. Please don’t bring religion into this.
Hahahha I love this post. Right now there’s a viral story about a local saving the lava rock back to the big island from tourist. Anyways… I never believe in bad luck and there were so many bad things that happen to my life. Like getting into an accident, family matters and etc, financial trouble. But all those I never looked at it as “bad luck” I looked at it as poor decision making, poor knowledge before jumping on to something that you will regret later. But taken on to consideration, you learn from those mistakes. Or what others call it “bad luck” anyways… Thanks for this post!
So here is my question if you buy the rock from Hawaii is it not cursed? Many locals sell lava rock jewlery. Nursery’s sell plants planted in lava rock and sold at local stores that can be taken on a plane . Home Depot sells bags of crushed coral and lava rock that are products of Hawaii? These people that bought it are not cursed can someone shed light on this ?
Nah bra I think gucci. No need to worry. Home Depot is real og they gotchu.
I’ve heard the park ranger story as well, however have not found documentation to support the story.
Is your account from a verified source and could you post it or from hearsay?
..
I live on Oahu and visited the island of Maui. Once I brought some coral rock (or maybe it was a lava rock-unsure) from the Black Sand Beach, I have had nothing but bad luck. Call it what you will, maybe its coincidence, but I have never had such bad luck consecutively in my life! I have been out of work for 3 weeks-1st due to Pneumonia and then thereafter due to a bronchial infection. I am a very healthy 40 year old woman and I’ve never been truly sick a day in my life. Coincidence? I’m not quite sure. However, I am going to bring the coral and rocks back the beach soon just in case. Its probably for the best. Its not worth the headaches.
Ok so im about to go to hawaii and i’m not that scared because who likes rocks anyways?! if you do, then well, you’re and idiot.
Excuse me?
If you like Rocks, then your an Idiot?
Well, First of all. I’m from the ‘True Volcano State’..
And I love Crystals, and getting many types of Rocks. I’m a Nature Girl. And Proud of it!
Maybe you should know someone, and Who they truly are. As well, as what they Love & Why. Before you start calling ANYONE an “Idiot”!!
Show some Respect. Really.
And If I ever go there. I’m gonna take a Lava Rock, from Where I am from. With me. And Yep, I will bring it back..
Since Black Mountain means so much to me. Yet, People can’t respect it. And Destory it. Maybe you should do some True Research!!
This World, is NOT all About ‘Hawaii’! And that is it!!
I thought it was purely carelessness, but the day before I was scheduled to leave Hawaii, I fell on slippery lava rocks. I had taken different rocks from Kauai, Maui, the big island, and Oahu as souvenirs to add to my rock collection of the different countries I had visited. I thought I twisted my ankle. When I returned home to have my injury examined, I learned I had broken my leg. Two days later, a family member was arrested. I am returning all of the Hawaiian rocks even though I didn’t take any from the park.
It’s true the curse
U just dont know anything because it happened to me
P.S
Write something u know about
Man why do pople even steal a rock in the first place? Even if the curse didnt ever exist, a rock is a rock is a rock. A rock from Hawaii isn’t any more interesting than a pet rock you buy from the store.
Well there cool rocks
It’s not like you can find a volcanic rock in New York. Besides, it’s a perfect example for my Earth Science class.
You can find all you want at home depot.
Hahah. Good joke. But you would say the same thing to one who collected or enjoyed anything at all. Real, raw and natural Things have meaning to humans. Clearly what means most to you, you buy at the store.
I’m really glad I found this article, it has made me feel a bit better. My aunt and her family is from Hawaii and said that it is only bad luck to take rocks from Big Island and I had taken some from O’ahu so I figured I was safe. However, I’m superstitious, and now I’m reading articles about any rock or coral taken from any island being bad luck and I’m a bit scared. Perhaps I should just send them back for a peace of mind, and just to make sure I didn’t offend any person, or god, for that matter, even though it was an accident :p
The curse is real IT HAPPENED TO ME
This ediot does not know anything
at least the “ediot” knows how to spell. 😉
Look I believe you. Ever since that lava rock my life has been nothing but hell. It’s gotten so bad that demons are able to cause physical harm to me. My death should soon be near.
OMG seriously?? Your going to believe that??
I will prey for you
that would be bad luck if you ” Prey ” for someone. You should pray.
OMG, Maurer is literally the demon!!!
Pele has an INTENTION limit for lava rocks taken away, not something silly like size. She’s a goddess, not a bureaucrat. She can tell the difference between a thief and someone with dust on their shoes.
I’m glad I stumbled upon this site! A friend of mine told me about this “curse” yesterday, and he really freaked me out…I didn’t even take the rocks from the National Park (who would?), but from a local beach in Hilo. I probably don’t have to send them back right? :-/
Thank you
It’s real!!!!!
I took a piece of olivine from the green sand beach. The only think that happened in the past eight months is getting one B on my report card. I wouldn’t exactly call that “bad luck”.
Haha, that’s because olivine is cursed to kill puppies and cause death to your canine companions. One of the Aitu (Mana the Fisherman, i.e. who the coast is named after) angered some of the local shark gods by bragging how much fish he could haul back to shore in an afternoon. He tied his loyal puppies to the shore to watch over his catch and went out for an evening haul. The sharks capsized his boat and it took him all night to return. When he finally did he found mounds of sand where he had left his dogs. As he dug down he heard barking, but the farther down he dug the fainter they became. Mana realized he would never be reunited with his friends again and could never leave the beach for fear of losing them forever and flew into a jealous rage, turning the sand black and green with his anger. Now Mana curses anyone who steals olivine or walks dogs over the Barking Sands that eventually his rage will catch up to them and leave them as brokenhearted as he. That’s a curse.
Pele isn’t into curses, if anything curses are her ex boyfriend Pua’s domain and she would be against it out of spite. Instead she just likes setting people and places on fire. Just lots and lots of fire. But make no mistake, curses are very much alive and well in Hawaii (The Curse of the Hangman’s Tree on the H3 is often cited as the reason the H3 is the most fatal and expensive highway in the US) but exceedingly rare.