Bad Luck, Hot Rocks – A selection of letters returning “cursed” rocks to the Petrified Forest
Bad Luck, Hot Rocks
by Ryan Thompson (editor, photographer) and Phil Orr (editor)
2014, 144 pages, 7.5 x 10.5 x 0.5 inches (paperback)
$23 Buy a copy on Amazon
The Hawaiian legend of Pele’s Curse warns that anyone taking lava rocks off the islands will be stricken with bad luck. Apparently, the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona has a curse of its own. Since the 1930s, visitors (and their descendents) have been mailing back to the park pilfered chunks of fossilized wood to try to cleanse their souls. This book is a small selection of the funny, sad, and odd letters that accompanied the stolen goods, alongside photos of some of the beautiful stones.
What compels folks to return the rocks years, even decades, later? Guilt, remorse, God, karma, or saving oneself from bad juju — it’s all the same thing really. But the ways different people dress it up is endlessly fascinating. Grandma died and the dog ran away and the truck broke down? Must be the rock you stole. But sometimes it’s to teach a child a lesson, and sometimes it’s simply an attempt to put order to the chaos of our lives.
The letters presented seem to tilt to the 70s and 80s, a time when people still used stationery. These scraps of real paper with actual handwriting enhance the voyeurism into the lives of these bygone travelers and add further delight to those who just love ephemera. The book also includes a thoughtful introduction by Thompson and an interview with Park Museum Curator Matthew Smith.
Real or not, the curse is at least good for conservation efforts. Unfortunately, the hot rocks can’t be dispersed back into the park for fear of muddying current research being conducted there. It’s unknown where in the park they came from, or if they are even from the park in the first place. So after all the worry and hassle, the pieces are merely tossed onto a “conscience pile” alongside a service road. And we’ll never know if those many curses were ever lifted.
– Aaron Downey
July 2, 2015