Legends 25: Cursed Literature (ad-free)

Cursed literature and haunted tomes fill a category of folklore that never gets enough love. This tour through the some of history’s most deadly books is sure to help you find a few new favorites.

Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Harry Marks and research by Cassandra de Alba.

Sources:

1. Aanmoen, Oskar. “The mysterious fire which forced a royal family to flee into the night.” Royal Central. October 30, 2023. https://royalcentral.co.uk/features/the-mysterious-fire-which-forced-a-royal-family-to-flee-into-the-night-194186
2. “About the Boston Athenæum.” Boston Athenæum. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://bostonathenaeum.org/about
3. Allen, James, and Charles Lincoln. Narrative of the life of James Allen, alias George Walton, alias Jonas Pierce, alias James H. York, alias Burley Grove, the highwayman : being his death-bed confession, to the warden of the Massachusetts state prison (Harrington & Co., 1937).
4. Alvis, Alexandra K. “If Books Could Kill: A Deadly Secret in the Cullman Library.” Unbound. August 20, 2018. https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2018/08/20/if-books-could-kill-a-deadly-secret-in-the-cullman-library
5. “The Anthropodermic Book Project.” The Anthropodermic Book Project. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://anthropodermicbooks.org
6. Bien, Laura. “In the Archives: Poison Pages.” Ann Arbor Chronicle. May 3, 2012. https://annarborchronicle.com/2012/05/03/in-the-archives-poison-pages
7. Blakemore, Erin. “Step Into the Vatican’s Secret Archives.” History. March 18, 2021. https://www.history.com/news/step-into-the-vaticans-secret-archives
8. “Boston Athenaeum Skin Book.” Atlas Obscura. June 15, 2010. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/boston-athenaeum-skin-book
9. “The Codex Gigas.” ArcGIS StoryMaps. March 21, 2022. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8a91d7f10fde4d49b48412eb4e5728c3
10. “The Codex Gigas.” National Library of Sweden. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.kb.se/codex-gigas/eng
11. “The Codex Gigas (AKA The Devil’s Bible).” Binghamton University Library News. October 30, 2017. https://libnews.binghamton.edu/specialcollections/2017/10/30/the-codex-gigas-aka-the-devils-bible
12. “The Devil’s Bible.” The Truth Behind. Season 1, Episode 6. Aired December 14, 2008.
13. Ehrengardt, Thibault. “Who Skinned James Allen? The ‘Skin Book.’” Rare Book Hub. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles/2157/print?page_id=4195
14. Feldkamp, Katherine. “Death on the doorstep: arsenic in Victorian wallpaper.” St. Louis Art Museum. September 24, 2020. https://www.slam.org/blog/arsenic-in-victorian-wallpaper
15. “Film about the Codex Gigas.” National Library of Sweden. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.kb.se/in-english/the-codex-gigas/film-about-the-codex-gigas.html
16. Harlitz-Kern, Erika. “10 Things You Should Know About The Devil’s Bible (Or Codex Gigas).” Book Riot. July 15, 2015. https://bookriot.com/10-things-know-devils-bible
17. Hawksley, Lucinda. Bitten By Witch Fever: Wallpaper & Arsenic in the Nineteenth-Century Home (Thames & Hudson, 2016).
18. “History of the Codex Gigas.” National Library of Sweden. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.kb.se/in-english/the-codex-gigas/history-of-the-codex-gigas.html
19. Jennings, Jan. “Controlling Passion: The Turn-of-the-Century Wallpaper Dilemma.” Winterthur Portfolio 31(4), Winter 1996: pp. 243-264.
20. Kedzie, Robert Clark. Shadows from the walls of death: facts and inferences prefacing a book of specimens of arsenical wall papers (W.S. George, 1874).
21. M., M. “That Book Bound in Human Skin.” In More Books: The Bulletin of the Boston Public Library, Sixth Series, Volume XIX (Trustees of the Boston Public Library, 1944).
22. “Magic and scribblings.” National Library of Sweden. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.kb.se/in-english/the-codex-gigas/content-of-the-codex-gigas/magic-and-scribblings.html
23. Margaritoff, Marco. “The Story Of The Chronovisor, The Rumored Vatican Invention That Allows You To See The Past.” All That’s Interesting. August 15, 2023. https://allthatsinteresting.com/chronovisor
24. Meier, Allison C. “Some Books Can Kill.” JSTOR Daily. September 3, 2018. https://daily.jstor.org/some-books-can-kill
25. Milligan, Mark. “Codex Gigas – ‘The Devils Bible.’” Heritage Daily. October 11, 2022. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/10/codex-gigas-the-devils-bible/144954
26. Morton, Ella. “Object of Intrigue: The Devil’s Bible.” Atlas Obscura. July 7, 2015. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/object-of-intrigue-the-devil-s-bible
27. “Mystical Objects That the Vatican Might Be Hiding.” Sideprojects. November 20, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT32MH8eEoU
28. “Narrative of the life of James Allen, alias George Walton, alias Jonas Pierce, alias James H. York, alias Burley Grove, the highwayman : being his death-bed confession, to the warden of the Massachusetts State Prison [i.e. Charles Lincoln, Jr.].” Boston Athenæum Athena Online Catalog, https://catalog.bostonathenaeum.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=353244
29. Navarro, Hector. “The Curse of the Codex Gigas AKA The Devil’s Bible.” Factschology. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://factschology.com/mmm-podcast-articles/devils-bible-codex-gigas
30. Neuman, Scott. “Pope Francis Decrees Name Change For Vatican Secret Archive.” NPR. October 29, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774314852/pope-francis-decrees-name-change-for-vatican-secret-archive
31. “Police Court.” Boston Post. January 17, 1934. https://www.newspapers.com/image/57565790
32. Rosenbloom, Megan. Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020).
33. “Secrets of Vatican | 13 Fascinating Theories About the Vatican.” The Vatican Tickets & Tours. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.thevaticantickets.com/vatican-secrets
34. Taggart, Emma. “The History of the Color Green: From a Poisonous Pigment to a Symbol of Environmentalism.” My Modern Met. June 16, 2020. https://mymodernmet.com/history-of-the-color-green
35. “Toxicological Profile for Arsenic.” Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. August 2007. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp2.pdf
36. “An unknown scribe.” National Library of Sweden. Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.kb.se/in-english/the-codex-gigas/history-of-the-codex-gigas/an-unknown-scribe.html
37. “Visiting the Codex Gigas (Devil's Bible) at the National Library of Sweden.” Strong Sense of Place. April 22, 2020. https://strongsenseofplace.com/2020/04/22/visiting-the-codex-gigas-devils-bible-at-national-library-of-sweden
38. Vucic, Marija. “Codex Gigas: Myths Surrounding the Medieval Manuscript.” The Collector. October 5, 2021. https://www.thecollector.com/codex-gigas-medieval-manuscript
39. Willey, David. “Vatican archive yields Templar secrets.” BBC News. October 15, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7044741.stm
40. “The World's Most Secure Buildings: The Vatican Secret Archives.” Identiv. March 1, 2021. https://www.identiv.com/resources/blog/the-worlds-most-secure-buildings-the-vatican-secret-archives
41. Zawacki, Alexander J. “How a Library Handles a Rare and Deadly Book of Wallpaper Samples.” Atlas Obscura. January 23, 2018. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/shadows-from-the-walls-of-death-book