The Gypsy Curse

Someone has cursed you, or has put the "Evil Eye" (Italian "malocchio") on you. According superstition, those giving the "malocchio" or the Gypsy Curse can cause harm to someone else. You will get sick, you won't feel well, you will have stomach aches. Misfortune will befall you.

Here's how it works

If you believe that you have been cursed, every bad thing that happens to you will be the result of the Gypsy Curse or the Evil Eye. You're a good bowler and you didn't get that strike "because of the curse." You were on the golf course and that ball you shanked that dented someone's car in the parking lot was "the result of the evil eye." You get the flu one year even though you had the flu shot and it's the result of the curse. Good things that happen to you will be ignored.

As humans we try to make sense of our universe. It is in our nature to create order and so we do that. So, when we are told that something outside us is acting on us, we will look fo verification of that in our lives, to the extent we believe in that external causality.

How to handle it

"It appears as though someone has cursed you and now I can remove that curse for (insert really stupid amount of money here)."

"So you have cursed me just now?"

"No, I remove curses."

"But there is nobody I know who is so superstitious and crazy that they believe in curses—except you. Therefore, the only source of any curse is you. So I know you are not being honest with me if you are offering to take off something that you put on me. I will be leaving now."

Invariably the con artist will try to follow you out, offering a better deal. This is proof that there never was any curse and the Gypsy is now trying to negotiate a means by which she can affix a "hook" into you. These cons may last for years, with the Gypsy asking for larger and larger amounts of money over time "to remove the curse." Your money is better spent on a health club membership—at least they are regulated and you will generally get something positive from visiting one.