The Cursed Ring of Rudolph Valentino: Beauty, Scandal, & the Price of Desire

0:00 Hello Bizarre Story friends, if you're tuned in now you are listening to The Bizarre AF, a place where we talk about the strange, the unusual, the unknown, and all things bizarre AFI am Alicia, your Hostess for today's episode and as always, we ask that you keep an open mind. Keep a skeptical ear, but keep on listening to the facts as we take you on our newest journey, The cursed ring of Rudolph Valentino beauty scandal and the price of desire. Well, hello Kevin. What a star you look like. Thanks. Good to see you. It's good to see you, you know, we're here again, and this time we're actually talking about curses.

0:41 Yeah. So I don't. Think we've ever done an episode on a curse, have we? Well, yeah, we actually have. We've done a couple of them, Yeah. Do you? Do you? First off, do you believe that? A curse. Can exist so like we did voodoo right we did one on a voodoo yes to do curses on in voodoo do I think they exist let me just say that I'm undecided let me just put. It that way. That's a great way to walk into this episode undecided. I think I'm still undecided. You know, I, I feel like there's and we'll talk about it a little bit. Sometimes people are more prone to being cursed based off of their their own, you know? Sure. Decisions. Yes. But I think also there's maybe there's an energy behind it.

1:23 See, I was just gonna say that I think people put their own energy out, and if I tell you something, you're gonna put that energy out and make it happen. Right, They say like what you what you believe or what you're what you talk about like that is that shapes your reality. So I mean, I guess I could see both sides and right, you know, I know that we had spoken in the past. We have spoken about curses. We spoke about it in the Titanic episode that we had. We also touched on them when we explored voodoo or voodoo and then Jin we briefed went over like an overview of the gin and curses there as well as the 27 Club which. Oh, right. Yeah, which was like a whole. Yes, that was one of our firsts. It was, yeah, it was one of our early earlier episodes, but that was all about curses.

2:09 Right. Yeah, yeah. So today, since we haven't really we've, that was the last time we really went over a curse, I thought that we would explore a famous case that's, you know, just as bizarre as it is tragic. Rudolph Valentino's cursed ring. So today we're actually going to talk about this ring that would cause owners injury, misfortune and even death. Yeah. So do you know, do you know who Rudolph Valentino is? You know, I don't. I was, you know, as you were talking about the name, I'm like, I know this name. It's was he like a Valentino? Yeah, I don't know. Rudolf Valentino, you know. Romantic. I think of him like a. Yes. Yeah, that's exactly. He was a silent film star. Yeah. Yes, OK. Yes, and actually I was recently watching the show Peaky Blinders.

2:52 I don't know if you've seen that one. No. OK, so it's a show that takes place like in, you know, the teen 20s in Ireland. Anyways, it's a good show. It's fun, great acting. But in the movie, he was actually featured or in the show, he was featured in a scene where this girl's watching a silent movie and Rudolf Latino's on the screen. And I, I was telling you, I'm like, Oh my God, there's Rudolph Valentino. He's like, how the hell do you know about this? But when I was watching it, it kind of struck me how handsome he was and how, you know, the phenomenon that he was at that time really extended outside of the charisma that he had on screen. So he was a classic plucked from obscurity with a penny to his name and seemingly like overnight success fandom in Hollywood. He was actually born Rodolfo Pietro Filberto Rafaelo, blah blah blah blah blah.

3:48 May 6th, 1895 in Castle Castle in Italy, which is in southern Italy. Little known fact, bizarre F royalty. Dan Castellena, the voice of Homer Simpson. That's where his family comes from. So I just thought, no, it's a very small town. It was kind of kind of weird that that was the case. So his father, both of his parents were Italian. His father was serving in the Italian cavalry and became a veterinarian. His mother was was French, Italian and actually a leading in waiting to a local Marquess. So in short, Rodolfo was not financially hurting as a kid, right? He had, you know, he had means and he was really the apple of his mother's eye. And as a kid, this dude had charisma. He was beautiful and playful and everyone loved him and like those charismatic personalities.

4:44 Have you ever been around somebody who were basically speechless in their presence? I'm trying to think have I I'm sure, I'm sure like some people, you just something about them or how they communicate or maybe their appearance or yeah, you just they're some kind of enamored or taken with Yeah. Yeah, I'm talking about, like, like this gorgeous someone who's so beautiful. And that is just like that infectious energy that's, like, palpable. You can, like, taste it. Yeah. So I actually have a story. About I want to be your friend. Yeah, or, or like I've flown too close to the sun. Yeah. Dave and I were one year. We're in Italy for a vacation and we were in, you know, Venice, Rome, Milan in the summer, which you don't fucking do that. It's way too hot.

5:29 Anyway, when I think of an Italian man from Italy, just indulge me. I think of a sweet talker, charmer, beautiful and dangerous, right? Yeah, And this was the only time so far. And God, I honestly hope it never happens again, that I was speechless and I could have been putty in a stranger's hand. This, this man was the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. He spoke English and we were at like a restaurant and I was trying to speak shitty Italian. And they got him and he came up and he it was, it was a mock. Who was he? I mean, what was, why was what do you mean they got him? Like who was he? So he was an he was a waiter, A waiter at this restaurant. OK.

6:09 And my broken Italian was not working. Oh, I see. And they're like, oh, he, well, he speaks English. He speaks. English come and talk to him. I was like fucking stunned. I was stunned. Like I could not say anything. I, I was, I was like got too close to the sun and I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't want to look directly at him because he was so beautiful. It was too much and fucking embarrassing as hell because Dave was right next. To me go. Through all of this, thank God he's like 1, not jealous and then two, able to make fun of me because I was like blankly like staring, you know, just blanking at this guy and trying to put together incoherent English sentences.

6:54 So this is what I think of when I think of Rodolfo Valentino, you know, Rudolf Valentino. I think of that, that charm, that charisma. And this was seen in him as a small child and it caused his mother to, like I said, absolutely don't on him. His dad was seeing through the mess that was, you know, Rudolf Valentino. And he was disappointed because this charm and these good looks were being used. Rudolf was using them to his advantage. He was not a great student. He did not like, he kind of charmed his way through a lot of shit. One of those people and, you know, his parents, his dad was like, look, this is like not this is not good. He needs to have more discipline. And, and his mom's like, what do you mean? He's just so beautiful.

7:37 He's, you know, whatever. His dad dies at 11 and this was back in the days of malaria. Just think about how many people get away with stuff because they're just fucking gorgeous and and they flirt with you and then you they'll you'll give them whatever they want. And, you know, you know, that they're taking advantage of you. And you're like, I kind of want you to do kind of OK with that. You know, there are so many people who do that. And, like, he was one of them from a young age. OK. So his dad dies and then he, like, eventually enrolls into an agricultural school and moves to Paris. Paris is not able to get a job. Once again, this dude is beautiful, but is he a good worker? That's remains to be seen. So after moving to Paris, not being able to get a job, he goes to New York through Ellis Island in 1913 and is doing odd jobs to support himself.

8:26 We're talking vesting tables, gardening, because he has that architectural degree, working at restaurants. And he wasn't good at any of it. He just really wasn't or very motivated. He was kind of one of those guys who had a lot of shit handed to him, right? Sure. So he actually, you know, finds his calling shortly after dancing the tango. The tango was like the hot thing at the time. And he gets paid very well as a taxi dancer, which essentially is a dancer who gets paid to dance with people in dance halls. That was like the huge. Like Tina Turner's Dancing for Money? Yes. Dancing for money exactly and it was likely good to or due to his good looks and dark features that he begins meeting the Creme de la Creme of New York society.

9:09 OK And he has a friendship, air quotes friendship with Chilean business or Chilean heiress Blanca de Salas, which who was who was married to a businessman in New York City and very unhappy. So she's like royalty. And in New York society at this time, you know, divorce was not really a thing that would happen. So people would, you know, kind of suck it up and hate each other essentially and. Have affairs and have. Affairs. Yeah, and go to dance halls and have friends who were really, really attractive and knew how to dance the tango and, like, yeah, Yeah, of course. So you just kind of like, at that time in your, if you were married, you would kind of suck it up and, you know, not divorce each other, just hate each other.

9:52 But Bianca had her own money. She was an heiress, and she didn't give a fuck. She wanted divorce. She's like, I don't want to be married to this man anymore. So this actually led to a titillating custody trial where they had a child and they were both fighting for custody, which, you know, everyone was following. They were throwing arrows at each each other through different news, you know, papers and, you know, just attacking each other. Of course, everyone's eating it up, right? Like, Oh my God, look at these people who seem to have everything and really, they fucking hate each other and are miserable. So there was a trial, the custody trial, and Rudolph was actually asked to be a witness and he defends Bianca in it. So he's like, yeah, Bianca, like, I've heard some things.

10:33 Whatever. So she it's I guess it's good. He she gets partial custody and the story ends. That's it. I'm kidding. That's not it. Essentially she ends up fighting with her husband, ex-husband in person and she shoots him. One thing led to another, he's dead. OK, let's just say like essentially she was acquitted, but he, because he defended her in court, was blacklisted from all of New York society, you know, events and things because he defended a now murderer. So what does he do? He joins an operatic group and performs all the way through to Utah where he meets basically the Clark Gable of the names Norman Carey. And he encourages him to try this new fingled idea, which is film.

11:20 Now, at the time, the big stars like the the romantic leads were all fair complected. So they had, you know, blonde hair, blue eyes. You'd be a hit, Kevin. These are these are now at this point, silent films are starting. This is the beginning of film. And there are film, you know, films being done in mainly Hollywood. Like this is a new area. And so they're starting to build production studios and stuff like that. But that's where all the all these films are being really produced. There are some in New York, but there's just wide open spaces in Hollywood. So as an Italian man, Rodolfo is dark featured, dark skinned, you know, darker features.

12:01 You know, he gets roles of the bad guys and gangsters. Sure, makes sense, right. And not necessarily what he was looking for, Right, right. You're not going to be he's not going to be the person who's cast as a lead. And we're talking about a dude who probably has a fucking huge ass ego because he's he's never been told no in his life. Exactly. And he doesn't like it. So he's like, OK, well, I'm gonna just try to go back and dance for a bit. So he ends up going back and ultimately back to New York, NY City. And people don't forget what happened, right? And the problem with that is he can't get any jobs.

12:42 He can't really do much of anything, right. He is with, you know, he's already blacklisted. So it's not like you can go back, go back and like, you know, be a taxi dancer. Still, it was paying pretty well. So he he ends up going coming back and and trying out once again, film. He made money as a taxi dancer. And well, would going back to a taxi dancer, would you ever do anything like that? Would you like pay to have someone? I would pay to have someone a beautiful dance with me. But you are a dancer. So you've did you instruct? Yeah. OK, Yeah, Yeah, I, I suppose, well, especially, you know, in that day and age, that was entertainment, right? You went to clubs and danced.

13:30 And so I think that, I mean, today's day and age, I think that would be just a little uncommon to pay someone just to dance with you and you'd pay them to do other things. There'd be a little bit more to it. Yeah, like the boyfriend ex-girlfriend experience more than dancing, right. But back then I would. I think that's absolutely what would be if you had the means and you were in that level of society. I think that I probably would. I would. I would do that. Yeah, I think, I think ultimately, you know, that that was, we didn't have smartphones, we didn't have like, so that was like the social way to do it. So it was something he always fall back on and he did. I'm not doing as well as I was. Maybe I should go back to Hollywood. So in 1921, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse drops. And this is a movie that Valentino has really kind of his first starring role in.

14:19 And he dances the tango in that film. OK, Smooth, sultry and tense. And audiences lose their freaking minds, OK? Because they're already seeing this, like, huge fad, right? It's like, very sexy, very sultry. And he is the epitome of that, right? And women fall in love with them. Men want to be him and fall in love with, like, everyone. Everyone wants to be him. Yeah. But the be him or be with him, you be. Him or be with him? Yeah, 100%. But, you know, because it was like, so new and like, he becomes a huge star overnight and it really becomes one of the highest grossing silent films of all time. Wow, have you ever seen a silent film? I have God. I don't think I ever have. Oh my God.

15:01 I'm gonna watch that one. Yeah, yeah, that I mean some of. So the problem with a lot of watching a lot of silent films is a lot of them were just, they threw them away or they would reuse, they'd reuse sets or whatever and they didn't see any value if it wasn't currently being watched. Nobody has the means to watch it outside of a. Theater. Exactly. So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna trash it? So a lot of silent films have been lost and maybe they live in some kind of like, you know, attic in some, you know, So some of his films, like his best known films, are not you can't watch. That find them Can you find that one? Do you think I. Think you might be able to find it. Wow. Yeah, you can see there are some that you can see I think one of the ones that we'll talk about you can't you can't find it's they don't have any.

15:49 They might have like some some shots, but like Charlie Chaplin is like a huge, you know, was a huge star and you can see a lot of his films, but not all of them. So it's definitely worth it. They do in a lot of you know, if you're listening and you have like a Symphony near you, they often will do live music to these silent films and those are really. Cool. That would be cool, yeah. So it's like I said, it's 19214 Horsemen of the Apocalypse drops and these he's a star, but studio politics are brutal and Metro Pictures who produces this movie underpays him and he bounces between film jobs, legal battles and explosive romance with costume designer Natasha Rambova. Scandal follows.

16:35 Their marriage is ruled invalid because he was still legally married to another actress, Jean Acker. Let's just say Valentino like loved women and loved to marry them and sometimes would not. Like in this point he was not legally divorced yet before he married another woman so he becomes America's sweetheart and it's tabloid person so it's like someone you love to watch but also know he's a little fucked up. Right. Well, and that little thing's gonna make news. At 100% yes. So just right after this movie he does the chic and in 1921 his star skyrockets even more.

17:19 Women swoon, men are angry and and Valentino becomes the blueprint for cinematic seduction. They view him as like the romance lead, like we're talking, you know the smutty book cover, you know of your dreams. That's what he was. He even, he was like the first man to to advertise for skin care and, and hair products because people, anything he wore or did, people wanted to replicate. So they used that And he, he was the face of like a male skin care or male makeup brand, just pretty wild.

18:01 So he skyrockets once again. He is constantly followed. Anytime he's going back to New York, anything he does is, you know, captured. There are pictures. There are, you know, different newspaper articles. People want to know more and more about him. And in 1925, Valentino is in San Francisco for a break, a brief break, and he walks past a shop window and sees a ring. It's a Tiger's eye ring. It's like a thick men's tiger eye ring, which is like, brown. It has, like, you know, kind of some black stripes in it. Simple but striking. And he sees it. He wants it. So he goes to the shopkeeper, asks for the ring, and the shopkeeper refuses. He says it's cursed.

18:47 This is the Ring of Destiny, and every owner who has had it has met misfortune. It's, you know, it's the Ring of Destiny and I can't get, I can't sell it to you. So what? What do you do if someone tells you I can't buy it? You're used to having everything. Absolutely. You want it even. More sell it to. Me, this is not and this is not a ring that's like super, you know, it's not like a beautiful, you know, Ruby ring, but. Can I also just say this doesn't make any sense? Why would he have? If he's not gonna sell it, why would he have it out? I don't know. That's a great question. I mean that that's part of it, right? Like, is it just a story that he's telling Valentino to make him pay more Pay Exactly. I mean, come on. Like he's. Got to know who he is. Oh, yeah, there's no way he can't now. Although they had a lot of makeup on in like this silent films.

19:34 And so whether it's like, you know, just makeup, like if you all the men had like green lipstick on and the same thing with women because it was all black and white. So you couldn't see anyone's features. Even like when we record since we do video, we put on a little bit more make up then we would like no normally have and this is not black and white. So they were like really packing it on so but is there? Maybe he looks a little different. Yeah, he could. He could. But at the end of the day, Valentino buys the fucking ring and he begins wearing the ring during public appearances and later while filming the movie The The Son of the Chic, which is, you know, kind of like in the next part. Two.

20:16 Yeah. He he's he wears it in that movie. He's all, he's on top of the world, you know, most highest grossing actor at the time. And people are in love with him. Every movie he's in, it sells out and it runs for a really long time. So while he's, you know, filming the Son of the Sheik and he starts going on these appearances, you know, promoting the film, something shifts. He's wearing the ring. And soon after he's actually, he actually collapses in New York. And what ends up happening is he gets emergency surgery. And he had, he had collapsed in the Hotel Ambassador on Park Ave. in Manhattan. And they bring him to the hospital. Following an examination, he was actually diagnosed with appendicitis and gastric ulcers.

21:06 It kind of makes a lot of sense. You know, you're stressed out. You're constantly, the filming schedules are insane. He is constantly fighting with studios behind the scenes trying to get more money, and they're refusing. Of course you're going to get an ulcer. You're stressed out. So his condition actually wouldn't later be called Valentino syndrome, perforated ulcers that look like appendicitis. So there was more of an issue. So after he has this surgery, he develops perionitis. And perionitis is an inflammation of the inner wall of your abdomen and like covering the abdominal organs. So it's severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever and weight loss.

21:49 And of course, if they don't know this is what's happening, they can't treat it. So on August 18th, his doctors were super optimistic about, you know, his prognosis. They went in, took care of what they thought was the issue. And the media were told that unless you know his, you know, condition deteriorates, then they're not going to give any, any updates. So his condition worsens on August 21st. And he was, he has a huge relapse of this, you know, abdominal swelling which developed rapidly into his left lung. And so all this isn't like multiple events, this is like all this is all from the first event, right?

22:30 Yes, Yeah. So he goes into the he collapses on the 15th, Yeah, of August 1926. And then so. He's in the hospital from that on, just getting worse. Yes. And then the 21st he's it gets it get really turns and he was strict stricken with a huge relapse which develops rapidly into his left lung because he has a weakened left lung. We find out and the doctors actually realized that Valentino was going to die. But at the time it was really common to choose to withhold information from the patient. So he had no idea. Oh. My God. He thought he was going to recover. Oh good God. So during the early hours of Monday, August 23rd, Valentino was briefly conscious and chatted with his doctors about his future, but soon lapsed into a coma.

23:20 Did you tell him about the cursed ring? No, they didn't tell him any. I mean, you know, he was in and out of consciousness at this point because you know, he is he it's going from one, the infection's spreading and the inflammation's spreading and they don't know how to, you know, how to help it. And so rather than telling the dude, hey, you know, you are dying, he has no idea. And he's talking about the movies that he's gonna do. And like all his future and his future plans, he goes into a coma and died a few hours later. He was 31 years old. Good Lord. Yeah. So following his death at, the doctors who treated him later confirmed that he had actually contracted sepsis, an overwhelming infection, this inflammation that they were.

24:07 Seeing sepsis from the surgery. Probably from the surgery. And like, one thing led to another. They didn't catch it in time. They didn't even, they didn't even really treat the original issue that he had correctly. So, yeah, so his funeral, it was, it's estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Manhattan to pay their respects. And people actually committed suicide. Like fans who were so in love with him committed suicide. Yeah. Windows were smashed as fans tried to get in and into the Funeral Home that his body had laid and an all day riot erupted on August 24th.

24:47 So over 100. This was after his death, right the day after. Over 100 mounted officers and NYPD police reserves were used to restore order at the time. Can you imagine? Can you imagine being so in love with an infatuated with a perfect stranger that when they die, you can't live? I mean. That's bonkers. It's totally bonkers. It's totally bonkers. But you know what? You have people who become so infatuated with actors or even, you know, anyone that they see who is at all, you know, in the spotlight, they in their own brains come up with like this false narrative or this false relationship.

25:40 I mean, you hear about it all the time, stalkers, right? And he was really like the first, like massive fandom. He was like fanned. He was what fandom, you know, grew from Yeah. He like people were obsessed with him, could not stop following him and probably believed that they were going to be with him in some way. My. God. Isn't that wild nuts? So, you know, people committed suicide. There were riots and there was actually, you know, like people could go and view him and they had to have the NYPD, like, lined as people were were coming up to him. Now, once again, anytime his name was at all mentioned, you know, people paid attention. And this guy was a womanizer. I mean, he loved the ladies.

26:24 Maybe he wasn't a womanizer. Maybe he just really, really enjoyed women. So one of the women that he enjoyed was Pola Negrim. She was a Polish actress, and she claimed to be his fiance because him and his. Yeah. So she actually collapsed. Yeah, maybe. Who knows? She collapsed in hysterics while she was standing over over the coffin. There are reporters around at all times like watching this. And she also hired 4 actors to impersonate mourners and stuff. And wait, there were there actresses hired to mourn? OK, have you ever there's like this episode of like there? This is a real thing. Hold on, there's so many. Wait, why would you need to do that when there were thousands of mourners?

27:06 I mean, I don't know, like so there was OK, so there was one OK. Campbell hired 4 actor actors to impersonate a fastest black shirt honor guard which was supposed to be sent by a Benito Mussolini, who was Italian. Why? You know, this is like the all the world's a stage and his fucking funeral was a huge stage at the time. He was the biggest actor. If you wanted to make any kind of like a statement, you make it there because it was being covered. The whole it was this was top news. This was World News, which is wild, wild. And actually people said that the body on display in the main salon of the Funeral Home was actually not Valentino, but it was a decoy and that his actual body was not was not that it was not being seen. This was denied, of course.

27:57 But come on. Like I probably would put a fake body or like, you know, a body that looked like his in there just in case people did some weird shit and like took a finger off or something. So, you know, he, his remains were taken to from New York to California, California. And you can see his his crypt in Hollywood, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery cemetery as far as like where his money went. He left it to his brother and sister and his Natasha Rambova's aunt, which, you know, was it's all questionable. OK, I'm going to get back to the fucking ring because this dude had the ring on when he died. Now who does the ring go to? His brother. Potentially, yeah.

28:41 Or maybe his current wife, Natasha. Natasha Rambova. So after the ring, it does not die with him, does not go into his into his casket. We're going to follow the trail of where it goes. Pola Negri, Remember that woman who was like the Polish actress who like throws herself onto his, you know, coffin and she's the. One with the fiance, potentially. Yes, and then she she even like gets all of these, these flowers that have like her name written. It's so it's like it's a pola, you know, and it's I mean, come on, it's like it's totally like fame whores, you know, fame hoes like everyone's just like coming. So she gets ends up getting the ring.

29:22 His rumoured fiance. She wears the ring at his funeral and soon after she collapses from an illness. What exactly that illness is, we don't know. Her career stalls. No. Is it due to the ring? I don't know. But the next person to get it is Russ Columbo. He's actually cast to play Valentino in a biopic. He inherits the ring from Natasha. Oh, you're going to play Valentino? This is a rule. Here's his ring. You know, you can kind of get to know him a little bit more. He actually dies days later after receiving the ring in a freak accident, a freak shooting accident. He was with his friend and his friend's like, oh, look at this like pistol and. He's an actor.

30:07 He's an actor. He's the one the the friend's the an actor. But Russ Columbo, who's cast to play Valentino, OK, has the ring. You know, he's he owns the ring at this point and just goes over to his friend's house. He looks a lot like Valentino, which is why he's cast to play him. Gotcha. And people kind of start following him because he looks a lot like Valentino, you know, Poland Negri kind of falls in love with a lot of people who were with Valentino falls in love with him because. He's kind of the replacement, yeah. Exactly, exactly. He's he's the he's the generic version of Valentino. So he goes over to his friend's house. They have a couple cocktails, you know, some some lunch and he's like, hey, let me show you this cool gun I have. The friend pulls out the gun is like showing him somehow the triggers released and the bullet hits the wall behind Russ, ricochets, and then goes right through Russ's eyeball, kills him, he's dead.

31:07 He dies. He dies about six days later in a hospital. Total freak accident. It does not even hit him initially. It hits the wall, ricochets and then hits him, hits him. Wow. And it doesn't. It doesn't hit him in a place that it hits him in a fatal area. Right, right, right. What are the fucking odds of that? Yeah, astronomical, I would think. I would think so too. So it's like, OK, maybe there is a curse, A little known fact about Russ Columbo. His brother and sister totally lie to their mom and pretend like Russ is still alive for the next 10 years until she dies. 10 years. Yeah. Hold on. OK, that doesn't.

31:48 That's weird. So she doesn't speak to him. She doesn't see him. Like what? How would you do that? If she's so close, they don't want to destroy her life by telling him that she's dead, but yet she can go with 10 years without speaking or seeing him. That's. Freaking weird. Right. Right. Well, so he was also a singer. He was like an operatic singer. And so they use old and he had a radio show at the time, so they use old versions of it and play it for her to like, oh, this is his, you know, you just can't get it. Yeah, this is this is his new song. It was not. It was not. And they wrote as as if they were him. Oh, he's just really, really busy. And why did they you think they did this? Because they didn't want her to. She had just suffered like a heart attack. Oh, OK, they didn't want to upset. Her they didn't want to upset her, so they they did not want to upset her for 10 fucking years. Good God Almighty.

32:37 One would think that you would potentially people. I know it's wild. So he ends up dying. Freak accident. Now the next person to receive it is a man called Joe Del Casino. So Russ Columbo had been killed in the accident. His cousin actually passed the ring on to Russ's best friend. OK so our friend who had the crazy ass like shooting incident Russ had a best friend named Joe Casino. Joe Casino was the one to receive Rudolph Valentino's ring and he was also at the height of his popularity as an entertainer. So Casino knew that there there was some kind of curse connected to it.

33:19 Rudolf Valentino passed away randomly from owning the ring. His best friend passed away from a fucking freak accident, ricocheted bullet, and then Casino then owns it. Instead of wearing the ring. He actually kept it in a glass case in memory of his friend Russ, who had passed away. When he was asked to donate the ring to a Museum of Valentino relics, he actually refused. He's like, sorry, I would love to, but this reminds me of my friend who passed away. And he treasured it for sentimental reasons. As time passed, Joe kind of forgot about the reputation the ring had as far as a curse goes. And he puts it on.

34:00 It's like, oh, you know, maybe he's having a moment where he's remembering his friend Russ. And it's like, well, nothing's happened. I've owned this ring for a while. I'm going to wear it. I'm going to wear it. I treasure my friend, and I want to start wearing it. So he puts it on, and a week later, still wearing the ring, he was knocked down by a truck and killed. OK. My God. Yeah, so by now this ring is creating a fucking reputation. It's front page news. We have Valentino, who was warned before he even bought the ring. You don't want to buy it.

34:40 It's it's going to cause like, you're going to die. Like the This is the Ring of Destiny. Right. What happens he they think he has appendicitis. He ends up getting fucking sepsis and dies. Doesn't even know he's dying and ends up dying in the hospital. It's passed on to another actor. The actor ends up dying from a freak shooting accident. His friend finally decides to put on the ring. A week later is hit by a truck and killed. I'm dying to know where this ring came comes from. Yeah. Does anybody know? There are so many theories, you never know what the actual, you know what the real thing is, but wow.

35:21 And so now, now who has the ring? Well, so like I said, this ring is now becoming infamous. Yeah, it is front page news. And people start, you know, thinking like, well, maybe there is some kind of curse to this because this is fucking crazy. Now, Joe, excuse me, Joe Casino, who who was hit by a car that had the ring on his brother gets the ring and he explained that he could not allow himself. He's like, I don't believe in curses. I'm not going to believe in a curse. I'm not going to be intimidated by a curse or a ghost or whatever where the hell this is. So he actually wore the ring for a while and nothing really happened to it to him. Like he would wear it. He didn't have any. Like he didn't die, nothing weird happened to him.

36:03 But he then lends it to a collector of Valentino relics who also does not suffer any ill. You know the situations he does not die, he does not get sick. Nothing happens. So this caused you once again, this is front page news like this ring. People are asking about it. The news newspapers are starting to speculate that the evil that the last evil influence of the ring had come to an end and that it seems like it was enough to trigger a new and that like just saying, hey, there is no more. There's no more curse. Perhaps that's what actually caused this curse to come back. Wait. People are paying attention to it. There's no curse. When did it come back?

36:45 Well, I'll tell you so one night soon after, you know, everyone's saying this is no longer a cursed ring at the home of Joe's brother. It was like his his house was burglarized. The burglar was a man named James Willis who was seen by the police running from a scene and the policeman actually fired a warning shot. But the bullet went too low and killed him, killed the burglar. Among the loot that was found in his possession was Valentino's curse ring. OK. Yeah, OK. So around that same time, Hollywood producer Edward Small decided to make a film based on Valentino's career, and he was only 21 years old.

37:30 There was actually the guy who was Jack Dunn. He was, he was in the in the movie, he wore the ring at only 21 years old. Dunn died 10 days later from a rare blood disease, a very rare blood disease he put on the ring was in this movie and he dies of blood disease 10 days later after wearing that. So after Jack Dunn's death, there was a raid because this fucking ring is killing so many people, they decide to put it into a bank in a bank vault. No one's going to wear it. It's going to live in a security, in a security box. We're not going to touch it.

38:10 There was a raid that was done at the said bank. Like a burglary. It was a yeah, a burglary. It was like a raid. Yeah, like someone's robbing a bank. Yes. OK. So in broad daylight in LA, there were thieves that got away with a haul of over $200,000 OK In a police ambush shortly after, two of the gang members were caught and three passerby's were injured. The bank robbers leader was Alfred Hahn, who was jailed for life and at the at the trial Hahn remarked. If I had known what was in the vault, apart from money, I'd have picked myself another bank, he says.

38:52 The reason that people had died was because in the bank safe deposit box was the ring. His, yeah, his ring. So the executors of Del Casino, Joe Casino's brother, have owned the ring for years at this point and it had been under lock and key and has not seen the light of day for years. You mean executors? Executors of it, yeah, Yeah, yes. So what did I say? Executors. Executors. Sorry. Executors of the estate, yes. So it's not seen the light of day and the bank now kind of forgets that it even exists. And since 1960, there's been $50,000 in a robbery that has happened there, a fire and a three-week strike of cashiers. So could that be aligned with with the curse? I don't know.

39:45 And. I so OK, I think some of this chalks up to you see what you want to see totaling kind of stuff. I mean because this these kinds of things happen in life, so like I would have been all on board of this truly being cursed if it would have happened from beginning to end, but the fact that two people in between had no impact from it puts significant doubt in my mind. Right. Like, you know, now we're talking about a ring. People have owned it. What kind of energy are they putting towards the belief? Of occurs if. You don't believe in it, then maybe it's not going to affect Joe. Right. But there were some people that didn't even know about it either.

40:27 Right, right. Like the bank robbers, they didn't know that they had had or yeah, it's, it's, I mean, it's really weird. There's this this ring has also gone out on like, museum tours. So like, it might be released for, you know. Oh, here are some of Rudolph Valentino's things. One of the one of them there was an unnamed thief who actually tries to steal it from a museum display and he falls down a flight of stairs and dies with the fucking ring in his hand. Right. So it's like he probably knew about the the. Ring being. Cursed. Now, you know, it's really a question. It was like, is this a superstition or is it a pattern? Yeah, maybe it's, you know, maybe it's not just like bound to misfortune, but really to those who are trying to imitate, possess, you know, Valentino himself.

41:17 Who knows? Wow, fascinating. Which kind of it kind of brings you back to this idea of like, what is a curse? Is it an evil force? Is it a psychic, you know, imprint? Is it a story that is so powerful that it really creates its own fate? Right. Is the seed that's planted in your brain that because we said before that you know how when you what do they call those dream boards? Like when you what do they call those when you like you create a board, vision board. Vision board, Yeah. That is nothing more than thoughts, right? Energy of thoughts and people swear by them and that you know, if they put that energy out there, that you know, if you, you focus on something and you say, I don't know, this is my goal in life.

42:04 And you just put your energy and focus on it. Many times it will come to reality because that's where you're putting your energy. This could very well be the same thing. The fact that you put the seed of. Intention. Curse you and so now that exactly that intention is just running through your brain and subconsciously you're. Yeah, you're kind of, you're interacting with that. Yeah, with that energy. Well, like, even across cultures, we've talked about it, right? Like cursed objects are said to carry memory, right? Ancient Egypt, you have the mummy's curse, you know, in Europe you have relics of the dead, blood soaked armor, you know, haunted heirlooms. These objects all hold exactly what you're talking about. Emotion, energy, jealousy, violence, longing. And maybe they don't forget that. So a curse might not just be a hex, it could be a warning, a mirror, a thing too beautiful, too perfect that devours everything that tries to claim it. That ring, maybe it wasn't even cursed by or witch or warlock. Maybe it was really cursed by grief. Remember, we had over 100,000 mourners who mourned the death of Valentino.

43:13 People committed, you know, And that grief, the entrapment, his own longing to be free, he had no idea who was even dying to begin with. Perhaps that had something to do with it. So, you know, really, Rudolph Valentino was the first cinematic supernova. He was burning bright and way too brief, right? He died on top of the world as far as stardom was concerned, right? And his legacy was immortal. But that ring it still, we don't really know where it is. It remains missing. Really. Yeah. So the last we heard was the guy that fell down the stairs with it. Is this the last we know of it? That's kind of the last we know of it. It really kind of disappears.

43:54 We don't really even know who who owns it, who has, you know, who has it. If it's come like it'll randomly sometimes reappear for like a museum display or something, But it's not really taken out. It's somewhere people assume in some bank in Los Angeles just sitting around. But here's another thing. It could, people could be still wearing it and just not talking about not giving that energy to it, right? Not treating it as if it's a cursed object, right? Like I said, it's not like this beautiful, amazing ring. Yeah, exactly. It's not incredible, probably like pressure, like tigers eye is cool, but it's not it's not like a the hope diamond that's like, you know, blinging and stuff.

44:35 So, yeah, I mean, it could just be remaining, remaining in a bank vault, waiting and watching. Would you wear it? I'm. Watching you, you know, probably not. No, because I I'm one of those people. Like, do I believe it? I am Probably not. Why would I take the chance? I know, yeah. And the fact that I'm thinking about it, am I, am I putting that energy out there? Like, yeah, probably. Should, but it could be enough to, yeah. So to trigger whatever is attached to it and. This daddy won't be wearing that. OK. And so, so we so we think that potentially there is a curse. We potentially are open to it. I guess I, I guess the answer is yes, yeah. If I can't, if I can't flat out deny and say that thing isn't real, then yeah, I guess I'm saying that's, I guess it's plausible. I mean, there are too many instances of shit that does not make any sense.

45:28 Here, yeah, it's, it's kind of, it becomes that there's no such thing as coincidence. Kind of it's a pattern thing. Yeah, there's a distinct pattern that's happening. And I know we also say you know you, you see things you want to see and you can put pattern where you want to put pattern. But again. It's one of those. Maybe you're not SO. Totally. I know, I mean, I guess the whole idea of cursed objects, I thought it was kind of bullshit before I started writing this episode. And I'm like, I don't know, there are a couple of like freak accidents here that just make no sense. Like maybe there is something to a curse, but but it was kind of a fun one to talk about and. It is, yeah. And there were so many cursed objects to go through and to potentially.

46:11 You know when we talked about flight 4 O 7 and how those objects literally had, well, ghosts? Yeah, energy contains energy. So what? Is this the same thing? Could be, could be, you know, I don't know. We found that plausible. We told when we were listening to that story, so. Why couldn't? Why? Couldn't this be? Yeah, and you know, I think if, if, if there's anything that's plausible, the one thing that we've learned at the bizarre F is like, there's so much shit we don't know and we can't explain. So why, why not just throw a fucking tigers eye, you know, cursed, you know, object into it, into the mix. Go ahead, add it to the top of the the pile, you know, but you know, one thing I just wanted to bring up was, you know, if you guys are listening to the episode and you enjoyed it, you know, go ahead and listen, share it with someone who loves cursed objects or golden age scandal, Hollywood golden age scandals or even, you know, beautiful ghosts like, you know, Valentine. Tell us about if you've ever seen a cursed object 100% been involved or heard about it, or I'd like to hear some other stories about it.

47:18 Yes, same. And you know, remember, sometimes beauty isn't just skin deep, it's soul deep. And some things want to take yours with them, Bum. Bum nice, nice ending to the show. Your soul will be ours. Yeah, all. Right. Well, thanks guys. Well, thanks for thanks for the great episode. Appreciate. All right, we'll see you next week. Yes. OK, bye.