Revenge hex on ex
If you mess with hexes, you have to pay the price... Perihan Bozkurt, 50, from Sydney
She’d started dabbling in witchcraft, she said
Throwing a stick into the swamp, I watched, fascinated, as it sank beneath the murky brown waters.
‘I think I saw an alligator!’ I squealed to my sister Avril, who was then 13.
‘Quick, run!’ she yelled.
We sprinted back to my aunt’s house, giggling with nervous excitement.
It was the late 1970s. Aged 12, I was visiting my Aunt Linda in Florida with Avril and our mother Pam.
I loved Florida, a far cry from the cool weather and tree-lined avenues of New York, where I lived. And I loved visiting my aunt’s noisy house, home to my six cousins, all in their late teens and early 20s.
Divorce
As we arrived, still giggling, Avril and I spotted Mum and Aunt Linda through the kitchen window.
They were clearly having an intense conversation.
‘Shhh,’ Avril whispered. We crept up to the open kitchen door and eavesdropped.
Linda was just a few years older than Mum, but my normally vivacious aunt looked tired and drawn. She was only in her early 40s, but suddenly she looked older.
She and Uncle Eddie had recently divorced after more than 20 years of marriage, sending shockwaves through the whole family.
All devout Catholics, divorce was frowned upon. But it seemed that Aunt Linda hadn’t had any choice in the matter. A few weeks later, she’d written a letter to Mum saying that
Uncle Eddie had already remarried.
He’ll be sorry
‘Oh, I’m alright, Pam,’ Aunt Linda was saying – although she didn’t look alright. ‘Don’t worry about me.’ But Mum seemed concerned, and I couldn’t help feeling anxious too. ‘You don’t have to put on an act with me, Linda,’ Mum urged. ‘Tell me how you feel.’ ‘How do you think I feel?’ Linda said, her voice shaking. ‘I bore him six kids. I was only 17 when I had my first baby. Now he’s left me for a younger woman.’ ‘I’m so sorry, Linda,’ Mum said sadly. ‘I’ll make HIM sorry,’ she spat. ‘He’s going to rue the day he left me! I’ve hexed him, Pam!’ ‘Y-you what?’ Mum stammered.
‘I lit a black candle, and wished ill luck on him,’ Linda said. ‘And it obviously worked because, less than a week later, when Eddie went out on his boat on the lake, it sank and he had to swim to shore!’
‘Don’t look at me like that, Pam,’ she added, catching sight of Mum’s horrified expression. ‘It’s just a bit of fun. Anyway, he deserves it.’
Bad idea
Linda explained she’d started dabbling in witchcraft.
She’d always been fascinated by the paranormal, consulting gypsy fortune-tellers. Once Eddie left, she threw herself into it, meeting local psychics and reading up on the occult. Then it occurred to her to try it… ‘It’s a really bad idea to mess with those forces,’ Mum pleaded. ‘I know you’ve been hurt, but this isn’t the solution.’
But Linda only shook her head.
‘It’s just a bit of fun, Pam,’ she repeated. ‘Don’t be a stick-inthe-mud.’
So Mum shut up, but I could tell she was still worried – and I was, too.
I’d seen a few horror films. Knew what happened to people who messed around with forces outside their control!
A few days later, we overheard talking again. Mum looked really upset.
I asked, ‘What’s the matter?’ ‘Uncle Eddie’s in hospital,’ Mum said. ‘He’s had a heart attack.’ Aunt Linda looked like she was trying not to smile. ‘I’m sure he’ll be fine,’ she said airily. ‘He just needs to cut back on the red meat and pizza.’ ‘I think Aunt Linda’s gone too far with this black magic stuff,’ Avril said later. ‘She’s scaring me!’ I agreed. ‘Even the house feels weird. Like it’s full of negative energy.’ ‘I wish there was something we could do to put things back to normal,’ Avril said. Next day, Mum and Linda went out, so Avril and I took the opportunity to snoop round the house.
Malevolent
‘Urgh! What on earth is this?’ Avril asked. She held out a brass ornament on a shelf in the living room. It was a strange, flat, ugly thing, with a devil’s face. As Avril handed it to me, I gasped. It felt hot – malevolent in some way. And it seemed to be looking at me, with its horrible, beady little eyes! Not stopping to think, I ran out of the back door, down to the end of the garden, and flung it as hard as I could. Landing with a plop in Aunt Linda’s pond, it sank out of sight. Immediately, I felt calmer and lighter. ‘What was that thing?’ Avril asked. ‘Something evil. I’m sure Aunt Linda will be better off without it,’ I shrugged. We left for New York shortly afterwards. Aunt Linda never mentioned the object to us, so I don’t know if she discovered it was missing. But a few days later, she rang to say Uncle Eddie had been injured in a car accident. It seemed her hex was still working, despite our best efforts at intervention…
The house felt like it was full of negative energy I am fascinated by the kinder side of spirituality