‘Pele’s Curse Is Real’: Husband Takes A Lava Rock Home After Hiking Near Hawaii Volcano. Then His Wife Says She ‘Forever Wishes That He Didn’t’

When traveling, it’s natural to want to bring home “free” souvenirs. Things like shells, a fistful of sand, a pinecone, or a rock look great on the mantle and represent your wonderful vacation memories. However, there is one place you should never bring rocks from, if one woman’s experience—and the entirety of Hawaii—is to be believed.

A Vacation Regret

In a viral video, TikToker @justmejacque shared a PSA to those traveling to Hawaii and thinking of bringing back lava rocks: don’t.

“Piece of advice (from someone who’s [sic] husband did this): Don’t ever take the lava rocks from Hawaii,” the creator wrote in the on-screen text. “You’ll forever be wishing you didn’t. And if you do, send them back. Trust me.”

@justmejacque’s clip may have been a few seconds long, but it quickly earned over 7 million views. Many confirmed her warning, especially native Hawaiians who thanked her for spreading awareness. But what exactly is so wrong about taking rocks from Hawaii?

Why Should You Never Bring Lava Rocks From Hawaii?

The TikToker provided further context in a follow-up post. She explained how she and her now-husband vacationed in Hawaii in their teens. They went with his family, and sometime during the trip, her husband took a lava rock. This was after they had heard locals warning them not to.

The creator quickly realized why when they returned home. Shortly after the trip, her husband got into not one, but two accidents. In the first, he was hit by a drunk driver and broke his leg in multiple places. He then found out he only had one kidney and had to have kidney surgery after he was hit in lacrosse. Then his second accident involved a skateboard, when he got second-degree burns on his body.

At this point, @justmejacque begged him to return the rock, and he did so. She says there’s even an address specifically for tourists to send back any lava rocks they took from Hawaii.

Indeed, the Haleakala National Park received over 1,200 rocks in 2017. However, the national parks told Hawaii magazine they don’t want people to be sending back rocks, as they can carry invasive species.

Bad Luck Or Something Else?

In an email to BroBible, Randall shared how after that trip, her husband—then-boyfriend—had been in the emergency room in multiple situations, one after the other.

“I knew it was a curse as opposed to normal bad luck because of being warned by multiple locals,” she said. “His family and myself really tried to convince him still, though he did not listen and then is when I knew it was a curse. It is known as the curse of Pele.”

Randall claims that as soon as they sent back the lava rock to Hawaii, they no longer experienced injuries, accidents or ER visits.

The change “happened immediately,” she said.

According to Randall, she was shocked by how many people shared their own stories in her TikTok. One particular group of comments Randall wanted to point out was about an episode in “The Brady Bunch.”

“Some responses saying that’s where I got this from and some just stating it as a fact,” she said. “I actually wasn’t born yet to see the episode so this was not a copy off of it, merely just something that actually did happen to me and my husband (and family) personally.”

What Is Pele’s Curse?

Pele’s curse refers to the widely held superstitious belief that if you take anything from Hawaii, especially rocks, the volcano goddess Pele will curse you with misfortune. Anecdotes from vacationers claiming to be victims of the curse have inspired many Reddit posts and Quora discussions about how to return rocks to Hawaii. However, according to one expert on Hawaiian shamanism, the “curse” was invented by a park ranger for folks to take the law more seriously. It is illegal to take anything from national parks in Hawaii, and doing so could alter the biodiversity and geological formation of the island.

“This made-up myth about Pele’s bad-luck curse has caused many hundreds of guilty people or those having bad luck to mail hundreds of tons of rocks – and even sand – back to the islands every year,” Serge King wrote.

Indeed, several folks in @justmejacque shared their own experiences with the “curse.”

“As a native Hawaiian this 100% true,” one user wrote. “The state of Hawaii has special rooms filled with rocks tourists have returned with notes attached saying where the rocks were taken from. There are state workers whose job is to return these rocks to the best of their ability.”

Another wrote about how they used to live with a Hawaiian woman who told her about Pele’s curse.

“The locals are not even allowed to take the rocks or even the flowers anywhere,” they said. “There is actually one specific flower that only grows on one mountain and that has a story as well. It’s crazy real!”

Others, however, claim they have experienced no such bad luck.

As one user said, “Im 97, ive had a lava rock for 77 years. my life is awesome.”