Is it a real thing?

[foolsremorse]

So this may be a dumb question, but are there any like literal evil/cursed books like you see in movies and tv? I’ve always wondered where they got ideas for the illustrations and general ‘this is a big bad evil spell/curse’.
Are there any recorded records of books like that existing, or does it all come from folklore and general mythology (idk if that’s the right word to use)

 

[Dènye Patwon]

This one's pretty tough to answer exactly because energy definitely exists so to say that there's positive energy also proves there's negative:

As above so below.

So yes. As per exact things? Not sure. Some movies can be seen as evil as well as some things that may pertain to "evil" but it really depends on how the energy has been used in creation or with its last proper use.

I hope this answers your question even slightly.

 

[ChronicalingBard]

There's two kinds of examples of this sort of thing in history to my recollection. The first of which is just curses a rather well known kind are several books recovered from Ashurbanipal’s library which where cursed with anti theft magic.

"Clay tablet of Ashurbanipal, King of the World, King of Assyria,
who trusts in Ashur and Ninlil. Your lordship is without equal,
Ashur, King of the Gods! Whoever removes [the tablet], writes
his name in place of my name, may Ashur and Ninlil, angered
and grim, cast him down, erase his name, his seed, in the land" (Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson pg12). These where put in the back indexes of several of the books in the library.

Another example of this where Curse tablets from Rome which served a variety of purposes though the most well known is spells against cheating carved on lead tables, the general principal was as well applied to theif's thus being another example of written word cursing those that steal books or objects.

The second kind is less a directed curse per say, but many authors of texts will include disclaimers as to the danger such as Éliphas Lévi

"To this occult power must be attributed the terrible influence resident in parental malediction, which is feared by all nations on earth, as also the imminent danger of magical operations when anyone has not reached the isolation of true adepts" (Éliphas Lévi Transcendental magic, its doctrine and ritual pg 125)

These are usually less interesting in the sense that one may incorrectly practice for instant working out to the level of self injury, the same considerations are often taken in the course of magic.

 

[stalkinghyena]

One of the main occult bookstores in my town has a glass case of "rare" collectible books, which on seeing the titles were mostly Thelemic, so far as I could tell. In spite of the glass barrier, I could literally smell the body odor coming off of them.

Now is that evil? Nah, just a bit cringy given that I can all too easily visualize that prior users were not my type. Probably junkies. Besides, I could probably find a fresh copy in one of the aisles and steer these into a different intention. Maybe.

But as for manuscripts penned by some Mad Arab with wicked cool drawings in blood, I would point to the art director of a given film as going off various tropes that came out of Weird Tales back in the day. But that doesn't mean I don't have faith that one day I may come across some actual medieval Solomonic manuscript from a private library that would send give me psychometric shivers. It would be really cool if the guy who owned it looked like Frank Langella.

 

[Grayhoss]

Well, the grimoiric tradition has traditions of the text needing to be copied out on virgin vellum to be 'truly alive' and employable.
Its easy to see how a copyist in the wrong state of mind might 'curse' their work, by flawing the thoughtform they're creating.
Have you read Owen Davies' book about grimoires yet?

 

[HoldAll]

Have you read Owen Davies' book about grimoires yet?

Second the Owen Davies book. Most book curses seem to have been 'copyright notices' in manuscripts where the authors cursed anybody redacting or amending their works which didn't have much of an effect and on the contrary has often produced many different versions of the same book, with scribes 'improving' upon it, adding their own insights, leaving entire sections out, etc. The Sefer Yetzirah, for example, exists in four different variants between 1,300 and 2,500 words. The confusion has sometimes carried over into print where different printers would use different versions as the basis for their efforts.

In modern times, you sometimes come across curses against piracy, many of them facetious ("May your appendages drop off!", etc.) because most authors are well aware that they can't stem the tide. The claim by Damon Brand and the Gallery of Magic that the magic in their books won't work with pirated copies has already been discussed here several times. However, if you read something like "This book is cursed and forbidden", it's either a novel or an edgelordy attempt to sound more interesting.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

So this may be a dumb question, but are there any like literal evil/cursed books like you see in movies and tv? I’ve always wondered where they got ideas for the illustrations and general ‘this is a big bad evil spell/curse’.
Are there any recorded records of books like that existing, or does it all come from folklore and general mythology (idk if that’s the right word to use)

If they can convince the person there's a curse, maybe there will be

From an inanimate object, the 'cursed' person has to do it to themselves