Case file · Folklore / legend
The curse of Tamerlane's tomb
Mikhail Gerasimov's team opened Timur's tomb in Samarkand on 19–20 June 1941; two days later Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
1941 CE · 39.65, 66.97 · status: legend
The account
Local elders had warned against disturbing the tomb, and a story spread that an inscription threatened that whoever opened it would unleash an invader worse than Timur. Gerasimov confirmed Timur's limp and reconstructed his face from the skull.
The sceptical view
The supposed inscription is poorly sourced, people close to Gerasimov called the story a fabrication, and Operation Barbarossa had been planned for months.