Cursed Treasure

**The Cursed Treasure** also known as the **King's Ransom** is a collection of items from *Pirates of the Caribbean*.

## Description

The cursed treasure is a very large collection of gold, jewels, silk and artifacts. The treasure is cursed and while its exact nature is unknown, it appears to cause death against those who claim it while resulting in them becoming undead.

## History

The cursed treasure was located on the Caribbean island of Isla Tesoro, namely within the Caribbean town of Puerto Dorado. How the treasure became curse is a mystery but it is known to have been affiliated with a man of rank known as Marci Daviso and was hidden in Puerto Dorado's treasury within the Castillo Del Morro fortress which was constructed in 1643. The treasure would come to hold a somewhat legendary status and become sought after by pirates of the Caribbean.

During the golden age of piracy in the 18th century, the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow came to the island first with his rival Captain Hector Barbossa following suit aboard his vessel *The Wicked Wench*. The Wench laid ruin to the town's fortress as its crew went to shore in search of the treasure in a race with Jack Sparrow. To gain information, several pirates began torturing officials such as the Magistrate; unaware that Sparrow was eavesdropping nearby. Other groups took to ransacking households, plundering the townsfolk and auctioning off the isle's stolen goods. Jack Sparrow however managed to get to the treasure first by reading a map over the shoulder of one of Barbossa's crew-mates and stealing his key to the treasury.

Through unknown means the pirates of the Wench would claim the treasure from Jack and hide it away in a lair which they build in Dead Man's Cove. By this point in time the Wench also appeared to have changed captains to an unidentified individual while Puerto Dorado was turned into something of a pirate haven. Due to the treasure's curse however, the pirates were all killed and left as skeletons and as ghosts with the island left a cursed and barren place. Along with the ghosts of the Wicked Wench's crew, the island would also host the spirits of Davy Jones and the undead Blackbeard. Years after the curse's striking, Jack broke into the Cove to steal the Wench's treasure from their lair and seemed successful though the further outcome of this event is a mystery.

### Alternate versions

#### Pirates of the Caribbean (films)

In the film *Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl* (2003), the treasure was blood-money paid as ransom to the genocidal Spanish colonist Hérnan Cortez as payment to leave Central American tribes in peace. One particular treasure handed over was a stone chest of 882 identical gold Aztec medallions which were cursed by the Aztec gods to curse whomever stole them to be undead and incapable of material sensations while revealed to be a hideous corpse in the moon-light. The only way to appease this curse was for the blood of all who participated in stealing the gold to be poured over the chest.

The treasure was hidden away on the Caribbean island of the dead *Isla de Muerta* which could only be found by those who already knew where it was located. It would become sought after by Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl only to be mutineed by his first-mate Hector Barbossa who took the ship to the island with the crew in his stead. Following this, Barbossa and the crew of the Black Pearl became cursed but had disposed of crew-mate William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner Sr. before they learned they required his blood, perpetuating their curse.

## Appearances and allusions

### Oceaneer Lab

Crates aboard the RV Oceaneer Lab are labelled as having excavated Isla de Muerta and contain its Aztec gold from the film. It is revealed that Captain Mary Oceaneer uses prongs to avoid the curse when handling the gold.

### Pirates of the Caribbean

The treasure is seen twice in most incarnations of Pirates of the Caribbean, once in Dead Man's Cove surrounded by the skeletons of the Wench's crew and another time during the raid of Puerto Dorado, within the Castillo Del Morro fortress.

#### Plaza del Sol

One of the Aztec gold medallions appears on a vase on a shelf in this gift-shop.

### Disney Kingdoms

The treasure in *Disney Kingdoms: Haunted Mansion* which is sought after by Captain Gore in New Orleans' Haunted Mansion is implied to be the treasure from Pirates of the Caribbean.

## Trivia

* The treasure is seemingly inspired by the legendary treasure of historic (alleged) pirate William Kidd and Captain Flint's treasure from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
* The pirates Pintel and Ragetti from the films appear in *Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island* in their cursed state along with an unidentified imprisoned pirate seemingly suffering from the Aztec curse. The latter of said pirates is identified by Jack Sparrow's first-mate Joshamee Gibbs as having broken the pirate's code and stolen from his crew-mates.

## References

1. ↑ http://disneyshawn.blogspot.com/2009/06/hidden-treasure.html
2. ↑ https://www.disneydining.com/pirates-caribbean-yo-ho-yo-ho-pirates-life/castillo-del-morro-sign-pirates-of-the-caribbean-magic-kingdom-walt-disney-world/
3. ↑ http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/FunFindFridayDisneyMagic1.aspx
4. ↑ http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/FunFindFridayPirates1.aspx