After hundreds of years, the haunting story of the cursed Louis Alvarez 1743 mirror that claimed 38 lives has been solved.
In November 1977, the French Association of Antique Collectors held a special press conference, warning its members not to purchase a vintage wooden-framed mirror called Louis Alvarez 1743.
According to the association, this cursed mirror claimed the life of its maker and 37 others just days after they gazed into it.
Illustrative image: The Louis Alvarez 1743 mirror, which claimed the lives of dozens of people.
38 People Died
Earlier, a mirror was made by a craftsman named Louis Alvarez, but only two days after the mirror was completed, Alvarez, who was a healthy person, suddenly collapsed in the workshop.
During the autopsy, the doctors concluded that the craftsman died of cerebral hemorrhage. At this time, no one suspected anything and only considered it an unfortunate coincidence.
Later, the mirror was sold to a grocery store, passed through the hands of many different owners, and began to spread terrifying deaths.
The second victim after Alvarez was Mr. Tesemer, the owner of a flour shop in the port city of Marseille, who bought the mirror as a birthday gift for his wife. After taking the mirror out of the box, he engraved it carefully and looked into it. Suddenly, Mr. Tesemer felt a chill all over his body, his mind became heavy, and his surroundings became blurry and unstable. His wife quickly supported him and took him to the room, but unfortunately, he passed away. The grieving wife sold all of her husband’s belongings, including the Louis Alvarez 1743 mirror.
Later on, the mirror went missing. Eventually, a journalist named Arnold bought it at a street vendor in Paris and brought it home to hang it beside his bed. A few days later, the police discovered that he had died at home due to cerebral hemorrhage.
The fourth victim of the mirror was Henry, the owner of an antique shop. When he was strolling through an old market, he saw the Louis Alvarez 1743 mirror and was attracted to it, so he bought it and displayed it in his store. Unfortunately, after only 3 days, Henry also passed away due to cerebral hemorrhage while working.
At this point, the strangeness of the mirror caught people’s attention. A friend of Henry’s, who had attended the funeral of the third victim, Arnold, coincidentally knew him. He warned that the Louis Alvarez 1743 mirror had a “curse” and that the family should dispose of it immediately.
The next victims of the Louis Alvarez 1743 mirror were Mr. Hanmer and his wife, Jura. The intricately engraved mirror caught Jura’s attention, and she was compelled to purchase it and place it on her desk at home. Shortly thereafter, the couple died on their way to the emergency room due to cerebral hemorrhage.
For over 100 years, information about sudden deaths similar to the previous 6 victims continued to surface. Among these victims, some had heard rumors about the “killer” mirror but were still curious to use it, leading to their sad fate. There were also those who unknowingly “invited disaster upon themselves.”
The 38th victim of the mirror was Dr. Smith. As a scientist, he did not believe in the supernatural rumors surrounding the object and decided to investigate the cause of the deaths of dozens of previous victims. However, shortly after his contact with the mirror, he began to feel dizzy and suffer from headaches but sent a message to his family to keep the mirror well-preserved and prevent it from harming anyone else.
From then on, the mirror was carefully wrapped and stored to prevent anyone else from becoming its next victim.
Waine’s Solution
Time passed by, until April 2005, an American archaeologist named Waine made his way to Paris to ask for permission from the French Antique Association to investigate Louis Alvarez’s 1743 mirror.
Surprisingly, when Waine brought the mirror home for several days, he remained unharmed and healthy. After conducting several tests, Waine realized that the mirror’s new face was less than 100 years old, while it was made in 1743. Perhaps it had been given a new face over the past 300 years, so Waine concluded that the real “murderer” was not the mirror, but the frame made of finely carved wood.
The mirror frame was found to be made from a special type of wood.
One day, when Waine returned from work to continue his investigation of the mirror, he was shocked to discover that two laboratory white mice in his workspace had died. The cause of their death was also cerebral hemorrhage, just like in humans.
To confirm his prediction, Waine ground up some wood chips from the mirror’s frame for testing. The result showed that Louis Alvarez’s 1743 frame was made of coura wood – a rare type of tree that had become extinct 100 years ago.
Coura wood contains an extremely toxic substance. However, to activate this poison, it needs a condition, which is exposure to strong light. The poison in the wood creates a toxic gas that gradually clogs the brain’s blood vessels, leading to cerebral hemorrhage and death.
Therefore, it can be explained why scientist Waine avoided the “fatal fate” because he always had a habit of closing doors and curtains while working, so he was not affected by the poison. On the day the two white mice died, Waine’s wife opened the nearby curtains, so the poison evaporated.
After almost 300 years, the haunting story of Louis Alvarez 1743 was finally deciphered. After that, to ensure safety for everyone, the mirror was destroyed.
