Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE The Gettysburg National Military Park has received packages of stolen stones for more than 20 years from those trying to rid themselves of an alleged curse. Dustin Levy, The Evening Sun 
 
 Stock photo (Photo: Bunyos, Getty Images/iStockphoto) 
 
 A little kleptomania may lead to rock bottom. That is, if you believe in curses. 
 
 Gettysburg National Military Park published a post on the "From the Fields of Gettysburg" blog Thursday describing the continual occurrence of receiving packages filled with rocks stolen from the site. 
 
 The reason? An apparent superstition that taking rocks from the park causes nothing but misfortune in the lives of the perpetrators. 
 
 Katie Lawhon, the park's spokesperson, said the curse has existed for at least 20 years because, as long as she has worked there, people have continued to send occasional parcels containing swiped stones. 
 
 Written by Maria Brady, a park ranger, the post includes letters from those who have mailed rocks back to the park, proving the belief in the craggy curse. 
 
 "We didn't know how the removal of the stones would affect our lives, and we didn't know they were cursed," wrote one person in May 2016. "It wasn't long after that that our lives felt apart." 
 
 Apologizing for the theft, this person said that after the incident, he was subjected to a series of unfortunate events, like divorce from his wife and incarceration for nine years. Having read about the stone curse in prison, he decided to send the rocks back to the park. 
 
 Another person returned a small stone and twig in June 2015, according to the blog. After stealing the items from the park in 2006, this person alleged experiencing "horrible times," such as an injury on the job and relationship failures. 
 
 Although acknowledging the possibility of pure coincidence, the person asked for the stone and twig to be placed back where they were before, "on top of the Devil's Den area." 
 
 Brady used the peculiar packages to make a point about the impact of stone stealing on the historical landscape. 
 
 "Many of the stone walls here in the park are historic, and existed at the time of the battle," she wrote. "Some were erected by the farmers as boundaries for their fields, and some were thrown up in haste by soldiers looking for cover." 
 
 The park has a "take only photos, leave only footprints" philosophy, Lawhon said. Whether visitors are in the cemetery or out on the battlefield, they should view these areas as sacred ground, she added. 
 
 The Code of Federal Regulations prohibits sticky-fingers practices on park land, explaining that “possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging or disturbing from its natural state a mineral resource or cave formation or the parts thereof" is a violation. Those caught in the act will be cited and fined $100, plus a $30 processing fee, according to the blog. 
 
 From the sound of it, maybe the rock robbers would have rather paid the fine. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://evesun.co/29CwSxs ||||| The packages seem totally innocuous. Not very large. Slightly heavier than you might expect for their size. Addressed to Gettysburg National Military Park, but not to a specific department or person. Often without a return address. Not terribly unusual at all. 
 
 Except for the curse. 
 
 The boxes in question hold rocks. Rocks that were previously removed from the park, and are now being returned. In almost every case, they also contain a letter, such as the one below, received in May of this year: 
 
 Or this one, from June 2015: 
 
 It is important to remember that removing rocks from the park is a violation of Chapter 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Section 2.1(a)(1)(iv) prohibits “Possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging or disturbing from its natural state a mineral resource or cave formation or the parts thereof.” If these individuals had been caught in the act, they would have been cited and fined $100, plus a $30 processing fee. All in all, they may have preferred that. 
 
 Now, I know what you’re thinking (only because I’ve had people say this to me): “But it’s only one little rock!” True. But while it may be “one little rock” to you, Gettysburg National Military Park receives over 1 million visitors every year. What if every visitor took “one little rock”? How long before that starts to have an adverse impact on all of our resources, but in particular, our stone walls? How long before you, our dear readers, and other visitors, start to notice that impact? 
 
 Many of the stone walls here in the park are historic, and existed at the time of the battle. Some were erected by the farmers as boundaries for their fields, and some were thrown up in haste by soldiers looking for cover. Later stone walls were repaired and rebuilt along battle lines by the War Department, Gettysburg National Military Park Commission, who oversaw the park before its transfer to the NPS in 1933. These walls were completed in 1896, and are historic in their own right. 
 
 National Parks were created in 1916 (it’s our 100th birthday!) to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations (Organic Act, 1916). All we ask is that you enjoy your time here in Gettysburg without removing anything that would contribute to any kind of impairment. 
 
 So no matter how pretty that rock is, or how small it might be, or how much you really want something to remind you of how much you love Gettysburg, please remember that it needs to remain right where it is. 
 
 Unless, of course, you want to be cursed. 
 
 By Maria Brady, Park Ranger, July 7, 2016 
 
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– Robert E. Lee and the men of the Army of Northern Virginia aren't the only people Gettysburg was unlucky for. In a recent Gettysburg National Military Park blog post, park ranger Maria Brady describes how the park sometimes receives packages of stones from people who took them from the site of the pivotal Civil War battle—only to have their lives fall apart. "We didn't know how the removal of the stones would affect our lives, and we didn't know they were cursed," wrote one man who sent back three small stones earlier this year. He wrote that soon after he visited Gettysburg with his wife and took the stones, he lost his wife, his son, and his house—and ended up in prison for nine years. Upon his release, he found the stones and remembered reading in prison that they were cursed. Another tale of woe came from a man who returned a stone and small twig, saying he wanted them to be put back "on top of the Devil's Den area" where he found them nine years of "nothing but horrible times" earlier, the Evening Sun reports. Brady says that curses aside, taking rocks from Gettysburg is not only illegal, it's a practice that could destroy the park's historic stone walls, many of which existed before the battle or "were thrown up in haste by soldiers looking for cover." She says the people who took the rocks would have been fined $100 if they were caught, which "they may have preferred" to the misfortunes they experienced. If you have any cursed rocks you want to return, the Gettysburg address you need is: 1195 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg , PA 17325. (Plans to auction a skull found at Gettysburg were quickly canceled.)