Rethinking her loss in the presidential race as a mere “setback” after her “long walks in the woods” and lots of sleep, Hillary Clinton bravely stated recently that she was ready to “get back up and keep going.”

But while speaking of “girl power” in the U.S. in the 21st century last Tuesday, Clinton likely didn’t suspect she was fighting a more powerful obstacle: a curse by the lady-shaman of Siberia, with whom she had the misfortune of crossing paths about 20 years ago.

A fuzzy photograph of Clinton by the mummy of the Princess of Ukok is one of the most revered exhibits at the City Museum of Novosibirsk, in the capital of Siberia.

“Will her acquaintance with the Princess bestow a curse on Hillary tonight?” asked one headline on election day. (“The Princess did not like Clinton—and Clinton lost!” a victorious reader remarked the next day, in the comments section beneath the article.)

The remains of the immaculately dressed 20-something ‘princess,’ preserved for several millennia in the Siberian permafrost—a natural freezer—were discovered in 1993 by Novosibirsk scientist Natalia Polosmak during an archaeological expedition, The Siberian Times reported in 2012. Six saddled and bridled horses, her spiritual escort to the next world, were buried around her—a symbol of her evident status as a healer or a holy woman.

A meal of sheep and horse meat was placed by her side, as well as ornaments of felt, wood, bronze and gold—and a small container of cannabis.

This discovery, in the middle of the Ukok Plateau—the holiest place of the native people of the Altai Mountains, direct relatives of Native Americans—has been called one of the most important archaeological moments of the modern era.

Even today, only a chopper can deliver one to this unreachable place.

Both of the ancient girl’s arms—from shoulders to wrists—were covered with exquisite, modern tattoos. “It is a phenomenal level of tattoo art. Incredible,” Dr. Polosmak, who found the mummy, said. The tattoos on the left shoulder of the ‘princess’ show a fantastical mythological animal: a deer with a griffon’s beak and a Capricorn’s antlers.

Her head was completely shaven and she wore a horse hair wig. She died over 2,500 years ago.

“She was called ‘Princess’ by the media. We just call her ‘Devochka,’ meaning ‘Girl,'” explained Irina Salnikova, head of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography.

Her brain and internal organs had been removed, so it was not possible to determine the cause of death. The Princess of Ukok was not related to any of the Asian races, scientists are convinced—nor was she related to the present day inhabitants of Altai. She had a European appearance and blond hair before shaving her head.

Local shamans declared that the mummy belonged to the Altai Princess Ochi-Bala or White Lady of Ak-Kadyn—the progenitor of the Altai people, the keeper of peace, who stood guard, preventing evil from penetrating our world.

Leave her in peace, rebury her in the same spot, or there would be dire consequences—her ire and curse, for anybody who would cross her path—the shamans warned.

From day one, many Altai locals were alarmed by the removal of the ancient girl’s remains from the sacred burial mounds—known as kurgans—regardless of the value to science of the discovery. In a land where the sway of shamans still holds, they believed that the princess’ removal would immediately lead to consequences.

Locals insisted the excavation disrupted her protective mission and the revenge she would inflict would reach globally.

Archaeologists confirmed that as soon as the mummy was found, there was thunder—even there wasn’t a cloud in the sky above. When the remains were removed, an earthquake began.

Some say the “curse of the mummy” caused the crash of a chopper carrying her remains out of Altai. Then, in Novosibirsk, her body—preserved so well for so long—suddenly began to decompose. The mummy had been stored in a freezer used to preserve cheese and fungi began growing on the flesh, it was claimed.

The princess’ remains had to be taken to Moscow and to be treated by the same scientists who took such great care of the body of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet state.

After the body was brought to Novosibirsk (some 400 miles from the burial site), the constitutional crisis of 1993 began in Moscow. Ordered by Russian President Yeltsin, Russian tanks shelled Russian Parliament.

Soon after, economic disaster followed.

Even the war in Chechnya that began in 1995 was blamed on the Princess of Ukok.

Back in Altai, many ills had been explained by the princess’s removal: forest fires, high winds, illness, suicides and an upsurge in earthquakes in the region, The Siberian Times reported.

In November 1997, first lady Hillary Clinton visited Russia during her solo Human Rights Tour. One of her stops was in the city of Novosibirsk.

On November 16, while on her trip, Clinton was lured into the most dangerous trap: to meet face-to-face with the scientific sensation, the Princess of Ukok.

At the History and Archeology Institute of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, in the company of archeologists Vyacheslav Molodin and Natalia Polosmak, the first lady observed the remains of the Princess—on exhibit just for Clinton herself.

Was it a trap deliberately set by the Russian Secret Service?

Clinton was greeted by the local governor, shared vodka and tea with him, and then paid a visit to a “traditional Siberian family”—the Vdovins. Father Vdovin was an engineer and mother Vdovin was an English teacher at the local school, NGS News reported.

Clinton’s life, as well as the lives of those she met while there, dramatically changed soon after.

The governor lost his post two years later and died, while the Vdovin family split and moved to Canada.

In January, 1998, exactly two month after Clinton’s visit to the mummy of the Siberian Princess of Ukok, the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke and the course of U.S. history was changed forever.

And, most importantly, Hillary Clinton’s goals became ever more elusive—no matter how hard she worked to reach them.