Curse Thought To Be Linked To South Idaho City's Soil Is Eternal

One of the topics that comes up occasionally--having to do with Idaho lore--involves residents of a southwestern city who are afraid to leave for fear a dark force will follow them until they die. The dirt in this region is said to have been cursed by Native Americans and a disgruntled cook.

A poll taken a while back by the folks at The Barna Group found that as many as 19 percent of Americans believe in spells. Spells can be cast by spiritual leaders for both good and evil purposes.

Native Americans are some of the most spiritual people on Earth, and many of these ideologies are rooted in land and nature. There are mentions online of two curses dating back many years, which many people believe equate to prolonged misfortune for those who have called an area of Boise home for decades.

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Two Curses Are Said To Plague Boise-Area Residents Who Moved To The Region Decades Ago

The first, and most widely known, curse centers around a cook named Billy Fong who was a resident of the city's Chinatown district. He resided in the Hop Sing Tong Building for over three decades. He was said to have cursed the soil to prevent development from toppling his home and way of life. Several plans to build on the land were abandoned by developers throughout the years before the early 2000s.

A lesser-known and undocumented curse was said to have been put on the city by Native Americans many decades ago, meaning anyone moving out of Boise needed to bring a jar of dirt with them or they would be followed by a dark presence for eternity. Someone posting under the name PearlPotatoes mentioned the curse in a 2022 Reddit post titled, 'Favorite Boise / Idaho Conspiracy Theories.'