McLean claimed not to believe in the curse - but misfortune hung over her life as heavy as the Hope Diamond itself. While she inherited millions from her father's gold mine /real estate fortune and later married Ned>McLean, a wealthy newspaper heir, she soon found herself on a road to hell paved with good intentions.

On her honeymoon she saw the diamond for the first time, eventually buying it in 1911 from jeweler Pierre Cartier for $180,000. Cartier warned Evalyn of the curse, but after just one look at the sea blue stone, and its newly added diamond encrusted chain, and her fate was sealed.

She tried to have the stone blessed by a priest but a vicious lightening storm erupted around the church. Her father died soon after the birth of her first son. She became hooked on morphine and black liquid laudanum, hiding her addiction in a whirl of lavish parties.

Three more children were born - one son died after being hit by a car, her only daughter overdosed on pills at age 24. Her marriage unraveled as her husband plunged into an alcohol-fueled state of insanity. Her fortune dwindling, McLean's properties were auctioned off and her health declined. She died with the stone around her neck.

Her relatives sold the stone to Harry Winston, who in turn donated it to the Smithsonian Institution where it resides today. One last tragedy befell the man who delivered the rock to the Institution - he had his leg crushed by a car right before his house burned down.