Our forays into the supernatural often take us to native traditions and folklore. Many of these stories are hundreds or even thousands of years old and were passed down orally from generation to generation within specific tribes. Our next interesting topic of focus is the historic—and culturally significant—natural rock formation known as Uluru.

Also called ‘Ayers Rock’ by Australian locals, Uluru is one of Australia’s most prominent landmarks. More importantly, Uluru is one of the most important sacred sites of the indigenous people of Australia. Uluru is a large sandstone monolith in the desert of Australia’s Northern Territory, 208 miles (335 km) from the nearest large town. Rising from the comparatively flat surrounding territory, Uluru stands alone as the only mountainous formation in the vast area. Uluru notably changes color throughout the day as the sun sets or rises; the rock structure’s orange color can change from gold to yellow to blazing red. There’s even a designated viewing area to watch the colorful transformation as the sun lowers and sets.

The local Anangu people do not climb Uluru because of the monument’s great spiritual significance to them. Non-native tourists didn’t use to show the same reverence, however. For many years, visitors would climb the Anangu’s sacred mount. But in 2019, climbing Uluru was banned by the Australian government. National Park brochures now contain a request that tourists respect Anangu law and tradition by not climbing the rock. According to the Anangu, the world was once devoid of features until ancestral beings in human, plant, and animal form created the landscape that can be seen today. Many of the Anangu’s ancestral creator spirits, known as Tjukuritja or Waparitja, are believed to live within Uluru and all the land around the formation.

Indigenous tradition claims that because the creator spirits still inhabit Uluru, anyone who removes rocks from the formation will be cursed and suffer misfortune. Interestingly, many who in the past took objects from Uluru—anything from rocks to sand—often mailed them back to the national park office over the monolith. Many of them claimed to have experienced a curse of some sort, although the curses varied from person to person. Tourism to the towering structure spiked in 2019 but has since seen a decline, which many attribute to a lack of tourism due to COVID-19.

Other people’s traditions and beliefs should always be respected, even if they are drastically different than our own. Not only is it important to show reverence for the traditions of others, but sometimes honoring other’s customs benefits us, too. After all, as in our study above, no one wants to be cursed simply by picking up a rock. So, if you ever visit Australia’s most sacred indigenous site, leave it how you found it. You might just be better off for it.