Cursed Tombstone Major William Rogers

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Cursed Tombstone of Elephant Hunter Major Thomas William Rogers

Visiting the cursed tomb of Major Thomas William Rogers, who is said to have killed more than 2,000 elephants in Sri Lanka and was himself struck dead by lightning in 1845. His gravestone now lies shattered, having reportedly been struck by lightning more than one hundred times over the past century.

Major Thomas William Rogers was a British officer who served in Ceylon during the mid-19th century and is infamous for having killed the most elephants in Sri Lanka’s history; reports vary, attributing over 1,400 kills to him (Storey, 1907), while others suggest the number exceeded 2,000 (Grylls, 1848). As though punished for this mass slaughter, Rogers himself met a dramatic end: he was killed by lightning, and intriguingly, his tombstone has also been struck by lightning multiple times (Cave, 1904).

Military and Administrative Career of Major Thomas William Rogers

He first arrived in Ceylon in 1824, joining the Ceylon Regiment as a 2nd lieutenant on January 7 of that year. By 1826, he had become an adjutant, and on June 7, 1827, he was promoted to Captain. From 1828 to 1833, he served as Commandant at Alupota, before being appointed Assistant Government Agent in Badulla in 1834.

Rogers was known to be a competent administrator—he built or restored many rest houses, surveyed or constructed most of the roads, and maintained both civil and military buildings in the province (Lewis, 1913). Despite these contributions, he remains best known for his staggering number of elephant kills, which outnumbered those of his contemporaries such as Major Gallway, who is said to have killed around 700, and road builder Major Skinner, who had a comparable tally.

Uva: The Land of the Elephant Slayer

During Rogers’s tenure, Uva was regarded as prime territory for elephant hunting. Tennent (1860) notes that in the mid-19th century, the government had paid rewards for the killing of some 5,500 elephants. When Rogers took over administrative duties in Badulla in 1834, the province was still reeling from the Uva–Wellassa Rebellion of 1818. With a sparse population, the land had effectively reverted to wilderness, overrun with wild animals—especially elephants, which roamed in large herds and frequently destroyed crops. Local villagers, unable to manage the destruction, often welcomed elephant hunters as protectors of their livelihoods.

Within just 11 years in Uva, Rogers is believed to have killed over 1,400 elephants, more than 60 of which were tuskers. Dr. Hoffmeister, who visited Rogers with Prince Waldemar in the 1840s, recorded his observations: “His whole house was filled with ivory, for amongst the hosts of the slain more than sixty were tusked elephants… At each door of his verandah stood huge tusks, while in his dining room every corner was adorned with similar trophies…” (Cave, 1904).

In the final two years of his life, his elephant hunts were no longer seen as sport but rather as unrestrained slaughter, as described by other coffee planters who had hunted alongside him. Sinhala Buddhists, appalled by the scale of the killings, refused to work for him. His entire staff—groom, cook, and gun bearers were reportedly either Malay or Tamil (Hensoldt, 1895).

The Foreboding Encounter

A particularly ominous incident took place in January 1845. According to Hensoldt (1895), Rogers had invited several coffee planters from the Morawala Korale area for a hunt. As they set out from Badulla along the Minneriya road, they passed an ancient stupa nestled among a grove of Bo trees. There, they encountered an elderly Buddhist monk, who pointed solemnly at Rogers and declared, “White sahib, thine hour is drawing near; thou hast persisted in slaying the bodies and disturbing the souls of our sacred brothers; the measure of thine iniquities is full, and thou shalt be consumed by the lightning of heaven before thou canst raise thine accursed weapon for another act of sacrilege.”

The eerie prophecy left Rogers visibly shaken, and he appeared dazed even after the monk had vanished into the temple. Though the tale quickly spread among the island’s European residents, many of whom teased Rogers about it lightheartedly—greeting him at places like the Army and Navy Club in Colombo with jests like “Hello, Rogers! Still alive? Lightning hasn’t got you yet!” – he never took such jokes well. He had become a noticeably changed man, and any mention of elephant hunting visibly pained him.

Fulfillment of the Curse

Eight months after this encounter, news reached Rogers of a rogue elephant that had killed two cart drivers near Badulla. Determined to stop the animal, he arranged a hunt. Among the party were C. R. Buller, the Government Agent of the Central Province, and his wife (Toussaint, 1933). They paused at the Haputale Rest House for lunch. Afterward, as the group prepared for their afternoon nap, a tropical thunderstorm erupted without warning. The rain stopped after about fifteen minutes, and Rogers stepped outside, saying, “I think we can start pretty soon. I will go outside and see how things look…” Those were his final words. Moments later, a bolt of lightning struck him, reducing his body to charred remains. He was just 41 years old.

The Burial

Though the European community was stunned, the Sinhalese were not. To them, the monk’s prophecy had simply come true. Rogers’s body was transported to Nuwara Eliya, where he was buried in a small church graveyard. A marble plaque was installed at the grave, reading:

In Memory of
Major THOMAS WILLIAM ROGERS
Of Her Majesty’s Ceylon Rifle Regiment and Assistant Government Agent of Badulla.

This tablet was erected by his brother officers & numerous officers of all ranks, professions, and occupations in, or connected with, the Island of Ceylon in testimony of their respect and regard for his integrity as a man, his ability as a public servant, his gallantry as a soldier, and his amiable qualities as a friend.

He was stricken to death by lightning at the Happootalle Pass Bungalow on Saturday, June 7, 1845. Aged 41 years

“In the midst of life, we are in death”

The tablet is adorned with imagery: a gloomy forest sky above, the roof of a small cottage among tall trees, and a palm tree in the foreground split by a vivid fork of lightning. In the distance, Adam’s Peak rises above the landscape (Lewis, 1913).

The Curse Strikes Again and Again

Yet the strange events surrounding Rogers didn’t end there. Just two months after the gravestone was placed, it was reportedly struck by lightning—again. Over the next three decades, it is said that lightning struck the stone at least a hundred more times (Hensoldt, 1895).

Today, what remains of Major Rogers’s tomb lies behind the prime minister’s residence in Nuwara Eliya, near the Golf Club. The graveyard itself holds four tombstones.

References

Storey, H. (1907) Hunting & Shooting in Ceylon. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Pieris, R. (1965) “The effects of technological development on the population of Uul Oya Valley, Ceylon,” The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, 8(1&2), p. 172.
Cave, H.W. (1904) Golden Tips, A Description of Ceylon and its Great Tea Industry. 3rd edn. London: S. Low, Marston & Co.
Lewis, J.P. (1913) List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon : Of Historical or Local Interest, with an obituary of persons uncommemorated. Colombo: H C Cottle.
Abeyawardhana, H. A. P. (2004) Heritage of Kandurata: Major Natural, Cultural, and Historic Sites. Kandy: Kandurata Development Bank, in association with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Tennent, J.E. (1860) Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions. London.
Toussaint, J.R. (1933) “Major T. W. Rogers,” Journal of the Dutch Burger Union of Ceylon, 23, pp. 57–66.
Grylls, J.W. (1848) The Out-Station or Jaunts in the Jungle. 2nd edn. London: Chapman and Hall.
Hensoldt, H. (1895) “The Fate of Major Rogers : A Buddhist Mystery of Ceylon,” The Arena, 11, pp. 71–78.

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