Curse of the Colonel

The Curse of the Colonel (Japanese: カーネルサンダースの呪い, romanisation: Kāneru Sandāsu no Noroi) was a 1985 Japanese urban legend regarding a reputed sports curse placed on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team by the ghost of deceased KFC founder and mascot Colonel Sanders.

The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonel's anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues, which was thrown into the Dōtonbori River by celebrating Hanshin fans before their team's 1985 Central League pennant. As is common with sports-related curses, the Curse of the Colonel was used to explain the team's subsequent 18-year pennant drought and 38 year title drought. Some fans believed the team would never win another Japan Series until the statue had been recovered. They appeared in the Japan Series three more times and lost in 2003, 2005 and 2014 before the curse finally ended in 2023.

Comparisons are often made between the Hanshin Tigers and the Boston Red Sox, who were said to be under the Curse of the Bambino until they won the World Series in 2004. The "Curse of the Colonel" has also been used as a bogeyman threat to those who would divulge the secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices that result in the unique taste of his chicken.