A TERRIFIED tourist believes his family has been hit by a curse after he took a stone from an ancient Scottish burial site as a souvenir.

The Belgian visitor was so convinced he had suffered the Curse of Clava he went to the expense of posting the 2lb rock back to a Scottish tourist office with a letter begging them to return the stone to its rightful place. In the letter he explained that since taking the stone from Clava Cairns near Culloden battlefield outside Inverness, his daughter had broken her leg, he had lost his job, and his wife had taken ill.

He was convinced the stone was the cause of the bad luck they had experienced.

Clava Cairns date back to before 2000BC, probably late Bronze Age, and contains the remains of several large chambered burial cairns surrounded by stone circles.

Some of the entrances are aligned so that the light of the setting sun shines into the cairn at the winter solstice, and modern-day druids visit the site to conduct rituals.

Just last year there was a claim that black magic was being practised at the ancient site.

A parcel containing the stone and an anonymous letter from the Belgian arrived before Christmas at Inverness Tourist Information Centre. Staff member Bob Hunter-Dorens said: ''The stone is quite heavy so it would have cost him quite a lot to post it back from Belgium. But the man was obviously very keen to get rid of it and break the chain of events.

''He apologised for taking it and he understood if it all sounded a bit strange, but he had traced the family's bad luck back to when he took the stone.

''He was most anxious we take it back. I agreed to return the stone the following day and took it home with me for safe keeping.'' Mr Hunter-Dorens, however, admitted he did not take it in the house ''just in case the curse was true''.

Barbara Fraser, of Historic Scotland, which runs the site, said this was not the first they had heard of bad luck hitting people who take souvenirs. She also said it was not the first stone to come back to Clava.