A German tourist has returned a small antique stone he stole 4-years ago from the ruins of a temple in Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of Siam (Thailand), after encountering a series of bad luck situations he blames on the powers of the antique artifact he stole from the ancient Ayuthaya temple.

Michael Beil from Gottingen in Germany, returned the stolen souvenir to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) along with a letter of apology, for stealing the stone, that he wrote in German, English and Thai and English.

Michael Beil said he took the stone away while visiting the ruins of an Ayuthaya temple in the year 2001. Since that time he himself and his Thai girlfriend have been running from one bad luck situation into the other, Beil wrote to the TAT.

Beil attributed their bad luck to his stealing of the stone from the "Holy City" of Ayuthaya in Thailand and taking it back to his home in Germany. In his letter Michael Beil asks the authorities of Thailand to return the stone its original and holy place and to pray for him and his Thai girlfriend so that their luck in life comes returns.

TAT's Ayuthaya office director Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya said he would first take the stone to the Fine Arts Department of Thailand to determine whether the stone was indeed an artifact from the ancient city of Ayuthaya.

Taking away artifacts from the ruins of Ayuthaya is against the law, Chattan said, while adding that the government of Thailand had absolutely no plans to press charges against the already ill-fated Michael Beil.

This is the first time I've heard of an artifact from Ayuthaya bringing bad luck, although I've heard many similar stories from other ancient places in the world, said Chattan, who has the Ayuthaya director of TAT for the last 3 years.

Ayuthaya was the ancient capital of the Thai kingdom of Siam between 1350 to 1763. On 7 April 1763, Ayuthaya fell and was completely destroyed by an invading Burmese army, forcing the Thais to set up the new capital of Bangkok in the year 1782.