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There's a very beautiful and tragic legend on Langkawi island about a beautiful girl named Mahsuri. This story is said to have taken place in the 19th century, and locals believe Mahsuri was a real person — there are even descendants of her family. Some versions of the legend call her Princess Mahsuri, but that's not accurate — she was a common girl, the daughter of immigrants from Phuket island in Siam (present-day Thailand). She was the most beautiful girl on the island and was married to a warrior named Wan Darus, the brother of the village chief of Padang Matsirat, the then-capital of the island.
Once, her husband went off to war with the Siamese (Thai). While he was away, Mahsuri befriended a traveler who came to the island, but their relationship was purely innocent. But the women on the island were very jealous of her beauty, especially her sister-in-law, who was the village chief's wife. She started spreading rumors that Mahsuri was unfaithful to her husband — a serious crime at the time punishable by execution. Despite her protests of innocence, the villagers sentenced her to death.
The execution was brutal. The girl was tied to a stake, and they tried to kill her with a traditional Kris dagger. But no matter how hard they tried, she wouldn't die, though she suffered greatly. Then she pleaded and told the executioners that only her family's Kris could kill her. When they used that one, she finally stopped suffering and died, and white blood flowed from her wounds — a sign of innocence. The horrified villagers realized they had executed an innocent woman, but it was too late. With her dying breath, Mahsuri whispered that she cursed the island and all its inhabitants, and that misfortune would rain down on them for seven generations.
Locals truly believe in the legend and think the curse finally ended at the end of the last century. They claim that since then, the island has lived peacefully, tragedies and misfortunes have stopped happening, and tourism has begun to develop.
You can visit the complex dedicated to Mahsuri at the Mahsuri Museum and Tomb: Mahsuri's Tomb and Museum in Langkawi — here you'll see a traditional house, a well, the tomb, and learn more about the legend.