History Main / FamouslyMundaneFictionallyMagical

** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-099 SCP-099]] is the original version of René Magritte's "The Portrait", which has the memetic effect of inducing paranoid delusions.

* In part 7 of JoJosBizarreAdventure the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio Golden Proportion]] has weird, almost magic powers. If you manage to make an ordinary steel ball to spin forming a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spiral Golden Spiral]] it will carry an inmense power, which can be applied for enhancing your strength and resistance, [[HealingShiv healing]],[[MercyKill killing painlessly]], making paralytics walk again, and disintegrating an object by passing the endless rotation of the ball to its molecules and atoms to the point that the force of the rotation overrides the forces that make them form an object.

* ''StormwatchPHD'' had a villain seeking to mystically weaponize the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock Nuclear Doomsday Clock]].

* ''TheUmbrellaAcademy'' shows the Eiffel Tower being a spacecraft/weapon piloted by [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Robot Gustav Eiffel]].

* In ''HudsonHawk'' many of LeonardoDaVinci's most famous artworks contain the components of an alchemical device for making lead into gold.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript Voynich Manuscript]], which, in ''BrokenSword 3'', contains the secret to extracting life energy from Ley Lines.

* Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age books use the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spike Golden Spike]] as the lynchpin of a mystical anti-faerie enchantment. Railroads and iron, doncha know.

* The entire raison d'etre of ''{{Warehouse 13}}''.

* ''{{Deadlands}}'' is chock full of these: the list includes the muskets of the Conquistadors, Wild Bill Hickok's guns, Hoyle's Rules of Games, etc. - all magical items.

* I'm sure the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript Voynich Manuscript]] has been used ''somewhere''.
** In BrokenSword 3 it contains the secret to extracting life energy from Ley Lines.

* The ''{{STALKER}}'' series has the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone (AKA "The Zone") as (even more of) a DeathWorld packed with mutants, physics defying fields that appear and reappear in new locations over time and spawning Super PowerAtAPrice giving items. [[spoiler:It is the result of mad scientists operating within the conveniently abandoned area to escape prying eyes, not the disaster itself]].

** It was a common folk belief until the 19th century that hangman's ropes had special, mystical power after being used. A century or two earlier even learned doctors considered that a possibility.

** Magellan's oceanbound route around the world is used by Q'Nos to summon Jorumngandr. Peregryn counters the summoning by tracing the path of the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Lady_II Lucky Lady II]]'', the first ''plane'' to circumnavigate the globe.

* One DoctorStrange miniseries had the good Doctor being grievously wounded by the pistol that Hitler had used to commit suicide, the idea being that there was likely enough negative mojo in there to pierce even the Sorcerer Supreme's defenses (and there was).

* Dana's building in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' is the Dakota, notable only in real life for being the site of John Lennon's murder. But in 'verse continuity, it was designed to be a spiritual gateway, which is why the Zuul problem cropped up.

* ''TheUmbrellaAcademy'' shows the Eiffel Tower being a spacecraft/weapon piloted by [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Robot Gustav Eiffel]].

* ''[[Film/TheMummy The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor]]'' featured the [[http://archaeology.about.com/od/china/a/terracotta.htm Terracotta army]] of Shihuangdi coming to life.

* In VertigoComics series like ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', ''TheSandman'', ''ShadeTheChangingMan'', and ''DoomPatrol'', this is an InvokedTrope: well-known artifacts and items often possess mystical properties ''because'' so many people know of them, investing them with spiritual significance.
* There's a Gentleman Ghost story somewhere which involves him doing a summoning ritual with the rope that was used to hang a famous criminal in Victorian England.

* Dana's building in ''{{Ghostbusters}}'' is the Dakota, notable only in real life for being the site of John Lennon's murder. But in 'verse continuity, it was designed to be a spiritual gateway, which is why the Zuul problem cropped up.
* ''[[TheMummy The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor]]'' featured the [[http://archaeology.about.com/od/china/a/terracotta.htm Terracotta army]] of Shihuangdi coming to life.

* One short story in TheDresdenFiles universe features the musket ball that killed Nelson at Trafalgar. It is reused as a sorcerer-slaying weapon.

* The NewWorldOfDarkness also has the ''Reliquary'' book, which provides rules for building magic items from scratch, as well as a number of sample items. Among them are [[LiteraryWorkOfMagic Shakespeare's lost play]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_lights the Dendera lights]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_battery the Baghdad batteries]].

* ''{{GURPS}} Warehouse 23'' has a RealLife artifact, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skull#Mitchell-Hedges_skull Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull]]. It allows its owner to cast a powerful Divination spell, and has powerful telepathic abilities in its own right.

* ''TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "The Ghostbusters in Paris" reveals that the Eiffel Tower is actually a primitive ghost trap.

* One Doctor Strange miniseries had the good Doctor being grievously wounded by the pistol that Hitler had used to commit suicide, the idea being that there was likely enough negative mojo in there to pierce even the Sorcerer Supreme's defenses (and there was).

* ''WebOriginal/SCPFoundation'':

A sub-trope of PublicDomainArtifact, this is the one where real life objects of notable historical value (that ''indisputably'' exist OR existed IN REAL LIFE) are given a magical makeover in a work of fiction. Think of it as the inanimate version of BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy or a [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade Historical Object Upgrade]]. Can be related to ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' turns the Shibuya River into an extradimensional nexus.

* ''SCPFoundation'':

** In Broken Sowrd 3 it contains the secret to extracting life energy from Ley Lines.

[[AC:{{Folklore}}]]

* ''GeistTheSinEaters'' has Memorabilia, extremely powerful items given their power by being associated with the deaths of the famous. Such examples include the ring Joe [=DiMaggio=] slipped on Marilyn Monroe at her funeral, JFK's death car, the pistol that killed Lee Harvey Oswald, and the ''National Enquirer'''s photo of Elvis in repose.

* The Colt from ''{{Supernatural}}''.

* In VertigoComics series like ''{{Hellblazer}}'', ''TheSandman'', ''ShadeTheChangingMan'', and ''DoomPatrol'', this is an InvokedTrope: well-known artifacts and items often possess mystical properties ''because'' so many people know of them, investing them with spiritual significance.

** The Shroud of Turin also shows up, toying with this trope. Though of course many people in the real world believe it's by no means mundane, Harry [[OrIsIt mostly]] agrees with the theory that it was a medieval forgery. The thing is, in the Dresdenverse, tens of millions of people [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve literally can't be wrong about something being mystically potent]].