Cursed. That's what they used to say back home when someone had a string of bad luck like that. John had never seen any evidence himself, but maybe he just never looked in the right places, or talked to the right people.
Nobody around here seemed to talk about that, but perhaps the word itself was considered bad luck now. He'd certainly heard the older stories talk about the land being cursed.
This wasn't a curse, of course. It would, perhaps, be more comforting if there was a curse going on. Magic, at least, was interesting. Human failings were disappointing.