Haunted objects have been a “thing” forever. Like the chair of death in Philadelphia, currently hung from a wall to deter anyone from sitting on it because anyone who does seems to meet an untimely death. Or the mirror in a little place called Myrtle’s Plantation, desperately clinging to a memory of the family that owned it. Either way, haunted objects are fascinating so I have compiled a list of my favourite haunted objects from around the world.
Anna Baker’s Wedding Dress
Mr Elias Baker was a very wealthy and proud man. After making a small fortune he constructed a mansion which he named Baker’s Mansion. Mr Baker was also a very strict man and with great annoyance to him, his daughter Anna fell in love with a steel worker. Anna desperately wanted to marry her steel worker but Mr Baker refused because he was not wealthy enough, and so Anna’s wedding dress hung in her closet never to be worn. Although her mom praised the love between her daughter and the steel worker, it was not enough to convince Mr Baker to let them marry. Anna remained bitter and unmarried until her death in 1914. It is believed that while Anna was alive a lady from a high-class family wore what would have been Anna’s wedding dress to her own wedding, mocking Anna the entire time for never having married. The dress now hangs in a glass case in Anna’s old bedroom in the museum that once was the Baker Mansion. Viewers of the dress have reported seeing it slightly sway from side to side as if someone were holding up in front of a mirror. Some nights it has been reported that the dress violently strikes the side of the glass as if someone is trying to break it out from the inside. It is believed that Anna’s spirit is attached to the dress as she dreams of the wedding she could never have.
“The Hands Resist Him” by Bill Stoneham
This artwork by Stoneham depicts a photograph that was once taken of him as a boy in front of his grandmother’s house. Since its completion in 1974 it is believed to be linked to the deaths of three people associated with the painting. Stoneham was under contract with a gallery to produce two paintings every month for which he would be paid $200 per painting. With a deadline looming and a lack of inspiration he turned to the photograph taken of him as a boy as well as a poem written by his wife to help him put together this artwork. According to Stoneham all the hands in the background of the painting were possibilities and the viewer had all the questions. Were there more children? Were they trapped? Does it symbolize something else? The painting was bought at an exhibition by actor John Marley (best known for his role in The Godfather). After Marley’s death the painting was bought but each next owner died. After the third death it was discovered abandoned behind a brewery in California. In 2000 it resurfaced on e-bay with a description which read: “WHEN WE RECEIVED THIS PAINTING, WE THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY GOOD ART, AT THE TIME WE WONDERED WHY A SEEMINGLY GOOD PAINTING WOULD BE DISCARDED LIKE THAT. (TODAY WE DON’T!!!) ONE MORNING OUR 4 AND ½ YEAR OLD DAUGHTER CLAIMED THAT THE CHILDREN IN THE PICTURE WERE FIGHTING, AND COMING INTO THE ROOM DURING THE NIGHT”. Shortly after, the father set up surveillance of the painting and claimed that he saw the boy crawl out of the painting after being threatened by the doll. The e-bay post very quickly had over 30 000 views, some viewers claiming they had supernatural experiences from merely viewing the post. People who have seen the painting in real life have claimed feeling ill, repulsed and some people even passed out with no recollection of what happened. A lot of people who have been in the same room as the painting have claimed to see the hands in the background moving.
The Conjure Chest
In the mid-19th century there was a wealthy man named Cooley who asked one of his slaves Hosea to craft a wooden chest for his son. After Cooley felt that the chest did not meet his standards, he had Hosea killed. Filled with hatred and anger Hosea’s fellow slaves asked a conjurer to curse the chest which resulted in 17 people close to Cooley dying, including his first-born son (and we all know how important those are). The curse was eventually lifted by a conjure-woman and the chest now lives in the Kentucky History Museum.
'The Crying Boy' by Giovanni Bragolin
A series of paintings of crying boys by Giovanni Bragolin became very popular in the 1980’s. Thousands of prints were mass-produced and most houses had a print hanging in them. During this time there were multiple cases of entire homes burning down while the images of The Crying Boy remained whole and undamaged. On September 4th in 1985 the headline in The Sun read “Tears for Fears…The Portrait That Firemen Claim is Cursed”. After the overwhelming popularity of the article The Sun offered to take the paintings off of people’s hands. After a short while they had over 2500 prints filling their offices. In 2010 BBC radio presenter Steve Punt attempted to set the painting on fire on his show but the flames would not spread. You can still buy prints online for $165.
Rudolph Valentino’s Ring
Rudolph Valentino was a sensation in the silent film era with a rapidly growing career and rapidly increasing wealth. One day he spotted the ring in a jewellery shop. It was a simple silver ring with a semi-precious stone. The shopkeeper warned him “It’s cursed…it’s called The Destiny Ring” but Valentino would not listen and bought the ring anyway. Shortly after, his career started to take a turn for the worst with each movie being a massive flop. He died aged 31 after an operation for bleeding ulcers. An estimated 100 000 people gathered outside the funeral home to mourn his death. The ring was then left to his lover, actress Pola Negri. Shortly after receiving the ring she fell horribly ill and her career came to a sudden end. She eventually gave the ring to her brother, Russ Colombo, who died shortly after in a shooting incident. The ring then came into the possession of Colombo’s friend Joe Casino who kept it in a glass case for quite some time. Eventually he took it out and started wearing it but was fatally hit by a truck one week later. After his death, Casino’s brother Del kept it locked away in a safe. An man named James Willis then tried to steal the ring but set off the alarm on his way out and was shot on site by the police. After many years director Edward Small made a movie about Valentino where actor Jack Dunn wore the ring on set. Dunn died two weeks later of a blood disease. Currently, for the protection of humankind, the ring sits in a vault in Los Angeles Bank hopefully never to be touched again.
The Women from Lemb Statue
Created around 3500 B.C.E this is a fertility statue of an unspecified goddess. Over time it has belonged to at least 4 different families, all who would have been better off never knowing the statue exists. It first belonged to Lord Elphont and within six years of owning the statue his entire family of seven had died. After that it belonged to Ivor Menucci whose entire family perished within four years of the statue entering their home. Then it belonged to Lord Thompson-Noel whose entire family also met their untimely deaths within four years of owning the statue. Lastly, it belonged to Sir Alan Biverbrook. After the deaths of Sir Biverbrook himself as well as his wife and his two daughters, Biverbrook’s sons donated it to the Royal Scottish Museum. Unfortunately, the museum curator who handled the statue also died within one year of dealing with it.
Annabelle Doll
In 1970 a mother purchased a ragdoll for her daughter Donna who was studying to be a nurse. Donna and her roommate Angie adored the doll and it promptly got a permanent spot on Donna’s bed. Within days Donna and Angie noticed that the doll would not always be where they left it. At first it was just an arm or a leg that moved but soon the doll was moving between rooms. About a month later they found scribbled messages on scrap pieces of paper that read “Help us” – “Help Lou”. Lou was a friend of theirs that stayed at their apartments some nights, he was never fond of the doll. After the girls started to feel afraid they contacted a medium who held a séance with the doll. There they made contact with the spirit of a little girl named Annabelle Higgins who used to live in the apartment block. Her lifeless body had been found in an open field near the apartments and her murder was never solved. Annabelle said she felt comfortable with Donna and Angie and wanted to stay with them but she needed their permission first. Feeling sorry for Annabelle the girls did not think twice about giving her permission to stay in their home. After that the activity got worse. Donna would leave Annabelle on the couch and come home to find her on the bed with the door closed. Lou experienced horrible nightmares and often woke up to unexplained injuries and scratches and bruises. He also claimed to sometimes feel as if he was being attacked by an invisible force. After the attacks got too much for the girls to handle they turned to the church for help. Father Cooke listened to the girls’ stories he immediately contacted demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warren’s soon established that the doll was in fact possessed by a demon who used the story of Annabelle to tug at the heart strings of Donna and Angie and gain permission into their home. Father Cooke performed a cleansing ritual in the home and Ed and Lorraine took the doll with them. The doll was placed on the back seat of their car and while driving home the car would stall, swerve uncontrollably, and at some points the brakes would fail. Once they had Annabelle in their home they witnessed the doll float in the air multiple times and experienced objects flying across the room. Annabelle now sits in a glass case that reads “WARNING positively do not open” and can be viewed in The Occult Museum at the Warren’s home.
Dybbuk Box
A Dybbuk is a restless spirit believed to be able to haunt and possess the living. This box was an old, antique wine cabinet purchased from an estate by Kevin Mannis. It was previously owned by an old lady who was a holocaust survivor and the only member of her family to survive the terrible ordeal. The old lady gave it to her daughter when she moved to the States and warned her daughter never to open it. As I am sure you can guess, Mannis opened it as soon as he got home. Inside he found a wine goblet, a small granite slab with “Shalom” engraved onto it, a dried rosebud, a candlestick, two pennies from the 1920’s and two locks of human hair bound by cords. The very same day that he opened the box, his shop was mysteriously ransacked with no sign of forced entry and nothing stolen. The shop clerk claimed that she saw the light bulbs shatter by themselves. People claimed that one specific spot in the shop always smelled like Jasmine. Not making a link between the events he gave the box to his mother. She suffered a stroke five minutes after receiving the box and gave it back to Mannis as soon as she could. Once he was in possession of the box again, more odd occurrences happened like the FBI arriving to raid his shop and leaving with electronic gear without any explanation. The box then got passed on to his sister who claimed she saw the doors open on their own and suffered potent nightmares each night. She experienced an old lady haunting her dreams. The box was then passed on to a long list of people who all claimed that they suffered nightmares and unexplained experiences. Eventually it found its way back to Mannis. Mannis and any guests he housed were plagued by nightmares of a hunched over old hag. Some of them would even wake up with unexplained bites and bruises. Some even claimed to see shadow figures lurking around the house. Mannis eventually put the box for sale on e-bay. The box was then bought by Iosif Nietzke in 2003 who says after he had possession of the box he experienced objects moving on their own and lights turning on and off by themselves. He also experienced rapid hair loss and his home was suddenly infested with insects that seemingly came out of nowhere. Nietzke then also sold the box on e-bay to Jason Haxton, a collector of religious paraphernalia. Haxton experienced serious health problems after purchasing the box and claimed his home often smelled like Jasmine. Haxton then took the box to rabbi’s who performed a ritual that would seal the box. The box was then hidden away and its location remains a secret to this day.
Robert the Doll
One-hundred-and-eleven-year-old Robert currently resides in the Fort East Montello Museum in Florida. The doll originally belonged to Robert Eugene Otto who named the doll after himself. When Otto was young he would often blame Robert for his mishaps, this was initially laughed off as childish behavior. As Otto grew older he carried Robert wherever he went, often referring to him in the first person and talking to Robert as if he was real. Otto lived in what was known as “The Artists House” where Robert sat in the window. Children passing the house often claimed to see Robert appear and disappear in the window as they walked by and eventually the children in the neighbourhood avoided the house entirely. After Otto’s death The Artist’s House was bought by Myrtle Reuter who then came into possession of the doll. People visiting her home often claimed to hear disembodied footsteps and giggling throughout the house. Some people claimed that they saw Robert’s expression change when something bad was said about him and he seemed to move around the house on his own. After years of unexplained events Reuter donated him to the museum where he quickly developed a fan group. In no time people were able to buy Robert The Doll merchandise and to this day Robert still receives two or three letters addressed to him each week.
"The Anguished Man"
Sean Robinson inherited this painting by an unknown artist from his grandmother. His grandmother had gotten it as an unwanted gift and had it hidden away in her basement as she claimed the painting is “evil”. The artist suffered from a very dark depression and painted the artwork using oils mixed with his own blood. As soon as the painting was complete the artist committed suicide. Robinson hung the painting in his home and soon started to see dark figures looming about. He also experiences strange sounds and what sounds like scratching and crying emanating from the artwork. The artwork still hangs in Robinson’s home and you can watch multiple videos of the strange activity surrounding the artwork. It is to no surprise that anyone viewing the artwork gets a very strong, unpleasant feeling. It is a pretty creepy image.
There you have some of my favourite haunted objects from around the world. This is only a small percentage of haunted objects that exist. I will hopefully touch on a few more of those in a few weeks. If you have an object in your home that you suspect to be haunted, please send your story through to me. I will be very excited to hear about it.
