Before the
Ghost in a Jar, before the
possessed Coke can, there was the eBay haunted painting. This genuinely creepy painting, titled
Hands Resist Him, appeared for sale on eBay in February 2000, accompanied by claims that it was haunted. Disturbing things happened to those who owned it, and the figures in the painting itself supposedly moved. Even people who simply viewed it online were said to be gripped by terror attacks and fainting spells.
It ended up selling for $1050, and I believe it might have originated the haunted-items-are-worth-more phenomenon on eBay.
The BBC has a good description of the auction that includes pictures and text from the original auction.
Hands Resist Him was
painted by Bill Stoneham in 1972. On his site Bill notes that
"Both the owner of the Gallery where 'Hands' was displayed and the Los Angeles Times art critic who reviewed my show were dead within a year of the show." Spooky! Bill is also selling prints of the painting.
Comments
I'm in contact with alien beings who can un-haunt it for you 😉
Although his poetry is amusingly bad, if anyone wants to give that a whirl.
The second image depicts how the boy has supposedly left the painting because he is lighted up. Strange since if he were leaving a painting under duress from a possessed doll, you would think he wouldn't bother to take a part of the window frame with him. Part of the frame as well as a corner of the glass also changes color.
No, she didn't claim anything, actually. She even seems very keen on dismissing the whole haunted painting story (as you seem to have missed this part): "To deter questions in this direction, there are no ghosts in this world, no supernatural powers. This is just a painting and most of these things have an explanation - in this case probably a fluke lighting effect..."
I applaud your scepticism, but don't go dismissing the wrong people as superstitious kooks...
The painting was probably done on canvas, so all you need to do is shine a strong light from behind the painting to create the glowing effect. The areas that are glowing correspond to areas that have thinner layers of paint on them. I know this because I paint with oil on canvas and frequently examine my paintings' undersides with my lamp on the opposite side.
The second picture that claims the boy "left" the painting was created by shining a light from BEHIND the girl and white light from IN FRONT OF (and overhead, it seems like) the boy.
Course I was reading it over my father's shoulder and he turned around and asked, "So do you think its real?"
"Nah," I said, "its a complete fake. There's nothing haunted about it."
... and thats when all our power shut off.
'cept the computer. It can run on a battery, which makes a off tune ringing noise when its in use.
So we stared at this glowing picture over this terrible ringing noise.
... I keep my mouth shut about it after that.
This painting is for real...
Bill Stoneham was the original author, and he painted this picture in '72.
On http://www.stonehamstudios.com, Bill states that the 11 Hands, were souls, and that Doll [Ya'll think it's a girl. It's not. It has no eyes, it's black, and it has a huge line where the arm and forearm join like a vintage doll.] was a guide to something...
There have been a lot of stories about scary stuff happening to them when they had the painting in their home.
It's not a hoax, but it's an authentic painting by Bill Stoneham.
NEVER AGAIN
I love this painting and scam or not, it does have a spooky vibe.