A ‘cursed’ painting of a stern-faced little girl in a red dress that was returned twice to a charity shop over claims it was haunted features in a new Halloween exhibition.
Visitors to the new ‘Screamfest: House of Curses’ display in Soho have to sign a waiver to see ‘The Unknown Girl’.
Buyers who took the work back to a charity shop in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, last year reported chills and being chased by a demonic figure, and one person called an ambulance after collapsing in its presence.
The ‘Hands Resist Him’, a portrait of a boy and doll that became part of online folklore in 2000 when it was put on Ebay amid claims it was haunted, is another work appearing in the exhibition, which opens today to mark Halloween.
Reports then emerged of people being violently ill, screaming or falling in the grip of an ‘unseen entity’ on viewing the picture.
Its creator, Bill Stoneham, claimed that the owner of the gallery where it was first displayed and an art critic who reviewed it died within a year of coming into contact with the painting.
It has since become known as the world’s ‘most haunted’ painting.
Also featuring in Screamfest, which is curated by art historian Ruth Millington and run by alcohol brand Kraken Rum, is a series of prints called the ‘Crying Boy’, which news reports over decades have linked to house fires all over the country.
A ‘cursed’ painting of a stern-faced little girl in a red dress that was returned twice to a charity shop over claims it was haunted features in a new Halloween exhibition. Above: The ‘Unknown Girl’, which went on sale at Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) in St Leonards-on-Sea, but buyers quickly took it back
Ms Millington told MailOnline: We’ve got different themed rooms. The exhibition gets scarier and scarier as you wind your way through it.
‘The final room is this unknown girl form the charity shop painting.
‘She was returned twice back to a charity shop by owners who said strange things happened. One said she saw a demonic figure chasing her.
‘She had to call an ambulance for her mum who was sick.’
The Unknown Girl was returned to Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-Sea.
It was reportedly originally donated by a middle-aged man and was priced at £25. It was first returned less than two days after being bought.
The second buyer returned ‘shaky and distressed’ soon after taking the picture home.
Ms Millington added that, although she is usually ‘quite sceptical’, the experience of researching and handling each work left her ‘unnerved’.
The series of Crying Boy prints are by Italian painter Giovanni Bregolin. They became linked with hundreds of house fires across the country from the 1960s onwards
In 1966, a pensioner died in a fire in his bedsit in Weston-super-Mare. A print of the Crying Boy lay unmarked feet from his body
‘There are some that you really do feel like the eyes are watching you around the room. I think it is a brave person who isn’t unnerved by that,’ she said.
‘All these objects have certainly had an impact on people who have stood in front of them. Good luck to people visiting.’
The series of Crying Boy prints are by Italian painter Giovanni Bregolin.
They became linked with hundreds of house fires across the country from the 1960s onwards.
The prints were said to have nearly always emerged from the blazes unscathed.
In 1966, a pensioner died in a fire in his bedsit in Weston-super-Mare. A print of the Crying Boy lay unmarked feet from his body.
The Western Daily Press reported: ‘The superstitious have claimed the painting carries a special jinx because its prints survived fires all around Britain.
‘In some cases it has been virtually the only possession to be saved from the ashes of a blaze.’
Two decades later, police and fire crews saw the painting on the wall of a flat where a widow lost her life in another fire in Weston-super-mare.
Other press reports told of fires in Wigan, Gloucester, Yorkshire, Liverpool and Scotland.
The ‘Hands Resist Him’ portrait was produced by artist California-based artist Bill Stoneham in 1972.
It was based on a photograph of himself and a young neighbour, standing in front of a doorway.
The painting itself shows a boy and a doll of a little girl standing in front of a window with several hands pressed against it.
The ‘Hands Resist Him’, a portrait of a boy and doll that became part of online folklore in 2000 when it was put on Ebay amid claims it was haunted, is another work appearing in the exhibition. It has since become known as the world’s most haunted painting
The hands and the doorway are ‘indicative of other worlds and spirits’, Ms Millington said.
She added that Mr Stoneham had ‘no idea’ of the impact the painting would have.
It was the subject of an online storm when a couple put in on Ebay after their four-year-old daughter had claimed to have seen one of the figures moving.
Altough sceptical, the girl’s father set up a camera and claimed to then see the same thing.
Their listing on Ebay, which was then in its infancy, said: ‘This painting may or may not possess supernatural powers that could impact or change your life.
Another object in the exhibition is the Grace Doll, which was donated by paranormal investigator Danny Moss. Some have claimed to have seen the doll move inside her glass box. She is ordinarily chained to the inside of the box
This painting, by an unknown artist, was removed from a house in Wales during a paranormal investigation. The noises of children were allegedly heard in the house despite no children being present
This doll, called ‘Willow’, is owned by paranormal investigator Danny Moss. He claims that it has been seen moving on its own
Within hours of the painting appearing on Ebay, which was then in its infancy, its story was being shared around the world.
It led to dozens of reports of paranormal experiences among those who saw the painting.
The work eventually sold for more than $1,000, rising from a starting price of just $199.
Henry Seldis, the Los Angeles Times art critic who covered Mr Stoneham’s show when The Hands Resist him was exhibited in 1974, died of an apparent suicide in 1978.
Actor John Marley, the painting’s first owner, died during open heart surgery in 1984.
Also on display is ‘The Dream is Dead’, a silver skull by artist Damien Hirst
Another object in the exhibition is the Grace Doll, which was donated by paranormal investigator Danny Moss.
Some have claimed to have seen the doll move inside her glass box. She is chained to the inside of the box.
Footage purported to show the doll telling Moss that she wanted to ‘burn’ his eyes.
Elsewhere in the exhibition, visitors can explore the darkest corners of internet lore, including the ‘Slender Man’ character and Goat Man’.
And also on display is ‘The Dream is Dead’, a silver skull by artist Damien Hirst.
Screamfest: House of Curses is live from Thursday, October 31 to Saturday 2nd November at The Vinyl Factory, 51 Poland Street, Soho, London.
