- Here’s a bunch of pictures you might not want to hang on your wall.
When walking past an intricately detailed portrait, have you ever felt like the painting’s eyes are following you? Fortunately, this phenomenon is caused only by light reflecting on the painting’s varnished surface.
But what if it’s not?
Many works of art from all around the world are claimed to be supernaturally active. And we’re not talking about Mona Lisa’s haunting smile, either — we’re talking about full-blown hauntings.
Here are 10 examples of supposedly cursed or haunted paintings.
1. The Ghost of Oyuki
The “Ghost of Oyuki” is a 1750 Japanese ink painting or drawing (depending on what you consider painting) by artist Maruyama Okyo, depicting a ghastly woman whose body fades into nothing. Although the painting itself isn’t haunted, a ghost is directly involved with its creation.
A geisha girl with whom Okyo had fallen in love died, and the artist intensely mourned her. Soon after, he began experiencing haunting visions and dreams of the girl.
Unable to get the geisha out of his head, Okyo painted a portrait of her as he appeared in his visions. And what do you know — as soon as he finished the painting, the dreams went away.
2. Portrait of Bernardo de Gálvez
In Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas, you can see a portrait of Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez, painted by an unknown artist. But if you try to snap a photo of the artwork, you’re in for a nasty surprise.
Gálvez supposedly haunts the painting, and he doesn’t like photographs. People have reported that film photos of the painting fail to develop, digital pictures turn into a corrupted scramble, and that using flash causes Gálvez’s face to distort into a skeletal grimace.
There’s one way to get a photo, though. If you ask the painting nicely, Gálvez may allow you to photograph it.
3. The Anguished Man
“The Anguished Man” is one morbid painting. To begin with, no one knows the painter’s name, but according to the painting’s owner, he mixed his own blood into the red hues and killed himself after completing the work.
Strange phenomena are claimed to take place around “The Anguished Man.” Doors may slam on their own in its vicinity, people may hear disembodied sobbing, and videos of the painting have even shown it moving seemingly on its own.
Skeptics claim the many videos “The Anguished Man’s” owner has uploaded online are hoaxes. True or not, “The Anguished Man” makes for a compelling ghost story.
4. The Crying Boy
“The Crying Boy” is really a series of paintings and prints by Italian artist Giovanno Bragolin, which was the pen name of Bruno Amarillo. Each of the works depicts a crying child — and all are supposedly haunted.
Firefighters have claimed that they frequently find intact and undamaged copies of “The Crying Boy” in burned-down houses. That said, research has suggested that Bragolin used a fire-resistant varnish on the paintings, which might explain their survival.
Even then, though, we wouldn’t risk bringing one of these paintings into our homes.
5. Love Letters
“Love Letters,” depicting a young girl, was painted by Richard King in the early ‘90s. It hangs in the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, and it’s claimed to be haunted by a four-year-old girl who fell to her death out of the hotel’s window.
Guests have claimed that the depicted girl’s expression changes when people aren’t looking at the painting. When they do, people have reported experiencing nausea and dizziness, as if they lost their balance and were falling.
Curiously, “Love Letters” is a replica of a late 19th-century painting of the same name. That painting is ghost-free as far as anybody knows, so maybe there is something to the story about the copy.
6. The Hands Resist Him
“The Hands Resist Him” is a real internet-era ghost story. It was painted in 1972 by Bill Stoneham, and depicts a young boy with a female doll in front of a glass door with many hands pressed against it.
The painting became a sensation when it was put on sale on eBay in 2000. The seller claims “The Hands Resist Him” carries a curse, causing bizarre changes in the picture.
The characters are claimed to change positions over time. For instance, the hands on the glass door supposedly move around, or the doll might pull out a gun to threaten the boy — who might be absent altogether. Additionally, simply seeing the painting has led some people to report feeling like they’re going to retch.
Stoneham himself has said that he’s not aware of any curses associated with his work. Yet, the art gallery owner who ended up buying “The Hands Resist Him” reportedly died less than a year later, so we’ll say the jury is out on this one.
7. Man Proposes, God Disposes
“Man Proposes, God Disposes” by Edwin Landseer is a gruesome painting, depicting a pair of polar bears devouring the remnants of an Arctic expedition. It hangs in the Royal Holloway college in England, where it keeps causing a bit of a problem.
According to a persistent legend, any student taking an exam while sitting in front of the painting will fail. The university takes the rumor so seriously that during exam periods, “Man Proposes, God Disposes” is covered with the Union Jack.
There’s also a more gruesome story of a student committing suicide by jamming a pencil through his eyeball after scrawling, “The bears made me do it,” on his exam paper. Fortunately, the college’s records don’t show any students dying in the exam hall where the painting is.
8. Mi Novia
“Mi Novia,” also called “The Portrait of a Lady,” is a portrait painted by Filipino artist Juan Luna. It depicts his ex-wife, whom he murdered in a fit of jealousy.
Perhaps due to the crime, “Mi Novia” is claimed to bring bad luck to whoever owns it. The painting’s past owners have experienced a wide variety of misery, from bankruptcies to miscarriages and — of course — gruesome deaths.
In 1987, while the painting was being displayed in Manila, the lightbulb above it exploded violently. Supernatural activity or an electrical fault? You decide.
9. The Rain Woman
“The Rain Woman,” or “The Woman of the Rain,” was painted by Ukrainian artist Svetlana Telets, reportedly after experiencing a vivid vision of the depicted image. Before that, she states she felt like someone was following him for almost half a year.
In a similar vein, people who have bought the painting claim that they’ve started being followed by a ghostly figure both in their dreams and their waking lives. Unsurprisingly, virtually all buyers have returned the painting soon enough — sometimes without asking for a refund.
We don’t know whether the painting itself is haunted or whether it’s attracting something. And frankly, we’re in no rush to find out.
10. Everything by Arshile Gorky
Some artists paint one cursed picture. Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky apparently couldn’t paint anything else.
Every last painting Gorky painted between 1904 and 1938 is supposedly haunted to some degree, possibly because of the absolutely miserable and tragic life he led. People owning Gorky’s works have stated they’ve fallen from walls on their own, caught fire, and attracted ghostly apparitions.
Yet, nothing can top March 1, 1962, when 15 of Gorky’s paintings were loaded on American Airlines Flight 1 from New York to Los Angeles. The plane crashed, killing everyone on board and destroying the artworks.