Your cat won’t stop staring at your old grandfather clock.
As the seconds tick by, its gaze becomes more intense.
It’s as if it sees something you can’t, some malevolent force that lurks around the
old timekeeper.
They say animals can sense energies that humans can’t, and house pets are often the first
warning sign that a haunted or cursed object is inside your home.
As it ticks closer to the hour, is your cat trying to protect you from a cursed clock?
No, your cat just wants to get that bird when it pops out.
That antique grandfather clock your great-aunt left to you might not be cursed, but the same
can’t be said for the objects that follow.
These real cursed creepy objects from around the world brought fear, illness, danger, and
even death to those unlucky enough to encounter them.
Our haunted world tour begins in Louisiana, in the famous Myrtles Plantation.
Known as America’s most haunted house, this Antebellum-era plantation is known for its
ghost stories and is rumored to be built on a gravesite of Native Americans and be haunted
by the spirits of slaves who died there.
But hanging on one wall is the eeriest object in the old manor - the cursed mirror of Myrtle
Plantation.
Mirrors are long believed to have supernatural powers, and many legends circulate that people’s
souls can get trapped inside.
When the plantation was owned by Clark and Sara Woodruff, Sara and their daughters succumbed
to Yellow Fever.
At the wake, one of the mirrors wasn’t covered, and eyewitnesses to this day claim they can
see the souls of the three trapped inside.
A darker version of the legends claims Sara and her children didn’t die of illness - they
were murdered by a slave who was abused by Clark and tried to poison him.
Today, Myrtles Plantation is one of the biggest historic tourist attractions in Louisiana,
as guides give frank tours about the often cruel history of the grounds.
The mirror is one of the biggest destinations for visitors, as many crowd by hoping for
signs of the ghosts that supposedly exist within.
People have claimed to see figures moving around behind them when no people are there,
or ghostly handprints appearing in the mirror.
Although many plantations have bloody and tragic histories, few have as many ghosts
as Myrtles Plantation
Another cursed object hanging on the walls brought fiery doom to those unlucky enough
to possess it in the United Kingdom.
In the 1950s, an Italian artist named Giovanni Bragolin became successful for his series
of mass-produced paintings known as Crying Boys.
These up-close portraits of young children crying were a low-cost option for those who
wanted to hang a piece of professional artwork in their homes.
But Essex firefighters sifting through the ruins of destroyed homes consumed by accidental
blazes soon discovered a disturbing pattern.
In the ashes, they would frequently find a Crying Boy painting - completely intact, even
as everything around it was burnt to cinders.
Investigations showed the fires had different causes, including cigarette burns and faulty
wiring.
But as the fires became more common, paranoia around the paintings grew.
The newspaper The Sun went so far as to organize mass bonfires of the paintings.
British writer Steve Punt investigated the curse, coming up with an explanation that
the paintings had been treated with fire retardant and fell face-down when their strings were
burnt, allowing them to survive.
But others speak of another explanation.
Who were the children Giovanni Bragolin painted?
An urban legend circulates of him painting the children of a Spanish orphanage that burned
down after World War II.
Bragolin died in 1981, but copies of his paintings are still available for auction online.
Would you like one hanging in your house?
What is a Dybbuk Box?
When writer Kevin Mannis attended an estate sale, he wasn’t expecting to find himself
in the middle of a haunted mystery tying back to one of history’s greatest crimes.
He purchased what looked like a simple wine cabinet that belonged to an elderly Holocaust
survivor named Havaleh.
Purchased in Spain after the war, the box was kept in Havaleh’s sewing room and never
opened.
When he found out about its history, Mannis approached Havaleh’s granddaughter to ask
if they wanted the family heirloom back - and was told in no uncertain terms that they never
wanted to see it again.
The mystery intrigued Mannis, and he cracked the wine cabinet open.
There he found a collection of odd objects - two pennies from the 1920s, two locks of
hair bound with twine, a wine goblet, a dried rose bud, a candle holder, and a small statue
with the word “Shalom” inscribed on it.
It made no sense to Mannis, but things would soon become terrifyingly clear.
Mannis soon started having horrible nightmares of an old hag stalking him, waking up from
his sleep with a start.
Odd smells he would describe as a combination of cat urine and jasmine flowers came out
of the box.
He wanted it out of his house and gave it to his mother as a birthday present.
That same October 31st, she suffered a stroke.
Mannis looked up past owners of the box and learned that they all had similar experiences,
down to the same terrifying dreams.
He put the box up on Ebay and it went through a long list of owners, who all experienced
growing health problems and nightmares.
It was eventually sold to Professor Jason Haxton.
Although Haxton started coughing up blood and developing skin problems after he opened
it, he was determined to solve the mystery.
Haxton contacted Jewish religious authorities, who immediately identified the source of the
curse as a Dybbuk, a malevolent and angry spirit in Jewish mythology.
They studied the objects within and performed a secret ritual to seal the spirit up in the
box.
With the wine cabinet safe again, Haxton donated the box to popular ghost hunter Zak Bagans,
who displays it in his museum.
There it sits, safely behind glass - as long as no one opens it again.
Our next cursed object takes us to Hollywood, as one of the greatest tragedies in celebrity
history left a lasting hex.
James Dean was one of Hollywood’s first superstar teen idols, starring in eight films
from 1951 to 1956, most famously Rebel Without a Cause.
But his rebellious heartthrob persona wasn’t just an act - Dean was a reckless young man
with a fondness for fast cars that proved to be his undoing.
He had a hobby as an amateur race car driver, but Warner Brothers banned him from racing
when he was filming.
He was practicing for an upcoming race after his last film wrapped in 1955 by driving his
Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed “Little Bastard”.
Shortly after he was ticketed for speeding, Dean crashed into a Ford Tudor passing through
an intersection and died instantly.
One of Hollywood’s brightest young stars was snuffed out in an instant, but the curse
of the “Little Bastard” was just beginning.
A wrecked car that a celebrity died in is a hot item, and an enterprising car designer
named George Barris planned to strip the high-end car for parts.
But as soon as he purchased the wreck, disaster seemed to follow.
When unloading the car, it slipped out of the holding equipment and fell on a mechanic,
crushing his legs.
That didn’t stop Barris from breaking the car down and selling its parts for other vehicles,
but the curse didn’t disappear when the car was dismantled.
The doctor who bought the engine was killed in a car accident not long after, and the
man who bought the transmission barely escaped death in another wreck.
The tires blew out simultaneously when placed on another vehicle.
When the remaining shell of the car was being transported for scrap, the truck crashed,
killing the driver.
But the shell was never found in the wreck, having been stolen by a passing criminal.
With no more parts available, the curse of the Little Bastard seemed to be over - but
that shell is still out there.
The Maori people of New Zealand were proud warriors who entered battle wearing ornate
carved masks, designed to intimidate their enemies.
Legends said that any man who died while wearing the mask would leave his soul behind in it.
The masks of the fallen were proudly displayed in memorial falls, but a disturbing pattern
soon emerged.
While the men, children, and older women who visited the memorials saw no ill effect, the
pregnant women who stood in front of them had a higher rate of pregnancy loss or health
complications.
The Maori Priests who supervised the memorial issued a warning that no pregnant women should
visit the masks.
A collection of the Maori masks stands today in Te Papa, a Wellington-based museum dedicated
to the heritage of the Maori people.
The artifacts are acquired through negotiation with local tribes, and the tribes can impose
conditions to ensure their cultural practices are respected.
That’s why even today, the display of Maori masks has a warning telling pregnant women
to stay away from the display.
While feminist groups protested, the tribal leaders defended their stance.
Maori belief in curses and evil spirits is still strong, and many people approach the
ancient warrior masks with caution - just in case the spirits they believe are contained
within are still restless.
Those who like horror movies undoubtedly know the cursed doll Annabelle, with her unblemished
porcelain skin and creepy stare.
But few people know that the doll is real, and still lives today at the occult museum
of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The real Annabelle isn’t a porcelain doll, but a classic Raggedy Ann rag doll.
The supernatural phenomena around her, however, is no less chilling.
Annabelle’s story begins in 1970 in Hartford, Connecticut when a young nursing student named
Donna received the doll as a housewarming gift from her mother.
But soon she realized this was no ordinary doll.
She would leave it in one place before leaving for work, and come home to the doll in a completely
different position.
Donna and her roommate Angie would find strange messages saying “Help me, help us” scrawled
around the house.
The doll soon became a menacing presence in Donna’s house.
At times, it looked like its eyes were leaking blood.
A male friend fell asleep on their couch, and then claimed to have woken up covered
in scratches.
They didn’t own a cat.
Donna and Angie hired a medium to see if the doll was possessed, and the seance revealed
that the apartment was haunted by a little girl named Annabelle Higgins who died at seven
years old.
When the medium gave Annabelle permission to possess the doll, things only got worse.
Donna called in the Warrens, famous paranormal experts, and they brought a priest to perform
an exorcism.
The Warrens took the doll home with them, and on the drive back their car started malfunctioning.
Ed threw holy water on the backseat to quell the doll’s malevolence, and they were able
to get the doll safely to their museum of paranormal objects.
It sits there today, in a glass case with a warning sign - “Warning, Positively Do
Not Open”.
But even locked up, many believe the doll is still dangerous - a foolish biker tapped
on the glass while visiting the museum, and died in a motorcycle crash immediately after
leaving.
Most visitors give the raggedy old doll a wide berth.
The most famous cursed object of all time isn’t a belonging that can move from owner
to owner.
Everyone knows where it is, but only a brave - or foolhardy - few dare to go inside.
It’s one of the most famous archeological finds of all time - KV62, or the tomb of the
young pharaoh King Tutankhamun of Egypt.
The circumstances of Tut’s short life led to many rumors of curses, but the legends
took on new life when the tomb was rediscovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter in 1922.
He became world-famous for his discovery, but bad luck soon followed him and his crew
wherever they went.
The first to die was a member of the expedition - Carter’s canary that led their way into
the tomb.
Eyewitnesses say it was eaten by a Cobra - a snake that represents Egyptian royalty in
ancient scripts.
Carter’s financial backer, Lord Carnarvon, died soon after when a mosquito bite developed
into an infection and he quickly deteriorated.
Carter died of cancer in 1939, but future expeditions also led to mysterious deaths.
By 1935, over twenty deaths were blamed on the curse of Tutankhamun.
These ranged from on-site accidents, to infections, to illnesses contracted after returning home.
Scientists were skeptical that a curse lay over the tomb, pointing out that the tomb
had been sealed for thousands of years and could have contained diseases and fungi that
modern humans were very vulnerable to.
But whether a natural illness or an unnatural curse on those who tread on the Pharaoh’s
tomb was to blame, scientists became more hesitant to enter the famous tomb and today
its contents reside in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Now people can see Tut’s treasures safely behind glass - without possibly venturing
into one of the most cursed places on Earth.
Do any objects in your home have a dark history surrounding them?
Have you ever noticed something moving out of the corner of your eye when they’re near?
If you don’t feel like sleeping after hearing these stories of real creepy cursed objects,
why not watch some more videos on The Infographics Show instead?
Check out this video over here, or this video instead for more real tales of terror and
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Thanks for watching, and see you next time!