The
case of the E-bay Haunted Painting has now become part of Internet
folklore.
E-bay is a popular shopping website where people can put their unwanted
goods up for auction and sell them to the highest bidder.
In February 2000, an anonymous seller started an auction for a 'Haunted
Painting'.
The ad included grim warnings about possible supernatural powers held
by the image and told the story of how the painting had affected the
sellers' lives since they bought it a year previously.
 |
| The
'Haunted Painting' as displayed in the original seller's house' |
The
advert also included a series of pictures of the picture 'changing
form' at night - caught on film by a webcam.
The
last two pictures purport to show the doll coming to life and using
a 'gun' held in her hand to force the boy to leave the painting.
Within
hours of the painting appearing on E-bay, its story and link were
being passed around the world via the Internet.
Reports began coming in of strange reactions upon viewing the pictures.
These included people being violently ill or fainting, children
screaming upon seeing the painting and observers being gripped by
an 'unseen entity'.
There
is no firm evidence to substantiate these claims, but what is without
doubt is that the bidding price of the painting shot up - from a
first bid of $199 to a final price of $1050 in just 30 days.
The buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, later gave an interview
to paranormal website 'Surfing the Apocalypse' about their experience
with the 'haunted' painting.
| Reports
included people being violently ill or fainting, children screaming
upon seeing the painting and observers being gripped by an 'unseen
entity'. |
They
said that whilst they had experienced nothing strange themselves,
they had began receiving emails from people who had viewed the painting
over the Internet.
The buyer said: "Experiences include an exorcist type of voice
along with a blast of hot air like standing in front of an oven
door.
"A new Epson printer that ate and mutilated page after page
when the user tried to download images of the painting."
Revealingly, the buyer revealed plans to sell reproduction prints
of the pictures over the Internet and eventually sell the painting
on.
So it looks likely the painting is haunted more by hype than by
the supernatural. But who knows? Take a look at the images and let
us know if you experience anything out of the ordinary....
See
more pictures and read the ad >>
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