A British woman purchased a portrait of a young girl from a charity shop and now asserts that the picture is cursed, reports mirror.co.uk.
Zoe Elliot-Brown, aged 36, spotted an artwork by an unfamiliar artist at the Hastings Advice Representation Center in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, a month ago.
Simultaneously, the seller cautioned Zoe about the painting possibly being cursed, revealing that a prior purchaser of the same artwork had returned it to the store with the statement “it ruined my life.”
Out of curiosity, Zoe captured an image of the painting on her smartphone and shared the photo with her 68-year-old mother, Jane Elliot-Brown. Her mother seemed to be entranced by the painting.
Instantly, she began urging Zoe to acquire the painting. Yielding to her mother’s persuasion, Zoe paid £20 for the artwork. However, as soon as she introduced it into her home, strange occurrences commenced taking place.
As Zoe entered her home and positioned the painting in the living room, their dog named Cilla leaped up and started growling at the artwork. Cilla deliberately kept her distance, refraining from approaching the picture. Subsequently, Zoe’s mother’s health took a sharp decline. She began experiencing alternating spells of fever and chills, requiring her to wear four sweaters to keep warm.
Concurrently, Zoe’s mother seemed to be captivated by the painting. She continuously gazed at it and even caressed the painted girl’s cheek. During the night, she heard peculiar knocks emanating from the room where the picture hung, despite the room being unoccupied.
Zoe managed to persuade her mother that the painting held negative energy and was cursed. However, Jane staunchly defended the painting, reluctant to part with it.
“I’ve never seen my mother yearn for something so intensely. She was entranced by it, but not in a positive manner. She guarded it. She frequently gazed at it. She ran her fingers over the painted girl’s cheeks and polished the surface, although the painting didn’t require polishing.”
“Each time I mentioned disposing of the painting, she became exceedingly irritable. It transformed into a sort of family heirloom for her, something she began cherishing.”
“My mother flatly refused to get rid of the painting. I think it’s a bit like the magic power of the Lord of the Rings ring. It definitely works in an attractive and charming way, it seems to pull you towards it.
“My mother became a bit like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings,” says Zoe.
Jane herself says that it seems to her that the painted girl is very unhappy and she stroked her to comfort her. She also does not attribute the deterioration of her health to the purchase of the painting.
At the same time, she admits that there were several cases when someone seemed to knock on the door, and when she opened it, there was no one on the threshold.
One day, Jane became so ill that she fainted right in the bathroom. Zoe called 911, but her mother refused to go to the hospital and was eventually left at home.
One morning, Zoe entered the living room and saw her mother standing and stroking the painted girl on her cheeks. And the mother could not remember how she ended up in the living room and what she did at night.
“It was strange behavior, especially for my mom. She couldn’t remember anything from what happened last night. My mom is still very weird and distracted and doesn’t want to discuss it.”
And then something even more frightening happened. Zoe and her friend Ben went for a walk on a hill during a thunderstorm and suddenly saw a “creepy black figure” that suddenly appeared in front of them.
They do not know if this is related to the painting, but they immediately ran back in fear. Deciding to get rid of the cursed painting, Zoey eventually took it and took it to the same shop where she bought it.
And when she drove up to the store, she saw that in one of the tires of the car, brand new, someone stuck a screw. She gave the painting to the seller, but then changed her mind and took it back.
She didn’t want someone else to buy the painting and get hurt because of it. Now Zoe wants to give the picture only to someone who understands damn things.
Now the painting is kept in Zoya’s house in a box filled with sage (it is believed that sage helps against evil spirits).
She also hung sage in every corner of the house, although Zoya’s mother was very unhappy with this.
“I thought knowing my luck some idiot will go and get it and try and burn it and I don’t really want to be left with the remainder of whatever the hell has been going on. Technically I was the last owner. [I want it] dealt with properly. […]”