Episode 49: Cursed Canvases: "The Hands Resist Him" and Other Haunted Paintings

Today we are taking a trip to the art museum where the walls are decorated with art of a more sinister nature. Cursed Canvases blamed for the deaths of their owners, portraits whose inhabitants have a habit of leaving the frames, and even one that was said to possess the artist to paint itself. Today on The Odder, we are talking about cursed and haunted paintings and what happened to the poor souls that owned them. Remember not to touch the artwork or you might have something follow you home and Let’s go!

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Music Credit
"Ever Mindful" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Main Theme:
"Dream Catcher" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Transcript

1. Hello and welcome to The Odder Podcast. I’m your host Madison Paige and today we are taking a trip to the art museum where the walls are decorated with art of a more sinister nature. Cursed Canvases blamed for the deaths of their owners, portraits whose inhabitants have a habit of leaving the frames, and even one that was said to possess the artist to paint itself. Today on The Odder, we are talking about cursed and haunted paintings and what happened to the poor souls that owned them. Remember not to touch the artwork or you might have something follow you home and Let’s go!
2. Good Morning, Midnight, and Moon my Odders, how is everyone doing today? Did we all enjoy the last episode on The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God and the murder of all their followers? Let’s hope going forward we don’t encounter many more cults with names quite that long. if you really enjoyed it or if you didn’t, please leave a rating and review, they really do help! For the returning listeners, welcome back, for the new listeners, welcome welcome to The Odder podcast where we are a trail mix of all things unknown, unsolved, and just plain odd. If you have an idea for an episode you think would be fun, good news! I do listener requests so if you want your own personalized episode, you can send me an email at theodderpod@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you and know what you want to hear from me! We have a fun little episode for you today as we talk about cursed and haunted paintings. We are going to cover 10 of them today and I would highly recommend heading on over to instagram or facebook to see a slide show of the paintings as you listen. But without much further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen step lightly into the galley, remember to keep your hands to yourself, and always be aware that while you are admiring the paintings, they may very well be admiring you right back.
3. We start our haunted painting tour with probably one of the best known examples of all. The Hands Resist Him was painted in 1972 by Bill Stoneham. It is Oil on stretched canvas and measures 24 inches by 36 inches. It depicts a young boy in a blue shirt and gray pants standing next to what appears to be an eyeless doll with her hands folded in front. The pair are placed in front of a glass paneled doorway in which the imprints of many hands can be seen pressing against the glass as though they are trying to reach through and snatch the child away. According to the artist, the boy in the painting is based on a photograph of himself at the age of five and the doorway behind him represents the dividing line between the real world and fantasy and impossibilities. The doll is present as a guide that will escort the boy through this plane of existence. The hands pressed against the glass represent the alternate lives and possibilities open to the boy. 
4. The painting was first displayed in the Feingarten Gallery in Beverly Hills, California. It was at a Stoneham show in this gallery that the painting was first purchased by actor John Marley who is best known for his role as Jack Woltz in The Godfather. Marley kept the painting until sometime after his death when it somehow made its way into an old brewery where it was discovered by an elderly California couple. They took the painting and listed it for sale on Ebay in February 2000. However, it was not just a piece owed by a famous actor for sale but what they claimed was actually a haunted object. 
5. The couple claimed that they had experienced several strange things since possessing the painting including that the boy and doll would move around in it at night and sometimes leave the frame entirely. They claimed that when passing the room that the painting was housed in, you might come across either of them running about, making noise. They even posted pictures of the strange incidents including one picture that claims the female doll was now holding a gun towards the boy in a threatening manner which later led to the boy leaving the canvas and running amok in the house. The seller further posted that they would take no liability for any hauntings the buyer had after purchase.
6. News of the strange listing spread quickly and some internet users began to report feeling ill or having unpleasant experiences after simply viewing a picture of the painting online. The auction page became so popular it was viewed well over 30,000 times. 
7. While the painting was originally listed for $199, the popularity of the rumored haunting drove the sale to $1025.00 by Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They would eventually contact the artist Bill Stoneham to inquire what he thought about the supposed haunting claims. While Stoneham was surprised by the claims and what he called “odd interpretations” of his painting, he did recall that both the owner of the original gallery where the painting was first displayed and the art critic who first reviewed it, died within a year of coming into contact with it. 
8. The popularity behind “The Hands Resist Him” and it's supposed subjects that refused to stay in frame led to Stoneham being commissioned for more pieces in the series. He would create two sequels to the original which would be owned by private individuals and one prequel which was purchased by the Haunted Museum in Las Vegas in 2017. 
9. In 2021, Stoneham finished the series with a final painting depicting the original scene of The Hands Resist Him now deteriorated and empty. 
10. It remains at Perceptions Gallery in Grand Rapids. 
11. The children in this painting are not the only ones said to leave their frames.
12. In 1899, Edvard Munch, best known for his work “The Scream”, painted “Death and the Child” which is sometimes called “The Dead Mother”. It is oil on canvas and measures 39 inches by 35 inches. In this painting, a young blonde girl in a pale dress and black tights and dark boots stands facing the viewer with her hands pressed firmly over her ears. In the background, we can see the figure of a woman laying in bed as white as the sheets. The painting appears to show the reaction of the little girl to the passing of her mother. This painting is often described as a parallel to Munch’s own life as his mother died from tuberculosis when he was just 5 years old. In fact it is debated whether the child in the picture is actually a girl as both boys and girls wore female-coded clothing at that age during the time period. However, it is not the sadness of the subject that sticks with viewers. It’s the possible haunting that has become associated with the piece. Those that see it claim to feel the child’s eyes following them around the room. There are also reports of sounds of the bed sheets in the picture moving and rustling. Previous owners of the painting have even claimed that sometimes the girl disappears from it completely only to reappear later as though she had never left. 
13. While no clear explanation for the supposed haunting has been offered, when the painting was purchased and examined by X-Ray in 1918, a startling discovery was made. A second canvas was found to be hiding beneath Death and the Child. The pieces were separated and revealed a haunting oil on canvas painting that was both unsigned and undated. It shows a young girl with long dark hair sitting and facing three large ghoulish faces. The piece was called Girl and Three Male Heads and was separated and placed on its own display. Its appearance behind the framing of Death and The Child has no clear explanation. 
14. Death and The Child is on Display at the Kunsthalle Bremen in Germany.  
15. Next we move along to The Anguished Man. Very little is actually known about this painting. It depicts what appears to be the bust of a man in red, yellow and orange colors with his mouth open in a scream. The background in contrast is done in bright blues and gold tones and while we don’t know the size or medium used, it is said that the artist who created the painting mixed his own blood into the paint. Sean Robinson is the paintings owner and he uploaded videos about it and the strange activity attached to it to his Youtube in 2010. He stated that he inherited the painting from his grandmother who had kept it in her attic for 25 years. The grandmother, who told him that after the painter completed the piece he died by suicide, had claimed that the painting was evil. Robinson claims that since taking the painting into his home, he has heard crying and moaning noises in the corner of his bedroom and has even seen the figure of a man appear at the foot of his bed and stare down at them. While he believed the figure to be a middle-aged man, his features were not clear in the darkness. This apparently is a mirror to experiences his grandmother had as she told him of strange noises, crying, and seeing her own dark figure walking about her house at night. 
16. Robinson has chosen to keep the painting in his basement but this has done little to contain the activity. He had decided to then move it into their bedroom out of curiosity since most of the activity seemed to be focused there. A year after the first video, Robinson updated his Youtube with fresh evidence. Setting up a camera in a spare bedroom, he placed the painting inside. He continuously recorded over three nights from 1am to 5am. In the videos, he captured banging noises and an incident where the painting suddenly fell over on its front and a small orb can be seen floating just above it. Robinson also reported a separate incident in which he was at the top of the stairs when he was suddenly surrounded by smoke and the temperature dropped. This lasted for barely a second before vanishing quickly. 
17. Two years later, there was another update. Robinson had moved in with his parents and taken the painting with him. The banding, crying, and moaning noises followed but a violent incident in which his father fell down the stairs prompted him to move the painting into storage in fear that whatever entity was attached the piece was escalating. Robinson had, however, been taking the painting along with the Mysteria Paranormal group to some of the allegedly most haunted locations in the UK to see if it would evoke any presence in these locations.
18. The Anguished Man remains in the custody of Sean Robinson and the full videography can be found on the Youtube channel of the same name. 
19. Our next haunted painting actually tends to affect the photographs taken of it. In the early 1900’s the city of Galveston, Texas opened an amazing hotel named the Hotel Galvez, after Bernardo De Galvez. Bernardo de Galvez was born in 1746 and was a very powerful Spanish military leader who aided the American colonies during the Revolutionary War. When the hotel was completed a massive portrait of De Galvez was installed at the end of the downstairs hallway. In the painting, he is depicted standing to his side with his head turned towards the viewer. He is dressed in a black overcoat with gold brocade and a medal. With a baton in one hand and a ship in the sea in the background, he makes an imposing and stately figure. However, most hotel guests tend to refer to him as creepy. The painting generated several complaints as guests felt that the eyes followed them. The air around the painting is also said to be unusually cold and a feeling of unease would come over those that loitered around it too long. The painting also appeared to take much offense to the attempts made by those to photograph it. Pictures of the painting would come back from development with a strange mist or out of focus . Some even reported seeing a skull in the flash photography. It wasn’t until one guest, politely asked the painting to take its picture, that we managed to get a clear photo of ir. Ever since then, the practice of politely asking for a photo from Bernardo De Galvez before shooting your shot has come about. The eyes still tend to follow you but no matter how many complaints came in, the Hotel refused to remove the painting and guests learned quickly to avoid it. 
20. Another portrait in our hall of haunted Paintings is that of Henrietta Nelson. The portrait was painted in 1780 by William Johnson and depicts an older woman in a voluminous blue and white gown with a large white frilly hat sitting on a wooden chair. Her arms are gently crossed and she holds a few roses in one hand. Her gaze is focused outwards towards the viewers and her expression is calm. The portrait is Oil on canvas and is 43 cm by 34 cm. Not much is known about Henrietta’s life before her untimely death but we do know she passed away suddenly after a horrible fall down the staircase at her Yaxley Hall home in Eye, a small English town. She had requested to be buried at the mausoleum on the property and was interred there until the new owners purchased the hall and decided to demolish the tomb. They had her remains relocated to a neighboring church. Henrietta, however, was not pleased by this at all. It is said that her spirit took possession of her portrait which had remained in the home and she began to haunt the grounds. Her face would change shape and emotion and the owners reported apparition of a pale figure in the same outfit as the painting walking around the house and yard. Eventually the painting was removed from the home and Henrietta went with it. It is said that her spirit continues to leave the painting and roam wherever the portrait is placed, trying to return to her rightful place at Yaxley Hall. The Painting was sold at Online auction in 2004 and has since gone to a private collector. 
21. The final portrait we will be discussing today is one titled Mi Novia or “My Girlfriend” painted by Filipino artist Juan Luna in 1850. The piece depicts a pale woman with dark hair and brows leaning back on a white background. She is looking off to the side and clutching a rosary up to her chest. What appears to be a lamp and bible rest beside her. This cursed painting is unique in that it is said to be haunted not by the subject of the art but by the artist's wife. Luna was married to a woman named Paz Pardo de Tavera who he had two children with. However, the marriage was not an easy one. While he loved his wife, he was a very jealous man. On September 22nd, 1892 Juan Luna confronted Paz, her mother, and her brother in the studio at the Villa Dupont where he accused her of infidelity. In a fit of rage, he pulled a shotgun and fired on all three of them. While her brother would survive the incident, her mother would die and Paz would pass away in hospital from her wounds eleven days later. Luna would be arrested but the charges would later be dropped against him on the grounds that it was a crime of passion and the use of temporary insanity which was regarded at the time as a way for the courts to forgive men for killing unfaithful wives. 
22. The emotional killing and the unjust result is believed to have caused the spirit of Paz to possess the painting even though the subject is actually believed to be Angela Duche, a favored model of the painter although this is debated. According to legends, those who own the paintings are beset by misfortune. Previous owners have experienced bankruptcy, miscarriage, various unexplained incidents, and some have even died in a car crash. When the painting was displayed on the opening night of a 1987 exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paz even seemed to want to prevent those from viewing it as the spotlight bulb overhead exploded. 
23. The painting is currently on display at The National Museum where it has been housed since 1986. 
24. Our next exhibit is so feared by students at Royal Holloway college that professors are forced to cover it with a flag whenever an exam takes place. Edwin Landseer’s 1864 painting titled Man Proposes, God Disposes would be terrifying enough even without the supposed curse attached to it. Inspired by the search for the lost crew of the Franklin who disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, it shows two polar bears feasting among the tattered remains of a wrecked ship. The presence of human bones and what appears to be splatters of blood, make no secret of what their meal is made of. It is a large painting at 36 inches by 95.9 inches and hands in the Royal Holloway, University of London. An urban myth surrounds the painting and states that anyone sitting in front of it during an exam would fail. While this myth dates back to the 1920s or 30s, this belief amongst the students was so strong that in the 1970’s a desperate exam proctor had to quickly find a solution when a class refused to sit for an exam in front of the painting for fear of failing. The only thing they could find that was large enough to cover the frankly massive painting was a Union Jack which is the national flag of the United Kingdom. This tradition of covering the painting with this flag has continued on to this day. 
25. A darker side to this legend tells of a student who when seated next to the painting for his final exam, could not keep his eyes off of it. It is said that he wrote on his exam page “the polar bears made me do it” before suddenly turning the pencil around and plunging it into his eye, dying by suicide. While no official record at the university of this event exists, the legend of it persists. 
26. The painting and its cursed polar bears remain at the college in London.
27. Another painting associated with a tragedy is Richard King’s Love Letters painted Circa 1990 and displayed at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas. While Love Letters is actually a replica of a previous piece by a different artist, it is this specific version that is said to be haunted by the spirit of a little girl who had a terrible accident at the hotel. 
28.  Love Letters depicts a young girl in a white dress with a blue sash. She has curly blonde hair and holds a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a folded letter in the other. She is looking directly at the viewer and holds both items out as if to gift them. Behind her, curtains fall in front of a dark staircase that leads up into unknown space. 
29. Samantha Houston was a four year old daughter of a U.S Senator. While her family was staying at the hotel, she was playing on the grand staircase when she lost control of her ball. While chasing it down the stairs, Samantha lost her footing and fell to her death. 
30. It is believed that the spirit of Samantha attached itself to the painting because strange incidents have surrounded it since then. Hotel Staff and guests have reported feeling dizzy and nauseous when standing close to the painting while others have even reported feeling like they are being lifted into the air or falling through it. Some guests who stand in front of the painting for two long even claim that her expression will start to change. 
31. The painting remains on display at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas. 
32. Next we move on to two of the strangest showings in our galley. Two different paintings which may have had a hand in their own creation. We begin with a painting called The Stage Craft. 
33. The Story of the Stage Craft painting actually starts with a photograph. In 1994, a commercial photographer had a showing in Tombstone, Arizona. The Gallery where he placed some of his photographs was also hosting an artist by the name of Laura P. She was looking through his display when one of the photos caught her eye. Kidd had photographed an old stagecoach and then had gotten a double exposure with another photo of a wagon by not winding his camera in between. When he developed the photo, however, it revealed not only the stagecoach but also a ghostly figure. The figure is pictured standing to the left of the wagon and is wearing a coat, pants, and boots. However the figure is missing his head. 
34. Kidd had the photograph examined by experts who were able to verify it had not been doctored in any way and had placed what he believed to be a ghostly apparition caught on film on display. Laura was enraptured with the picture and asked Kidd if it would be okay for her to do an oil painting of it. He gave her permission and when she returned home to Sierra Vista, Arizona, she got started. 
35. However, about halfway through, she started getting an odd feeling about the project. Questioning why she was so absorbed with the picture and why she had even wanted to paint it. Suddenly odd things began to happen around her home. Unexplained events and paranormal signs that she began to attribute to the ghostly apparition she was painting into the portrait. Finally, the project was finished and she removed the painting from her home and used it for a display at a business. Three days later, however, employees at the office called and asked her to come retrieve the eerie painting. IT apparently had a habit of turning crooked on the wall, no matter how much they straightened it. Since it arrived at the office, strange things had begun to happen such as appointments being weirdly messed up and important documents going unaccounted for. The painting began to make the employees uneasy and Laura returned to claim it. 
36. She took the painting back home where it remained with her. In 1995, she and her husband moved into a new home. The painting once again began to act up and a strange leak developed over the garage. Roofers came three separate times to repair it but could never even find the cause and the leak continued to be an issue. It wasn’t until her husband noticed that the strange painting had been left leaning against the wall between the living room and the garage and removed it that the leak strangely vanished. 
37. This was not the only incident the painting would be blamed for in the home. Mysteriously spilled salt all over the kitchen, a massive starfish that flung itself from the wall, a heavy gate that suddenly broke off its post, and even broken glass found in a drink were all blamed on the painting of the strange figure by the stage coast. It even seemed that the painting's jinx was not contained to its house as even looking at a picture could spell bad luck. A woman who looked at a photo of the painting at a beauty shop and claimed to be a total skeptic later had a clock crash down off of her wall and shatter. A neighbor who borrowed physical copies of the pictures got the spook of a lifetime when he saw a white hazy figure appear around the corner of his house. He was so frightened he came running to give her the photos back. 
38. The ghost even gave the front door a few good knocks when the painter and her husband were home together. 
39. The painting remains in her home as she refuses to sell it for fear of what the ghost would do. She admits that if she could do it over, she would not have painted this piece. Is it possible she even had a choice though? 
40. Our last painting is often called the world's most haunted painting. Titled “The Rain Woman” it is credited to an artist by the name of Svetlana Telets. Not much is known about Telets outside of the story of The Rain Woman but the picture features a gaunt and pale woman with her eyes closed in a black coat, hat and head covering. She appears to be standing in the rain with her eyes closed. While the lack of info on Telet has cast many suspicions on the legitimacy of this story, the absolute eerie feeling that the painting evokes in those that view it is enough to back several of the claims made about it. The story starts in 1996 when Telets started noticing flashes of lights in the corner of her eyes. However, when she would turn to look, nothing would be there. She also began to feel like she was constantly being watched. One day she suddenly felt something guiding her hand and felt this ghostly apparition move her hands until The Rain Woman was completed in five hours.
41. Telet, who has no other credited art pieces, supposedly took the phantom made art piece to a local art shop and put it up for sale. It was bought but repeatedly returned. Those that bought the painting would complain of strangeness invading their home including sleeplessness, nightmares, fighting within the home, misfortune, and the constant feeling of being watched. Some reported a figure appearing in both their dreams and their homes. One man claimed to keep seeing white eyes everywhere he looked until he returned the painting and even offered to pay them to take it back. 
42. The painting was eventually bought by musician Sergei Skachkov in 2008 but his wife reported seeing a ghostly figure walk around their apartment at night and hid the painting away. The current whereabouts or even confirmed existence are unknown. 
43. I will say though that looking at the Rain Woman is the only painting in the bunch that I actively avoided. Even looking at it online kept causing my own feelings of unease and made my stomach hurt so view at your own risk. 
44. And with that our tour of the haunted and cursed paintings and the fear and pain they have wrought upon their creators and owners is over. We hope you’ve enjoyed the tour and don’t forget to hit the gift shop on the way out. Let’s just hope that nothing follows you out. 
45. Well, that’s all for this episode. So what do you think? Do you believe that these paintings are haunted? Do you think it’s possible for a canvas to be cursed? Which was your favorite? Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and leave a review. The Odder Pod is also on TikTok. Come follow us there! Have a suggestion for a show? Send me an email at theodderpod@gmail.com with your request and whether you’d like me to mention your name, your alias, or nothing at all. Remember this is The Odder Side so give me something cool, creepy, or confusing to deep dive for you. If you liked the show, leave us a review! They really help! No lie, I’m like 99% positive my grandmother had a print of Love Letters in her house when I was growing up. The Odder Podcast posts every other Thursday. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time on The Odder side.