Joliet: Cursed and Haunted Doll

Joliet

One family has experienced a similar tragedy for four generations. Their family story is sad but also very creepy.

For over a century a doll, named Joliet has been passed from mother to daughter in this family. They believe this doll is both cursed and haunted. So why do they keep Joliet?

Their reason is simple they feel their son’s spirits are attached to this doll.

The present owner of the doll, a woman named Anna has experienced the same tragedy that her mother, grandmother and great grandmother all experienced.

Each woman had two children—one daughter, one son. Each son died exactly 3 days after being born. Each son appeared to be healthy after birth so their deaths are mysterious.

The family believes the doll cursed them. Joliet was given to Anna’s great grandmother as a gift at the time she became pregnant.

But this gift was not given with love but instead out of jealousy. The great grandmother’s husband scorned this woman so the family believes Joliet is cursed with a hateful bitterness that brings them bad luck.

So again, why keep a doll that they believe brings death?

Each of the four mothers has heard Joliet cry. These cries sound like their son’s cries. For this doll cries with four distinct sounds.

Anna’s great grandmother identified her own son’s cry and then her daughter identified her own son’s cry as well as her mother’s son cry. In the present generation Anna hears four distinct cries, which she believes are the four family sons that have died.

Sometimes these cries are heard together, at other times separately. All four mothers have had trouble convincing others that Joliet holds at least part of their son’s spirits for they are the only ones who have ever heard these cries.

Even creepier--these cries have acted as a reminder to these women of their tragic losses.

Anna wonders if her daughter will hear 5 cries. Unfathomable.

But they have kept the doll for they believe family spirits haunt it.

Cursed Goddess of Death

This is the classic example of a good story were there is no proof any of it is true.

A phallic symbol.
Goddess of Death

In 1878, an ancient statue was dug up in Lemb, Cyprus. It was made of pure limestone and was created in 3500 BCE.

It is believed it was a fertility figure that was given as an offering to a Goddess.

It was first called Women from Lemb but it was renamed The Goddess of Death when it became clear that anyone who owned it met untimely deaths.

After its discovery the first person to procure it was Lord Elphont during the time Cyprus was under British colonial rule. Within 6 years, he and seven members of his family all died.

The statue was now in Europe. The next owner, Ivor Menucci and his entire family died of unexplained causes within 4 years. Lord Thompson-Noel then acquired it. Again, within 4 years his entire family had perished.

After this, the statue disappeared for a while. It was later mysteriously found in a cellar cabinet.

The last private owner of this statue was Sir Alan Biverbrook. All but two of his sons succumb to this curse. Including his wife and two younger daughters.

It was now apparent that the Lemb statue was haunted but even worse cursed. The Biverbrook sons not wanting to become its next victims donated it to the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh in the early 1900s. This museum since has been renamed the National Museum of Scotland.

National Museum of Scotland

 The first curator to handle the statue—now known as the Goddess of Death—died within the first year.

This odd limestone statue remains in this museum today. No further deaths have occurred. Many believe the reason for this is because the statue is kept locked behind glass.

Very few people are allowed to touch it and those who do are not allowed to handle it with their bare hands.

The Cursed Laughing Buddha

A middle-aged couple, the Lamberts were on a cruise ship headed for Asia in 1928. Their first stop was Japan. Mrs. Lambert fell in love with an old statuette in one Kobe junk shop window. The couple was pleasantly surprised to discover it was priced reasonably.

Kobe Japan 1920s

The shopkeeper told them that it was a Laughing Buddha or Ho-tei. It was the Japanese god for good luck, especially for travelers. But by the end of their voyage the Lamberts would discover this would not be true for them.

The shopkeeper told them that Ho-tei had been a Buddhist monk in the 6^th century who spent his life helping the poor and caring for children. He later was made a god.

Two ivory Laughing Buddhas.

The Lamberts admired the finely carved statue. It was old, made of creamy ivory and was of a half-naked fat man sitting on a cushion. They discovered a small ivory plugged hole at the bottom.

The statue had the figure of a child clinging to its back. The shop owner told them that many Laughing Buddhas had “children” on their backs.

This was because of a legend that stated Ho-tei had once carried a child to safety across a flooded river. 

The couple happily bought the statue and went on their way. Back on the ship Marie Lambert wrapped the statue carefully and placed it in one of her suitcases.

Soon after the couple began to be plagued by fevers and toothaches. At two separate ports in Australia, Marie and then her husband C. J. sought out dentists to ease their pain—but once ashore their pain was mysteriously gone.

Once back onboard their toothaches resumed. Marie pulled out the statue one evening to show a fellow traveller who admired the fine workmanship.

He had lived in Japan, and he told them that St. Christopher, which is used by westerners as a good luck charm and for travel protection, might have originated from Ho-tei.

On their way back to their home in London the Lambert's stopped in the states to visit Marie’s mother. This woman also admired the ivory statuette. Marie then gave it to her as a gift.

But within hours her mother suffered a toothache and she gave the statue back to the couple stating it had not brought her good luck.

This is when the couple made the connection between their toothaches and the old statue. Each time the statue had been in their cabin onboard ship they had become ill but when the suitcase it was in had been removed to the ship’s storage they had recovered.

While they had been ashore in Australia—they had been away from this suitcase so their toothaches had disappeared.

On board another ship headed for London, Marie wanted to throw the statue overboard but C. J. stopped her stating that they best not for all their teeth might rot.

Home in London, the couple took the statue to an Asian antique dealer. Admiring the statue he offered to pay them more than what they had paid but they refused stating they just wanted to get rid of the statue—but were afraid to destroy it.

After hearing the Lambert’s stories of painful toothaches and fevers this man called in an old Japanese friend.

The two examined the statue and discovered the plugged hole on the base. Several days later this dealer requested the Lambert's stop by his store at their convenience.

As they entered his store they noticed the Ho-tei had a place of honor on one counter. In fact, it looked like a shrine. There were lit joss sticks in front of it.

Laughing Buddha Shrine

He told the couple what his friend had told him. This Ho-tei was probably used as a temple god. The two men had discovered a small medallion inside the statue.

These medallions where placed in Laughing Buddha statues in order to give them a “soul.” This meant this statue just needed to be treated with reverence.

He pointed out the shrine. He then bowed down. He told the skeptical couple with proper care this statue would no longer be a threat.

Is the Crying Boy Painting Cursed?

Regardless of the truth of the stories that surround this painting many families that have owned a print of this painting state that at least one member of their family found the picture to be “creepy.”

An Italian artist or Spanish artist by the name Bruno Amadio—no one seems to know for sure--did the original painting. The picture depicts a young boy, an orphan, of around 4 years of age who is crying. Other versions of this original painting have been done since.

One version of the print.

A print of the Crying Boy was mass-produced and distributed in the UK starting in the 1950s. In the mid-1980s the many prints of this painting gained the reputation of being cursed and sometimes even haunted.

This story took shape when the British tabloid The Sun published an article in September of 1985 that shared a story that a firefighter from Yorkshire, Peter Hall told. According to Hall unscathed Crying Boy prints were found in 40 to 50 homes that had burned down.

Hall went on to state that a fire had even ravaged his brother’s home but that his print of the Crying Boy remained undamaged. This story also stated that because of these fires other firefighters would not place a print of this picture in their homes.

The Sun * kept this story alive by having readers send in their Crying Boy prints. They then made a big deal of burning these pictures in a large bonfire in November of 1985.

Another version of the print.

* Other British sensation tabloids that picked up on this story were The Daily Mirror and The Daily Star.

Original Sun story.

To add fuel to the fire-- pun intended—The Sun circulated the untrue story that while some of these “sent in” prints were being stored in a warehouse--they caused this structure to burn down.

This story then took on a life of its own with tales circulating that the original artists’ studio had burned down and shortly after the young boy depicted in the picture was killed in a car crash.

Thousands of prints of this picture have been bought—the curse is said to affect all of these prints but with the caveat that the owner must be aware of the curse first.

Yet another story stated if the owners of the prints “were kind to it” it would actually bring them good luck.

In a departure from the curse story, others stated the young orphans’ ghost haunts all the prints because of the tragic way he died.

Steve Punt, a British writer, and comedian investigated this curse for the BBC. This production concluded that these prints did not burn because a fire resistant varnish was used on them.

But many people who have experienced these fires do believe in this curse. They state this BBC production did not explain why the wooden frames and string that held these prints on the wall also did not burn.

Here is a link to an article that maps how this story became so huge.

The video below shows a “test” presented on Steve Punt’s show entitled, Punt Pl. An attempt is made to burn a Crying Boy print.

Haunted Object: The Anguished Man

The Anguished Man is an oil painting that depicts a man that looks tortured.

The Anguished Man

The figure of the man in this picture appears bald, his face, neck and a portion of his body that is shown appears red. The mouth is open as if the man is screaming.

Some paintings are made to look this way but The Anguished Man painting is unusual in that it seems to adversely effect people that own it.

Sean Robinson’s grandmother came in possession of the painting when a friend gave it to her. She was firmly convinced that the painting was evil. She told Sean that the woman who gave her the painting mentioned the painter of this piece of art mixed his own blood with the oil paints he used.

Supposedly the artist then committed suicide after he completed it.

His mother stated that she heard crying and saw a shadow man who was faceless and a strange mist, She felt this activity was connected to the picture.

For twenty-five years she kept the painting locked away in her home’s attic in order to protect the family from the evil it projected. She felt this art piece was haunted.

When Sean inherited the painting his family began to experience several unexplained events. They heard the crying and sobbing sounds and saw the shadow figure as well. Sean’s wife had her hair touched while the painting hung upstairs.

His son fell off the stairs inexplicably. Sean feels the painting was the cause. 

Sean states his dog would not go upstairs when the painting was there and now it is in the cellar the family dog will not enter this room.

His wife had another a spine-chilling encounter with this ghost. One night, she thought  Sean had come to bed with her only to look up into a pair of strange eyes. Sean rushed upstairs hearing her screams. Sean put the painting in the cellar at this point.

After this, the dark figure was seen more often, the noises became louder and the family began to feel cold spots around the home. 

Sean set up a camera in front of the painting and filmed it. What he captured on this recording is interesting. This 2+ minute video is below.

Scraping sounds were recorded, a door shuts by itself and a loud bang is heard—while everyone in the house is sleeping.

Sean later set up his camera once more, this time he filmed for three consecutive nights for 8 hours each time-- he captured the loud bang sound again and he also captured the painting falling over on its own in the middle of the night. This video is below as well.

Sean still owns the painting but these days he keeps it locked in the basement of his home to protect his family. He feels it is cursed.

He has had many offers from others to buy the painting but for some reason he has no desire to sell it.

As usual, skeptics have claimed these videos are hoaxes. I will leave that to the reader to decide.

Here is the original video footage Sean shot of the painting.

Here is the second video where Sean captured the painting falling over.

The Totem Pole and the Curse

Totem Pole

The sewer system in the town of Livermore, California was once cursed because of how a totem pole was treated.

This totem pole still stands in Centennial Park on the corner of 4^th and Holmes.

Adam “Fortunate Eagle” Nordwald, a member of the Ojibwa Nation, carved this totem pole in 1969 for a local shopping center but when they refused to pay him, he donated instead it to the city of Livermore for their 100^th anniversary.

This totem pole depicts scenes representing Livermore’s history. Every ring on it represents ten years. It has a carving of the city founder—Robert Livermore and another that shows Atomic energy used for peaceful purposes.

The pole when given was 18 feet tall and was dedicated in May of 1974.

At the time it was installed in the park, city workers for some unknown reason chopped off a few feet at the bottom of the pole. Nordwald felt this desecrated his work. He demanded that it be restored to its original height.

But his demands fell on death ears. The city council refused to restore the pole.

So Norwald placed a curse on the city’s sewer system. Within two weeks Livermore’s entire sewer system backed up.

Article in Independent in March of 2015

After this Livermore restored the totem pole to its original height but they never issued an apology to Nordwald so he did not lift the curse.

Some believe this curse has impacted the city in other ways. In 1974 during the centennial celebration a Time Capsule was buried in the park. In 1999, when the town went to unearth it could not be found.

It later was found underneath the totem pole.

In more recent years, two deaths have been blamed on the Nordwald curse. A former city manager and a prominent city resident that were both interviewed in a documentary about Livermore’s history mentioned the totem pole and curse.

They both died within a few short weeks after this documentary’s release. Were they victims of this curse or was it just an eerie coincidence?

Adam Nordwald also became known because of his activism in various Native American protests.

He was the main organizer for the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 until 1971.

In 1973, he “discovered” Italy. He showed up in this country in full tribal regalia and announced in the name of the American Native people that he was taking possession of Italy “by right of discovery” just like Christopher Columbus had done.