I've played enough Luigi's mansion to know paintings can become haunted. Here are seven of them.
The anguish man
Shawn Robinson inherited this painting from his grandmother after she died. The grandmother has kept the painting locked away in her attic for 25 years. The artist who created The anguish man mixed his own blood with the paint after he finished it.
Shawn´s grandmother claimed to hear strange crying sounds coming from the attic. It sounded like voices from another world. She was also sure that she once saw the spirit of the artist - a shadowy figure that darted past. It only happened once but she was convinced that something bad would happen if she tried got rid of the painting. So she kept it.
When Shawn received the painting he began to experience the same strange activities that his grandmother spoke of. He heard the same strange crying gurgles and saw a shadowy figure in his house. Invisible hands pushed his son down the stairs.
Shawn knew he had to react. He set up a camera and recorded the painting. After checking the footage eight hours later, he was shocked. He found scraping noises coming from within the painting itself! He left the camera on for another night. At 4:00 in the morning the door to the right of the painting slammed shut while everyone was sleeping. Shawn left the camera on for five more days and each night something stranger than the previous night happened. Eerie noises, moaning and other disturbances were all recorded.
At one point Shawn´s wife said she felt something touch her hair in the bathroom. That night Shawn saw a roaming mist at the top of the stairs. On the last night Shawn finally recorded a white figure sprinting across the room.
After all, he decided to put the painting into a storage unit for safekeeping. Maybe his son will inherit it when he grows old enough to accept the cursed family treasure.
The portrait of Bernardo de Gálvez
This portrait is indeed a very fascinating haunted object. It hangs in the Galvez hotel in Galveston, Texas. You can find it at the end of the downstairs hallway.
Many who see it get a little creeped out for they say they can feel his eyes following them as they walk past. There are also a lot of reports of people feeling very cold and uneasy if standing close to the painting for an extended period of time. If you take a picture of the painting it is always out of focus, or some unknown mist gets in the way. One day a guests of the hotel asked Bernardo’s portrait very politely if he or she could take a picture. Once they got the pictures back they were shocked as the picture was perfectly clear. The ghost does not like having his portraits picture taken unless you ask his permission first.
Because the Galvez hotel is built in honor of the great Bernardo de Gálvez they will not remove the portrait. Even if guests complain about paranormal activities.
Man proposes, God disposes
This painting was created by Edwin Henry Landseer in 1864. You can find it at Royal Holloway College at the University of London, UK.
The subject matter of the picture is highly grisly and macabre. On 19 May 1845, Sir John Franklin led two ships carrying a total of 129 men on a doomed expedition. The disappearance of the Franklin expedition was a complete mystery until 1854 when a rescue mission led by John Rae discovered some disturbing information. He spoke to the local Inuit community, who had met some of the remaining crew after they had abandoned their ships. The Inuit had also found objects from the expedition including Franklin’s telescope, seen in the painting. Most gruesome, however, was their discovery of bones belonging to members of the crew. Disturbingly, some of them showed the signs of cannibalism.
Landseer's depiction of two polar bears savagely mauling the human remains of the Franklin Expedition is one of the most famous paintings in the Picture Gallery of Holloway College. It is covered when exams are held in the Gallery, just in case. A student assigned to take his exam near the painting flat out refused to participate until the creepy work of art was covered. In a panic, the registrar grabbed the only thing big enough to cover it - a Union Jack flag. Since then, the painting is always covered prior to exams with the Union Jack. In the 1980s, the painting actually caused a student to commit suicide after gazing into it. Allegedly, the student wrote "The polar bears made me do it," on his exam sheet before committing the act.
The dead mother
Edvard Munch was a famous Norwegian painter whose life was constantly plagued by tragedy. He is best known for painting “The scream” which shows a skeletal figure shrieking over a bridge. If you've seen the movie "Scream," you know that the killer's mask came from Munch's painting.
But that´s not Munch´s only contribution to modern horror. Another painting called “The dead mother” shows a small traumatized girl standing near her mother´s body as she slowly succumbs to tuberculosis. It was painted after Munch’s own mother died of tuberculosis and its said that the little girl’s eyes follow you around and the bed sheets are heard to ruffle by themselves.
Love letters
An old hotel in Texas is said to be haunted by multiple ghosts. One of them is Samantha Huston, a four year old girl who lives inside of a self-portrait called Love letters. It all startet in 1887 when Samantha fell down a large flight of stairs to her death while chasing after a ball.
Seven days later hotel guests saw her bouncing the same ball in the lobby. Samantha could also be heard giggling near the ladies room as well as by the stairs where she died.
Her wealthy father hired a painter to commemorate her death with a grand portrait. It seems as if her spirit transferred itself inside the canvas shortly after it was hung on the wall. In the picture Samantha holds flowers and looks innocent, but appearances are deceptive. Hotel staff and guests say that the expressions change often. Her mouth widens into a full smile but she doesn´t always seem in such a good mood. Some visitors say that the picture makes them feel violated and nauseous. Sometimes they even feel like they´re being lifted into the air. When Samantha feels like playing a joke she shakes the door handles of the Yellow Rose suite that´s located next to her painting to let people know she is here.
Pogo the Clown
In 2001 a singer named Nikky Stone bought a portrait of John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer who murdered over 30 kids throughout the 1970s. Disguised as a clown, he lured the children to his home where he tortured, raped and killed them. When he was convicted and thrown in prison Gacy began painting.
After Gacy´s execution in 1994, the Pogo the Clown painting passed hands several times. None of its owners could stand to possess the artwork for too long. Shortly after Stone bought the painting he noticed a string of bad luck followed him. First his dog suddenly died. Then his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Increasingly worried about the painting’s affect on his life, Stone arranged to have it stored at a friend’s house, whose neighbour suddenly died in a car crash. A friend then offered to look after the painting. The haunting glare of Gacy’s Pogo haunted the man until he attempted suicide.
Even Hollywood isn´t safe from the serial killers curse. Famous actor Johnny Depp owned the artwork for a while. The painting repulsed him so much, that he developed a pathological fear of clowns.
Ivan the terrible
Ivan the terrible was a Russian Tsar who has killed his son after he tried to protect his wife. Ilya Repin recaptured this moment in his painting which shows the crazed leader cradling his son while staring straight ahead.
When the artwork was first unveiled at the Tretayakov gallery it caused the crowd to go into hysterics. Some people went into a coma-like state, others became murderously angry.
A fellow painter named Abram Beshal took one look at the painting and went insane. He took out a pocket-knife and slashed the painting three times while shouting “Stop the bloodbath!” Abram was taken away to a mental institution and never let out.
The paintings creator was getting older at this point, but he wanted to prove that he still had his talents. He calmly repainted the slashed face into it´s former horrifying expression. Ivan the terrible continues to haunt spectators to this day.
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