Zoe Elliott-Brown, a 36-year-old British woman, bought a seemingly innocent portrait of a young girl in a charity store, only to discover later that the painting might be cursed. The mysterious work of art, which its previous owner returned to the store with the statement “the painting ruined my life”, brought a whole series of strange incidents into Zoe’s home.
Just a month ago, Zoe came across a painting by an unknown artist at the Hastings Charity Center in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. The seller, aware of the painting’s alleged curse, warned Zoe of its potential danger. Intrigued by the story, Zoe photographed the painting and shared the image with her mother Jane. Little did they know that this innocent act would lead to a series of unexplained events.
When Zoe brought the painting into the house and set it up in the living room, their usually friendly dog Cilla reacted by growling and began to keep her distance from the artwork. At the same time, Jane’s (Zoe’s mother) health deteriorated dramatically, with alternating fevers and chills. She began to wear many sweaters to keep warm. Despite these disturbing phenomena, Jane was fascinated by the painting, staring at it for hours and even stroking the cheek of the painted girl.
Zoe’s attempts to convince her mother that the painting carried negative energy and was a curse were met with resistance. Jane stubbornly defended the painting, considering it a cherished family heirloom. She was unwilling to part with the painting, even as her health declined. Zoe compares her mother’s attachment to the painting to the attraction of the ring from the movie The Lord of the Rings: “It definitely has an attractive and charming effect, it seems to pull you towards it.”
Jane herself believes that the girl in the portrait is unhappy and finds comfort in the fact that someone is stroking her cheek. She denies any connection between her deteriorating health and the purchase of the painting. However, she admits that there are strange knocks at her door, and when she opens it, she finds no one. Once Jane even fainted in the bathroom due to her illness, but she refused medical attention and was left at home.
When in the morning Zoe finds her mother standing in the living room stroking a painted girl on the cheek, she can’t help but wonder how her mother ended up there and what she was doing during the night. The eerie presence of the cursed painting continues to baffle them, leaving them with unanswered questions and a sense of unease.
Is there really a curse placed on this innocent looking portrait? Or is it just coincidence and an overactive imagination?
