A dibbuk box is a wine cabinet which, according to Jewish folklore, is said to be haunted by a restless,
evil spirit
that is capable of haunting and possessing the living. One particular
dibbuk box became famous when it was listed on eBay along with a
terrifying backstory.
The story began in September of 2001, when
an antique buyer and refinisher attended an estate sale in Portland,
Oregon. The auction was held to sell off the belongings of a
103-year-old woman, and her granddaughter informed the antique dealer of
the woman's past when she noticed that he had purchased a simple wooden
wine cabinet. The old woman had been Jewish, the only one of her
family members to have survived her time in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. When she immigrated to
the United States, the wine cabinet and two other items were the only things she brought with her.
The woman's granddaughter explained that her grandmother had always kept
the box
hidden away, and said that it should never, ever be opened because it
contained a malicious spirit called a dibbuk. She requested that the box
be buried with her, but since doing so went against Jewish tradition,
her family did not oblige. When the antique dealer asked the
granddaughter if she would like to keep the box for sentimental reasons, the woman vehemently refused, becoming very upset and saying, "We made a deal! You have to take it!"
The dealer took his purchase back to his shop and placed it in his workshop in
the basement.
Immediately, strange and frightening things started happening. He was
called by his frantic shop assistant, who said that the lights had gone
out, the doors and security gates had locked, and she heard terrible
sounds coming from the basement. When he investigated, he discovered a
terrible odor of cat urine lingering in the air, and every light bulb in
the place had been smashed.
The dealer gave the wine box to his
mother as a gift, and the woman immediately suffered a major stroke. In
the hospital, she spelled out, "H-A-T-E G-I-F-T" as tears spilled from
her eyes uncontrollably. He attempted to give the gift to several more
people, but it was always returned to him within a few days, usually
because people just didn't like it, or because they felt that
something about it was evil. He began suffering from a recurring nightmare, and he later found that all of his family members who had been around the box were having the same dream. He started seeing shadow figures darting around in his peripheral vision, as well.
After
finally admitting that there was something paranormal happening, he
went online to research and fell asleep at his computer. When he woke
up, he felt like something was breathing on his neck, and when he turned
his head he saw a huge shadow figure dashing away from him down the
hall. He then decided to list the item on eBay, along with a detailed
account of what had happened to him since obtaining the box.
Jason Haxton, the curator of a medical museum in Missouri, purchased the box from the eBay auction. He later wrote
a book detailing the strange story of the dibbuk box, and in 2012, a horror movie based on the book entitled
The Possession was released.
