Haunted Objects: Stories of Ghosts on Your Shelf (28 page)

These are just some of the hundreds of haunted items at the John Zaffis Paranormal Museum.

I Bought My Ghost on eBay!

When the auction website eBay first hit the Internet in 1995, it became a collector’s dream. Years spent painstakingly researching and locating desired items now took minutes instead, with just the click of a mouse. Tiffany glass, a rare Matchbox car, or original cigarette lighter for a 1972 Dodge Dart—it all had value to someone, somewhere and eBay allowed millions to turn unwanted items into cash.

It didn’t take long before objects for sale on eBay started to be described as “haunted.” Often filled with elaborate back stories and unverifiable claims, the item descriptions were intended to overinflate the value of otherwise mundane items. Although eBay has rules about selling a ghost or a spirit online, because delivery cannot be confirmed, haunted objects circumvent those rules. The item is real, even if the ghosts alleged to be attached to it are not.

Haunted objects sold on eBay are often met with skepticism by bidders, partly because of our suspicious nature regarding paranormal activity and partly because of our general distrust of the item descriptions on the auction site. One only needs to look at an eBay seller’s rating and the comments listed to realize that not everyone is going to be pleased, no matter how accurate and truthful a seller tries to be. Because of the fickle nature of paranormal activity, an item may wreak havoc in one person’s house, but might be dormant in another. Sometimes the auction item is not the cause of the ghostly activity—the location may already be haunted and the item simply serves as a trigger object.

Just as there’s a lot to be gained by calling an eBay sale item “haunted,” there’s a lot of risk involved for the seller as well. If no activity manifests once the new owner has received the item, there’s a good chance the seller could be hit with some negative feedback, thus devaluing him and his wares in the eyes of potential bidders.

But for the most part, haunted items on eBay are simply a sales pitch. If a person is attempting to sell a painting, for example, and numerous other prints of the same painting are for sale—well, conjure up a little ghost story and it makes your print different from all the others. There are probably hundreds of Ouija boards up for bid at any given time, with most probably selling for less than $20. But if it’s a haunted Ouija board with an interesting story of dark spirit activity surrounding it—say, predicting a murder or casting a demonic spell—its value can be 10 times as much. Whether the story is true or not, the object becomes sexier to those who want it, and desirous to those who collect haunted objects.

Sociologists and psychologists often say ghost hunting is fueled by the desire to experience the adrenaline rush of fear, no different from enjoying a good horror film. Seeing an allegedly haunted object every day, with the potential for spirit activity to occur because of it, serves as a way to experience that same adrenaline rush.

Dolls, old toys, and even musical instruments lend themselves to ghost stories and tales of paranormal phenomenon. There are many reasons why. Dolls can have an inherent creepiness, but they also can be beloved and, therefore, easily subjected to spirit attachment. The same goes for a toy that was played with for many hours, or an instrument that a person spent a good portion of their lives attempting to master. The energy that was expended loving, playing with, or despising some of these objects can ingrain itself within them.

A good ghost story has also helped turn inexpensive costume jewelry and inconsequential rings into big-money items. Even if it’s not gold, it can still be a goldmine.

Haunted objects sold on eBay have fetched some astounding sums. Some of the most famous have been purchased by online casino,
GoldenPalace.com
, which went on a bit of a spending spree for haunted items in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century. A grilled cheese sandwich that reportedly bore an image of the Virgin Mary was purchased in 2004 for an eye-popping $28,000. The sandwich was already 10 years old at the time and had never grown a spot of mold, so it was believed to possess some sort of supernatural power.

Many items for sale on eBay are purported to be haunted or to have a spell attached to them. This 5-inch “demon” came loaded and ready for the buyer to use it for black-magic spells to smite enemies, along with a warning to “use at your own risk…not a toy!” When the buyer flipped open the box it came in, she was secretly expecting the same result as opening Pandora’s Box, or perhaps the Indiana Jones version of the Ark of the Covenant. But nothing. Not even so much as a demonic burp.

Later that same year,
GoldenPalace.com
paid $65,000 for a haunted cane that had attached to it the spirit of the old man who had used it for many years. The man’s daughter put the cane up for auction because her father’s spirit was allegedly disturbing her young son, and she hoped selling the cane would convince the boy that his grandfather’s spirit had gone with it.

The purchase of the haunted objects was a win-win-win for all three parties involved: the seller, the buyer, and eBay. The sellers each made tidy sums for items that were otherwise of little value.
GoldenPalace.com
made headlines and drew attention to its site, gaining even more exposure when it took the items on a nationwide tour. And well beyond the nice eBay seller fees that came as a result of such large winning bids, eBay itself enjoyed great exposure and attention, and likely an increase in site traffic as well. It’s safe to say eBay would rather see a “haunted” cane sell for $65,000 than a non-haunted one sell for $6.50.

While we are not aware of any comprehensive studies of the sale of haunted items on eBay, there
are
trends that an observer can identify. Not surprisingly, those trends also mirror the hot paranormal topic of the time. Early haunted items were said to contain average, run-of-the-mill spirits—perhaps ghosts of the former owners. As negative spirits and demons made television shows like
Paranormal State
and
Ghost Adventures
more intriguing to viewers, they also began to be attributed to haunted eBay items. The current trend as of this writing is the concept of
djinn
or
jinn
—a supernatural entity of Arabian folklore from which the word “genie” is derived—attached to items like rings and pendants. Many of these objects are said to possess a spirit that will increase your luck and make your dreams come true, as opposed to simply haunting your home.

Just as with anything purchased on eBay, a haunted object is not guaranteed to be everything claimed in the item description. You must take these descriptions with a grain of salt. Whether the items are haunted or not, the old adage remains true: buyer beware.

Photo Credits

The photographs in this book are courtesy/copyright of the following people:

P. 4-5: Michael Bednarek/Shutterstock.

P. 9: Christopher Balzano.

P. 11: Sergio Schnitzler/Shutterstock.

P. 12: Gyorgy Barna/Shutterstock.

P. 13: FomaA/Shutterstock.

P. 14: Christopher Balzano.

P. 15-16: Annette Shaff/Shutterstock.

P. 18 and 19: Dave Francis.

P. 20: Jetrel/Shutterstock.

P. 24 and 26: Dodie Claar.

P. 30: Christopher Balzano.

P. 33: Christopher Balzano.

P. 35: Christopher Balzano.

P. 36-37: Shmel/Shutterstock.

P. 39, 41 and 43: Used by permission.

P. 44: criben/Shutterstock.

P. 46: Anthony Smith/Shutterstock.

P. 49: Stephen Coburn/Shutterstock.

P. 50 and 51: Wikimedia Commons.

P. 53: Leo Balzano.

P. 56: Christopher Balzano.

P. 59: MrSegui/Shutterstock.

P. 60 and 61: Mel Slater.

P. 66-67: Guy Shapira/Shutterstock.

P. 69 and 71: Nancy Planeta.

P. 76: Poprugin Aleksey/Shutterstock.

P. 81 and 83: Christopher Balzano.

P. 85: Péter Gudella/Shutterstock.

P. 86: Wikimedia Commons.

P. 87: Wikimedia Commons.

P. 91: Jackie Barrett.

P. 92: Seulatr/Wikimedia Commons.

P. 94-95: Jeff Thrower/Shutterstock.

P. 97: Mikhail/Shutterstock.

P. 99: Valeriy Lebedev/Shutterstock.

P. 101, 102, 103, 105, 106-107, 108, 109: Christopher Balzano.

P. 111 and 113: Jill Cole.

P. 112: Stephanie Connell/Shutterstock.

P. 114: Anita Patterson Peppers/Shutterstock.

P. 118-119: Frank Grace.

P. 120 and 121: nutech21/Shutterstock.

P. 124: alison1414/Shutterstock.

P. 126-127: VitalyRomanovich/Shutterstock.

P. 128: srdjan draskovic/Shutterstock.

P. 132 and 133: John Brightman.

P. 135: Olivier Le Queinec/Shutterstock.

P. 137: Used by permission.

P. 140-141: Leigh Prather/Shutterstock.

P. 142: Everett Johnson Jr.

P. 145: Pete Donofrio/Shutterstock.

P. 149 and 151: Ray Jay Edwards.

P. 150: Pierre David/Live Entertainment.

P. 152: afitz/Shutterstock.

P. 156-157 and 159: Slava Gerj/Shutterstock.

P. 162: TriStar Pictures.

P. 165: Heritage Auctions.

P. 168 and 169: Jeannette Osbourne.

P. 178: Heritage Auctions

P. 180-181: Dmitrijs Bindemanis/Shutterstock.

P. 183: Anastasios Kandris/
Shutterstock.

P. 186: Image Tex/Heritage Auctions.

P. 188: Mediamix photo/Shutterstock.

P. 190: Syfy television channel.

P. 192 and 193: J.W. Ocker,
www.oddthingsiveseen.com
; author of
The New England Grimpendium
.

P. 195: Stacey L. Brooks.

Glossary

Apparition
: The visual appearance of any spirit or unusual phenomenon that doesn’t necessarily take on the shape of a human form or that doesn’t show signs of intelligence or personality.

Apportation
: A phenomenon in which objects mysteriously appear or disappear through the influence of spirits.

Binding ritual
: A form of restraint to keep a spirit attached to a certain object from causing further problems.

Demon
: One of any nonhuman spirits whose objective is to possess a human.

Demonologist
: Someone who studies demons and is well versed in nonhuman activity.

Djinn or jinn
: A spirit often capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people. Some are helpful and can be called on to help in times of need; others are malicious demon-like creatures that cause great suffering when summoned.

Doppelganger
: The spirit of a person who is living and viewed by that same person. A doppelganger is often the vision of one’s own death.

Electromagnetic field (EMF)
: Natural and unnatural fluctuations in the magnetic fields in an area. This field can be measured, and high readings often indicate the presence of a ghost.

Electronic voice phenomenon (EVP)
: The noises and voices that are recorded on traditional audiotape or videotape, but aren’t audible to the human ear while being recorded; often believed to be voices from the other side.

Elementals
: Spirits created by forces in nature, rather than the remnants of real people.

Ghost
: A visual manifestation of a soul, spirit, life force, or life energy. Most people use this term to describe the visual appearance of a human being or creature that has died and passed on to the other side.

Ghost hunter
: A person who investigates and studies ghosts, hauntings, and paranormal phenomenon.

Intellectual haunting
: Refers to a ghost with a mind that is still active and a “body” that can interact with the environment.

Medium
: A person who has a special gift and believes he or she can act as a bridge between the world of the living and the other side.

Old hag syndrome
: the feeling that some unseen force is pushing down on your chest.

Orb
: A phenomenon in the shape of a floating ball of light, often thought to be a trapped soul.

Other side
: The spirit world, or the place spirits go after death.

Ouija or spirit board
: A flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words “yes,” “no,” “hello,” and “goodbye,” and various symbols and graphics. Thought by many to be a portal into the spirit world to allow communication, and some claim they invite darker forces like demons into the real world.

Paranormal
: Unusual activity that lies outside the range of normal experience and involves ghosts, apparitions, spirits, hauntings, or poltergeists; anything for which there is no scientific explanation.

Phenomenon
: A paranormal occurrence that cannot be explained in scientific terms.