The Dybbuk Box Haunting, 2001

In 2001, a Portland antiques dealer opened a small wooden wine cabinet from a seized estate auction, and a thick scent of rotten jasmine filled the air in his shop. The dealer, Kevin Mannis, found two pennies from the 1920s, a strand of pale blonde hair, and a dried blossom locked inside the box. That night, his dreams were invaded by a shadowy woman with sunken eyes, clawing at his chest. Weeks later, his mother suffered a sudden stroke in his store, right beside the open box. The following owners all reported leaking candle wax, metallic tastes in their mouths, and lights bursting in empty rooms. Each owner tried to rid themselves of the box, but the nightmares and illnesses continued, with one man claiming he saw the box’s doors swing open by themselves at exactly 3:33 a.m. Kevin finally locked the Dybbuk Box away after finding a Hebrew inscription burned beneath its false bottom: a prayer for trapping a malevolent spirit inside.