The Dibbuk Box

It all started when antiques dealer Kevin Mannis purchased an old wine cabinet at an estate sale in 2000. The ancient wooden box came with a story: It had originally belonged to the grandmother of the estate owner, who kept it hidden away so that nobody could open it. She had called it a "dibbuk box." Dibbuks (or dybbuks) are spirits in Jewish folklore that latch themselves onto people and objects, bringing bad luck, misery, and death.

After leaving the newly purchased box at his office, Mannis received a hysterical call from his secretary. Someone or something was shouting and smashing things in the office. Someone had also locked all the doors. When he returned to the scene, Mannis found that all the light bulbs in the office had been broken and his secretary was curled up in a corner, sobbing. He proceeded to give the wine box to his mother as a gift, and she immediately suffered a stroke, leaving her permanently paralyzed. After attempting to sell or give away the box several times, Mannis took to keeping it in his own house.

Slowly, Mannis started to go crazy. He began seeing shadows out of the corners of his eyes, he would awake in the middle of the night feeling like someone was breathing on his neck, and his home became filled with the stench of cat urine and jasmine flowers. Finally, he posted the dibbuk box on eBay along with the story behind it asking for someone with experience in demonology to take it.

It was purchased by a student named Iosif Nietzke, who ended up posting it on eBay again after he began experiencing the same inexplicable occurrences as Mannis-strange smells, moving shadows, and a sudden invasion of cockroaches in his house. The dibbuk box is currently owned by Jason Haxton, a museum curator who collects paranormal curiosities. So far, his only curse is too many emails asking about the box.