Supernatural Friday: Winter Haunt (Original Poem)

Enjoy my original ghostly poem and please share the link and not the poem, so that others can read it too. 

Winter Haunt

By

Pamela K. Kinney

Winter’s chill deepens when night hits

A sky full of brilliant stars and a hovering moon

Draws you outside to view nature’s glowing glories

Peace fills you at the sights,

when suddenly something nearby catches your eye,

nearby the old oak tree a few feet away.

Not an owl or some other nightly predator,

No, it has a--no it is a shadow,

darker than the darkness itself.

Then it changes, becomes like mist

Except you know the night is clear,

and there’s no mist or fog anywhere.

“What is this strange thing,” you think,

drawing closer and you reach out,

and you see it too, reaches out

A chill much worse than the winter night offers

envelopes you, digs beneath your skin.

Eyes, a nose, a face appears within the glow!

The cold burrows deeper within you

until it finds your heart,

The steady beat of a drum grows louder, harder,

And you understand it’s fear pounding your heart like a hammer.

The need to bolt, to return to the warmth and solace of your home

Fills you like a meme:

Run. Run! RUN! Or it will get you! Go now!

But your feet remained as if glued to the ground,

The ghost moves and covers you completely.

Blind terror fills you, and yet, still, you cannot move.

When suddenly, the haunt vanishes, and the stillness that

held you, is gone.

Later, inside your house, safe and sound, still shaking,

a blanket wrapped around you for warmth and comfort,

You know that winter nights have more than you bargained for;

That the supernatural haunt them, too.

Supernatural Friday: Defining a Haunting

Defining what is a haunting should be simple. Right. Like this traditional description from a dictionary: a haunted place is somewhere inhabited by apparitions or ghosts. These definitions reflect cultural traditions. We are all immersed in our culture and naturally pick up these ideas whether we are aware of it or not. And yet, experts in the paranormal field have so many explanations.

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An important question; A lot of recent ghost research is based around comparing 'haunted' and 'non-haunted' locations When one looks for differences between the places, there is hope that vital clues will be found to the true nature of hauntings. For such research to be of value, it is vital that a way be found to define a haunting.

For most people, a sighting of a spirit is the normal reason for a haunting. And yet, there are more. Sounds, like footsteps, knocks and disembodied voices. Odors, whether terrible or sweet. Something familiar with a person in life, like cigar smoking, maybe smelled in his home after death. Odd sights not a full body apparition. Feelings: headaches, static build-up, touches, and cold spots.  Object movement: doors, taps and light switches, dishes thrown, objects lost and sometimes recovered, objects falling (eg. pictures, ornaments). Plus there are the reactions from pets of something not visible to our eyes.

Now when one investigates a haunting report and explains all its components using natural causes, would it cease to be a haunting? Most people would most likely agree. Note, however, that a haunting is usually composed of several components or different phenomena. Each component may turn out to have a different, unrelated mundane cause. You could, therefore, conclude that such a haunting, as a whole, was only a single concept in the mind of its witnesses.

What if you can explain most of the phenomena in a haunting but not all of them? Is it still a haunting? It could be that the only thing preventing you for explaining the entire haunting is a lack of crucial evidence. Nevertheless, it still contains some vital 'unexplained' components. So, another definition would be a collection of odd, apparently paranormal, events reported at a particular location, at least some of which have not, on proper investigation, been explained by natural causes. Not as cool as a place inhabited by a ghost, but still, an explanation.

But no matter what “Ghost Hunters” or the others say, no one really knows what a ghost is. Sometimes it is an intelligent haunt, where you received answers and learn it was someone who passed away, like I got over my ghost box, the first and last name of a man, Philip Barnes, who died in the 1622 Massacre at Falling Creek Ironworks.  Other times, it is like a recording, where something repeats itself at a certain time or certain day. Not a ‘real’ phantom.  Then there are ‘demons’, possible theories of time travel, etc… So many reasons, so many “who knows the truth?”  

No matter the possibility. We still enjoy reading about haunting. Taking ghost tours, or watching paranormal TV shows and movies. And at this time of the year, when Halloween is when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, it’s all about enjoying that chill up our spine.

                         

                         

                         Happy Haunting.

Supernatural Friday: Wendigo

This creature is considered by many to be the creation of horror writer Algernon Blackwood in his classic terror tale, "The Wendigo." But it is very real to many in the northern woods and prairies of Minnesota, a part of Native American legends. Way before Blackwood’s story.

Many legends and stories have circulated over the years about a mysterious creature encountered by hunters and campers in the shadowy forests of the upper regions of Minnesota. One variation has the creature so thin that it could not be seen from the side and only those who faced head-on could see it. This creature is said to have a voracious appetite for human flesh and that many forest dwellers who disappeared over the years believed to be victims of the monster.

The American Indians had their own tales of the Wendigo from long ago. The Inuit Indians of the region called the creature by various names, including Wendigo, Witigo, Witiko and Wee-Tee-Go. Roughly translated, it meant "the evil spirit that devours mankind." Around 1860, a German explorer translated Wendigo to mean "cannibal" among the tribes along the Great Lakes.

Indian legends described a gigantic spirit, over fifteen feet tall and lanky. It had once been human but had been transformed into a creature by the use of magic. Though all of the descriptions of the creature vary slightly, the Wendigo is generally said to have glowing eyes, long yellowed fangs and a long tongue. Most have a sallow, yellowish skin but others are said to be matted with hair. They are driven by a horrible hunger. Also the lore says the Wendigo is created whenever a human resorts to cannibalism to survive. In years past, such a practice was possible, although still rare, as many of the tribes and settlers in the region were cut off by the bitter snows and ice of the north woods. Unfortunately, eating another person to survive and the legend of the Wendigo was created.

According to the settlers' version of the legend, the Wendigo would often be seen to signal a death in the community. A Wendigo allegedly made a number of appearances near a town called Rosesu, Minnesota’s North Star City in the late 1800's through the 1920's. Each time that it was reported, an unexpected death followed and finally, it vanished one day.

A true story about the Wendigo concerned a Cree Indian named Jack Fiddler. He claimed he had killed at least fourteen Wendigos in his lifetime. The murder resulted in his imprisonment at the age of 87. In October 1907, Fiddler and his son, Joseph, were tried for the murder of a Cree Indian woman. Both men pleaded guilty to the crime and defended themselves, stating that the woman had been possessed by the spirit of a Wendigo. Their story went that she was about to transform into the monster. According to their defense, she had to be killed before she murdered other members of the tribe. 

Stories are still told of Wendigo's seen in northern Ontario, near the Cave of the Wendigo, and around the town of Kenora, where a creature has been spotted by traders, trackers and trappers for decades. There is belief that the Wendigo still roams the woods and the prairies of northern Minnesota and Canada. 

The Wendigo has fascinated us enough to be a character in Marvel Comics universe, novels, television series, movies, artwork, and so much more. It's just another legend to enjoy, but next time you go hiking in the woods during winter, be sure not to get lost and get back. Otherwise, if it snows heavy and you are caught out in it and you hear a howl, beware, the Wendigo might be stalking you, or worse, it just might want to possess you and make you the Wendigo!

If in a mood to enjoy a story about a Wendigo, check out the movies and books below: 

Short Stories:

"Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood (free):

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10897/10897-h/10897-h.htm

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wendigo-Algernon-Blackwood-ebook/dp/B0084C0B28/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1402670304&sr=1-1

Year of the Wendigo by Ernest DeVore (Kindle-99 cents)

Wendigo (Kindle-99 cents) by Joseph Sweet

The Wendigo by Lijah Phoenix (Kindle—99 cents)

Wendigo: A Joe Bell Short Story by Alan Stanford (Kindle-$2.99)

Movies:

Wendigo: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275067/

Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo (also known as ‘Wendigo’ too): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116371/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Ravenous:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129332/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Television:

Wendigo (Season 1 of Supernatural): Sam and Dean follow the coordinates left in their father's journal and land in the middle of the Colorado woods where they investigate the disappearance of several campers.

Who, What, Where, Wendigo (Season 2 of Haven): Audrey and Nathan lead a search party into Haven's sprawling woods when a local teen goes missing - and find they are not alone out there when a local supernatural legend seems to be more than a story.

 Wendigo (Season 1 of Charmed): After Piper is almost killed by a beast, she notices a strange transformation she begins to make.

 Wendigo, Dogma, Wolfman (Season 2 of Monsters and Mysteries in America): Hybrid beasts are not legends in Michigan. They are real. Across the state a Wendigo transforms men into cannibals; in the countryside a man-wolf preys on one road; and in the city a bloodthirsty manimal confronts Jeff Cornelius.

Others Wendigo appears in an episode, is of Grimm, X-Files, and many others to put down.

Books:

Pet Cemetery by Stephen King (available at Barnes and Noble, Books A Millions and your local independent bookstore)

Night of the Wendigo by William Meikle

The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey

Wendigo by Jeremy Terry (Kindle-99 cents)

Warden (Book 1: Wendigo Fever) by Kevin Hardman 

Wendigo by Raven Bower (available at Barnes and Noble, Books a Millions and your local independent bookstore)

Shadow of the Wendigo by Dale T. Phillips

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo by Rose Anderson and Gordon Bennetto

Cry of the Wendigo by C.W. James

The Curse of the Wendigo: An Agate and Buck Adventure (Vortex Books) by Scott R. Welvaert and Brann Garvey

Flesh by Dylan J. Morgan

Edgewise by Graham Masterton (available at Barnes and Noble, Books a Millions and your local independent bookstore)

Where the Chill Waits by T. Chris Martindale

Why Christmas Is Scary, Not Just Merry

A repeat of post I did last year. Was real busy today. 

It's that time of the year to smooch under the mistletoe, shop for loved ones and go view Christmas lights on the Tacky Lights Tour. The season is full of good tidings and happiness, nothing scarier than you might get that special gift from Santa Claus. Right?

WRONG! People in olden days didn’t stay indoors due to the “frightful” weather, but more because it might have been cold and dangerous outside. They knew in their hearts that dark forces lurked amidst the shadows of the snow drifts. Winter Solstice (December 21) was seen as a time when the fabric between the mortal world and the world of malicious spirits became thin enough for things to snatch unwary victims. Though the fiends are lout all winter, still, this time prove to be the scariest. When many gathered together to celebrate, it was hoped that the dark spirits would realize with all that din that there were too many bodies inside or caroling outside to grab one person. Another custom practiced was doors were flung open at midnight to let out trapped evil spirits caught inside the building. A candle was left burning in the window all night to insure good luck for the family inside. Any candle that burned out before dawn was deemed a bad sign.

Another thing said is that those born on Christmas are apt more to see a spirit than those not. But they have nothing to fear from any ghost if they chance to encounter one. They are also protected against deaths by drowning or hanging.


Witches are a part of Christmas too—through our very own Christmas ornaments, or balls. In Scotland, people used to wear them around their necks to ward off witches. It was also believed in Scotland and Canada that if a witch touched one, her/his soul would be caught within the ball forever.

A witch ball is a hollow sphere of plain or stained glass hung in cottage windows in eighteenth-century England to ward off evil spirits, witch's spells, or ill fortune, though the witch's ball actually originated among cultures where witches were considered a blessing. Witches would usually "enchant" the balls to enhance their potency against evils. Later, they were often posted on top of a vase or suspended by a cord (as from the mantelpiece or rafters) for a decorative effect. Witch balls appeared in America in the nineteenth century and were often found in gardens under the name "gazing ball,” something that has come back, as I bought one last summer to place in my own garden. However, "gazing balls" contain no strands within their interior. According to folk tales, witch balls would entice evil spirits with their bright colors; the strands inside the ball would then capture the spirit and prevent it from escaping.

Witch balls sometimes measure as large as seven inches (eighteen cm) in diameter. By tradition, but not always, the witch ball is green or blue in color and made from glass. There have been others made of wood, grass, or twigs, instead of glass. Some are decorated in enameled swirls and brilliant stripes of various colors. The gazing balls found in many of today's gardens are derived from silvered witch balls that acted as convex mirrors, warding off evil by reflecting it away.


Because they look similar to the glass balls used on fishing nets, witch balls are often associated with sea superstitions and legends. The modern Christmas ornament ball is descended from the witch ball. According to an ancient tale, the ornament was originally placed on the tree to dispel a visitor’s envy at the presents left beneath the tree.


Besides the ball, mistletoe was also considered a powerful charm to be used against witches, along with lightening. The lightening? Is it connected, as maybe caused by a witch? Good question.


This time of year also has ghost stories told. Just as much as Halloween. Charles Dickens’ novel, the Christmas Carol, Is proof of that. Those Victorian people did more than go Christmas caroling or drank mulled wine by the roaring fires. There’s even that line in It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year song that goes "There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmas long, long ago." There are novels and anthologies that come out this time of the year, ghostly fiction or horror stories. One book of fiction I found is Christmas Ghosts, edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell. I ordered for myself, a ghostly tale set during Christmas time for my Kindle, The Carousel by James Cessford. The eBook intrigued me to read it and it was not a bad price. Search Amazon or your local brick and mortar independent bookstore for other Christmas ghost stories to buy and read.

Besides, ghost stories, there are other dark myths and legends concerning with Christmas. In the olden days gone by in Finland, they believed in Joulupukki. Pagan people used to have festivities to ward off evil spirits. In Finland these spirits of darkness wore goat skins and horns. In the beginning this creature didn't give presents but demanded them. The Christmas Goat was an ugly creature and frightened children. It is unclear how this personality was transformed into the benevolent Father Christmas. Nowadays the only remaining feature is the name. The process was probably a continuous amalgamation of many old folk customs and beliefs from varied sources. One can speak of a Christmas pageant tradition consisting of many personages with roles partly Christian, partly pagan: A white-bearded saint, the Devil, demons, and house gnomes. Nowadays the Joulupukki of Finland resembles the American Santa Claus. This reminds me of Black Peter and the Krampus, both being Santa’s “evil twin.” In many areas of the world, it is said that St. Nicholas has a companion. This companion is Krampus, though another version is Black Peter, or Zarte Piet or Zwarte Piet. Black Peter is associated with the Netherlands and has dark skin. Krampus isn't a man though. He has horns, goat hair, hooves, and claws. Just like a demon. His job is to accompany St. Nicholas and to warn and punish bad children. He is said to carry a basket on his back where he will place the bad children and take them to Hell to be tossed into the pit. Puts a frightening twist on “have you been naughty or nice!” Krampus originates from Krampen--meaning claw. Young men dressed up in goat skins and masks they spend two weeks making and on December 5th go out to scare all and carry out "birching," mainly on young girls.

So, besides a season of “good tidings,” it is also a time of terrible fear. So get your children in at night and make sure they are good. And do the same for yourself. For you never know if that shadow moving along the street past your front yard is just someone looking at your Christmas lights, or something else waiting to get you! Happy holidays.Why Christmas Can Be Scary, Not Merry

Halloween Week: Day 2: Spirit, Phantom, Poltergeist--a Ghost Is a Ghost by Any Other Name!

Ever done a ghost tour, or been on a paranormal investigation?  Listen to some ghostly tales told before a fire burning in a hearth? I’ve done all three myself. Ever had a feeling of being watched or even dread wash over you—though the dread may be unintentional, as the phantom may not be evil. What are spirits, ghosts, phantoms, and the other various names given them? Are they each something different, or really a single entity with just many titles?

In traditional belief, a ghost is the soul of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestations, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely: The mode of manifestation in photos or seen by the living’s eyes can range from an invisible presence, shadow people, translucent or wispy shapes, and orbs, to realistic, life-like visions—solids. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as a séance. Paranormal investigators use equipment to find proof of paranormal activity and to make contact with phantoms.

In many tales, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "fetch" is a related omen of death.

Another widespread belief that concerns an apparition is that it is composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Early beliefs were that ghosts were the person within the person (the person's spirit), most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist. This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.

Ghosts are also termed spook, spirits, phantoms, fetch, haint (a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition), wraith, revenant, apparition, spectre, shade, and entity. Poltergeist, German for a “noisy spirit,” is for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects. The Bell Witch was considered a poltergeist.

Most times, a poltergeist is just mischievous, though there instances of it being sinister, not unlike the Bell Witch. Was the Bell Witch a poltergeist or more along demonic lines? Good question. It was an entity that tormented a pioneer family that lived in what was then Red River, Tennessee in 1817-1827 ( Red River is now known as Adams, Tennessee). It was substantiated by eyewitness accounts (other than the family), affidavits, and manuscripts written by those who witness the phenomenon. More about this interesting tale can be found in author Pat Fitzhugh, The Bell Witch: The Full Account.

Besides the poltergeist phenomena, there are three other types of hauntings. First are residual hauntings. These are a recorded playback of what happened in the past. Maybe it could even be a time warp (one idea of mine, though I can’t prove this, but who knows, a feasible one like any other theory). There is no interaction with the living -- the ghost does not see or hear you because the ghost is not actually there. Only his/her energy remains, it is a remnant of his living form that you are seeing, just like when you watch a video. This cycle continues in the same place at usually the same time of day or year indefinitely until the energy is exhausted or diminishes to a low enough level that it is undetectable by human perception. One account of residual hauntings is the Union soldiers marching into Centre Hill Mansion in Petersburg, Virginia every year at certain time on January 24th. An interesting fact about the steps the soldiers march up is that they are not even the original staircase from the Civil War era, but new ones put in by Charles Davis. And yet, like clockwork, the soldiers march up those steps at the same time each January 24^th.  None died, but after the fall of Petersburg, Centre Hill became occupied by Union troops, led by General George L. Hartsuff. President Abraham Lincoln visited Centre Hill on April 3, 1865 to go over the local situation with General Hartsuff. This meeting took place only eleven days before Lincoln’s assassination.  The museum holds a Ghost Walk each year on one special date. 2014’s is Friday, January 24^th (6:00 PM-9:00 PM). You can reserve a spot on the tour through the Petersburg Visitors Business Center at either (804) 733-2401 or 1-800-368-3595, after the first of January for prices and times. Do it quick and call early to reserve your spot as they fill up fast.

Traditional, or intelligent, hauntings are the second. Whether actual human spirits that had not crossed over into heaven and had some unfinished business with a living person, or a message they wanted to deliver before they could move on, or even those that just want to stay in a place they lived in life or be on our plane of existence (more and more, I suspect they can travel back and forth between here and the “other side.” These ghosts will unlock doors and open windows, run the faucets and even interact with you directly because they are an "intelligent" presence, the personality of a person who was once alive but has stayed behind rather than passing over.

The third type of haunting, and undoubtedly the most frightening, is a demonic, or inhuman, haunting. To me personally, I think when a human was evil in life, they too would be considered under demonic. There have been stories of where priests have gone in to exorcise a possessed person, and instead of a inhuman demon, this one claims to be the parent or someone alive once, tormenting the person.

The entity is similar to a traditional haunting because the spirit is intelligent and are existing in the present moment with you. These spirits are malevolent and hostile, suffering from psychological instability or distress stemming from an unresolved conflict with the people who are being subjected to the demonic activity. Demonic presences tend to be ‘unleashed' in order for them to manifest. This is one reason why the use of an Ouija Board is customarily discouraged among many ghost hunters. So if you find one in the game section of the store, don’t buy one. Not understanding and without protection, one can open up a portal, letting in things they can not handle and most times, demonic in nature.

With Halloween upon us, ghosts are on people’s minds. When you answer the knock at the door to hand out treats to the trick-or-treaters, or head out for a Halloween party, enter that haunted house or step upon the trail of the haunted trails attraction, do be unnerved if you see shadows move in the darkness. It might be shadow people. Spirits roam Halloween as the legends claim that the opening of the veil is more certain on Samhain than any other night.  So maybe, just maybe, you did see something out of the ordinary that is not a person in costume.

After all, the dead want to party just like the living—right?

Supernatural Friday: Cursed Boxes

Sorry a day early, but I will be sleeping tomorrow to prepare for a late night ghost tour and overnight investigation at Henricus Historical Park. And with a book signing at Short Pump Barnes and Noble the next day for Haunted Richmond II, I will need my sleep.

Today’s Supernatural Friday is about cursed boxes. It is said that curse boxes are locked, wooden containers with sigils on the exterior. They are designed to contain the magic , evil spirits, or cursed objects to prevent them from causing harm. Cursed objects are created by magic, and can kill their owners. The idea for the curse box may have come from the legend of Pandora's Box, a box that holds all the evil and all the diseases in the world, until - once opened - it releases all this evil upon the world, leaving only Hope behind.

In the fictional world of television, in one show, Supernatural, Dean and Sam Winchesters' father, John Winchester, had curse boxes made for him by Bobby Singer. He kept these at his secret storage space in New York. One of his curse boxes were stolen by thieves working for Bela, who worked for those who paid to get their hands on supernatural objects, and when they opened it, they found a cursed rabbit's foot inside.

One now well-known cursed box, thanks to an episode of Paranormal Witness this year and a movie, The Possession, that came out in September, dybbuk box, or dibbuk box. It is a wine cabinet which is said to be haunted by a dybbuk. In Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is a restless, usually malicious, spirit believed to be able to haunt and even possess the living. The cabinet has the Shema carved into the side of it. Its dimensions are 12.5" × 7.5" × 16.25”. Shema are the first two words of a section of the Torah, and are the title of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.

The term "Dibbuk Box" was first used by Kevin Mannis to describe the box in the item information for an eBay auction to describe it as the subject of an original story (not the story for the film) describing supposedly true events which he considered to be related to the box. Mannis, a writer and creative professional by trade, owned a small antiques and furniture refinishing business in Portland, Oregon at the time. According to Mannis' story, he purportedly bought the box at an estate sale in 2003. It had belonged to a German Holocaust survivor named Havela, who had escaped to Spain and purchased it there before her immigration to the United States. Havela's granddaughter told Mannis that the box had been bought in Spain after the Holocaust. Upon hearing that the box was a family heirloom, Mannis offered to give the box back to the family but the granddaughter insisted that he take it. "We don't want it." She said. She told him the box had been kept in her grandmother's sewing room and was never opened because a dybbuk was said to live inside it. On opening the box, Mannis found that it contained two 1920s pennies, a lock of blonde hair bound with cord, a lock of black/brown hair bound with cord, a small statue engraved with the Hebrew word "Shalom", a small, golden wine goblet, one dried rose bud, and a single candle holder with four octopus-shaped legs; all items supposedly used in Jewish folklore to exorcise demons. Numerous owners of the box have reported that strange phenomena accompany it. In his story, Mannis claimed he experienced a series of horrific nightmares shared with other people while they were in possession of the box or when they stayed at his home while he had it. His mother suffered a stroke on the same day he gave her the box as a birthday present — October 28. Every owner of the box has reported that smells of cat urine or jasmine flowers and nightmares involving an old hag accompany the box. Iosif Neitzke, a Missouri student at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri and the last person to auction the box on eBay, claimed that the box caused lights to burn out in his house and his hair to fall out Jason Haxton, Director of the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri, had been following Neitzke's blogs regarding the box and when he was ready to be rid of the box Neitzke sold it to Haxton. Haxton wrote The Dibbuk Box, and claimed that he subsequently developed strange health problems, including hives, coughing up blood, and "head-to-toe welts" Haxton consulted with Rabbis (Jewish religious leaders) to try to figure out a way to seal the dybbuk in the box again. Apparently successful, he took the freshly resealed box and hid it at a secret location, which he will not reveal.

Skeptic Chris French, head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths' College, told an interviewer he believed that the box's owners were "already primed to be looking out for bad stuff.  In other words, if one is primed to believe they’ve cursed. Bad stuff that happens is what you perceive to be the cause.
When I went to eBay and put in the word, dybbuk box, four came up, including this one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/DYBBUK-BOX-Has-Hebrew-Writings-Carved-into-the-Back-Of-BOX-/251168167143?pt=Cabinets_Cupboards_1&hash=item3a7aca14e7

Another cursed box is used in the film, Silent Hill. I can’t tell you for sure if used in the video game, only a gamer that has played it can.

Of course, the most famous cursed “box” is Pandora’s. The original Greek word was 'pithos', which is a large jar, sometimes as large as a small person (Diogenes of Sinope was said to have once slept in one), mostly used for storage of wine, oil, grain or other provisions, or, ritually, as a container for a human body for burying. In the case of Pandora, this jar may have been made of clay for use as storage as in the usual sense, or of bronze metal as an unbreakable prison.
The mistranslation of pithos is usually attributed to the 16th century humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam who translated Hesiod's tale of Pandora into Latin. Erasmus rendered pithos as the Greek pyxis, meaning "box". The phrase "Pandora's box" has endured ever since.

I will end this article with the Greek myth, “Pandora’s Box.”

Once up a time, a long time ago, Zeus ordered Hephaestus (Aphrodite's husband) to make him a daughter. It was the first woman made out of clay. Hephaestus made a beautiful woman and named her Pandora. 

Zeus sent his new daughter, Pandora, down to earth so that she could marry Epimetheus, who was a gentle but lonely man. 

Zeus was not being kind. He was getting even. Epimetheus and Prometheus were brothers. Zeus was mad at one of the brothers, Prometheus, for giving people fire without asking Zeus first.  

Zeus gave Pandora a little box with a big heavy lock on it. He made her promise never to open the box. He gave the key to Pandora’s husband and told him to never open the box. Zeus was sure that Epimetheus' curiosity would get the better of him, and that either Epimetheus or his brother would open the box. 

Pandora was very curious. She wanted to see what was inside the box, but Epimetheus said no. Better not. "You know your father," Epimetheus sighed, referring to Zeus. "He’s a tricky one."

One day, when Epimetheus lay sleeping, Pandora stole the key and opened the box.

Out flew every kind of disease and sickness, hate and envy, and all the bad things that people had never experienced before. Pandora slammed the lid closed, but it was too late. All the bad things were already out of the box. They flew away, out into the world.

Epimetheus woke up at the sound of her sobbing. “I opened the box and all these ugly things flew out,” she cried. “I tried to catch them, but they all got out.” Pandora opened the box to show him how empty it was. But the box was not quite empty. One tiny bug flew quickly out before Pandora could slam the lid shut again.

“Hello, Pandora,” said the bug, hovering just out of reach. “My name is Hope.” With a nod of thanks for being set free, Hope flew out into the world, a world that now held Envy, Crime, Hate, and Disease – and Hope.