"This mystery is of particular interest to me, because when I
was much younger, my parents actually had a copy of one of these
paintings in our house, hanging half way up the stairs on the wall.
Here's the story about the painting and it's numerous prints:
From around 1985 onwards, a series of mysterious house fires were
brought to the attention of the general public, following the
discovery that in each case, the buildings and all their contents
were completely destroyed apart from a painting - the "Crying Boy",
which remained unscathed. In the years that followed, some 40-50
cases were recorded in which a house fire had destroyed everything
except for the picture. It became known as the "Curse of the Crying
Boy", and even made headline news at one point. The picture itself
was a portrait painted by a Spanish artist of an orphan. It is said
that his studio burnt to the ground, and the boy was later killed
in a car crash. The picture is one of the first to be mass produced
in the UK, there are several thousand of them in circulation, but
the curse still appears to apply to all the copies. It is said that
the curse will only effect someone if the owner of the painting
becomes aware of it. Some psychics have claimed that the painting
is Haunted by the spirit of the boy it depicts.
We must have had that painting in our house for 15+ years, and
although it never set fire to anything, I never used to like it.
It's not a particularly pleasant picture in any case, and it always
used to give me the creeps. Fortunately it's long gone, but I can't
help wondering who's got it now. One thing's for certain, there's
no way I'd ever put that picture up in my house again."
"The SUN newspaper did a huge story about the painting and asked
all its readers to send in their copies of the painting to them and
they would destroy them. And guess what... a fire mysteriously
started at the warehouse where the paintings were being
stored."
