Haunted Objects: Stories of Ghosts on Your Shelf

by Christopher Balzano

  When she visits antiques shops, Pam’s ability helps her not only find out if the item is authentic, but also if anything is attached to it.

  But she said it can also be quite a tool when she wants to get the entire story behind what she is buying.

  “When I go to antique shops, I keep it on,” she said. “If I’m buying an antique, I want to know if it’s the real thing, but I also want to know if it has anything attached to it that I might not want to take home. That might be considered cheating, but I want to know.”

  Pam once bought a curio cabinet that she said had “a low energy” in the shop. But after she brought it home, something “not of this world” was attached to it.

  “I can’t always depend on what I see,” she said. “Something nonhuman or alien can change their appearance to make you think they’re something human when they’re not, but they give off a different vibration. Humans have a certain sense to me, and these nonhuman entities are totally different.”

  Through a process of spiritual cleansing, she was able to remove the entity from the cabinet, which is still in her home. She said most times there’s no need to remove entities attached to objects, but it can be done if needed.

  Skeptics question the validity of psychometry, but Pam is able to unveil such in-depth history of objects she merely holds in her hands that those same skeptics are left scratching their heads. Paranormal investigator Matt Moniz even tried to trick Pam while at a paranormal conference. He had several examples of evidence laid out on a table, including such items as soil samples from UFO landing sites and casts of alleged Bigfoot prints. Also on the table was an ordinary brick. Matt asked Pam if she could pinpoint where the brick came from.

  Pam barely had to touch the brick before she was able to pinpoint that it had come from the basement of the haunted Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in Fall River, Massachusetts.

  “I was floored when she said it,” Matt said, something that hasn’t happened often in his 25-plus years of investigating the unusual. “That’s when I knew psychometry and Pam’s abilities were the real deal.”

  Haunted Collections

  Considering the awesome power of some of the haunted, possessed, and cursed items we’ve shared with you in these pages, you may be shocked to discover that there are a number of individuals who collect these objects. Some of them even keep them in their own homes and invite the spirits that are attached to them to make themselves known.

  Paranormal investigators like Ron Kolek of the New England Ghost Project, Thomas D’Agostino of the Paranormal United Research Society, and the members of the D.C. Metro Area Ghost Watchers have acquired numerous haunted items through their years of investigation, and utilize them to conduct experiments and train new investigators on the concepts of dealing with spirits attached to objects. But there are also a few collectors out there who display their objects to the public.

  The most famous is the John Zaffis Museum of the Paranormal located next to Zaffis’ home in Stratford, Connecticut. Zaffis, star of the Syfy channel program, Haunted Collector, has spent more than 35 years investigating cases of alleged haunted, possessed, or cursed objects, many of which have ended up back at his home. He began his career working with his famous aunt and uncle, legendary investigators and demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren of the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), and has become one of the most respected paranormal authorities in his own right.

  Eminent paranormal researcher John Zaffis.

  Although Zaffis has clergy members conduct “binding rituals” to the objects to keep the spirits from causing further problems, many of the items are still subject to spirit activity. When a client asks Zaffis and his organization, the Paranormal Research Society of New England, to remove a haunted object, if Zaffis feels it is too powerful to remain in his museum or if the binding rituals are not enough to hinder the spirits, Zaffis will either bury the object or throw it in a body of water to eliminate its power.

  Although duties with his television show have contributed to a temporary hiatus at the museum, Zaffis continues to add objects on a nearly daily basis. Many of them are featured on the website, johnzaffisparanormalmuseum.com. A clown doll, a ventriloquist’s dummy, and a possible human skull used in dark rituals are some of the highlights of the Zaffis Museum. Idols, dolls, and other items associated with black magic help create a feeling of foreboding to those who enter the museum.

  Long before Zaffis started his museum, his aunt and uncle displayed their collection of haunted and cursed items at their home in Monroe, Connecticut. Now run with the help of NESPR director Tony Spera, the Warrens Occult Museum is featured in NESPR’s “Warrenology” events, which include lectures by Lorraine Warren and Spera and tours of the museum.

  There, visitors can see items such as a satanic idol found in the Connecticut woods, an organ that plays mysteriously on its own, shrunken heads, possessed toys, and masks used for demonic projection. But the highlight of the Warrens Occult Museum is the world-famous Annabelle the Doll, as featured in the Warrens’ book, The Demonologist.

  Annabelle, a Raggedy Ann doll, was a gift to a college student in 1970. It soon began to move around on its own, even leaving creepy notes around the house. A medium told the doll’s owner that it was possessed by the spirit of a seven-year-old girl, who died not far from the home, but it turned out to be something much more sinister. Annabelle was later responsible for choking and clawing a man across his chest and may even be responsible for killing another person who came in contact with it. Attempts by the Warrens and an Episcopal priest to exorcise the demonic spirits that inhabit the doll have lessened some of the power, but the doll is still known to move around on its own.

  In addition to the Zaffis and Warren museums, there are other museums that warrant a visit as well. While most of them are more dedicated to paranormal investigation or strange phenomena rather than as a depository for haunted items, many do have one or two special displays of haunted objects.

  The Museum of the Paranormal (museumoftheparanormal.ca), located in Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, Canada, is the home of such haunted items as the Gettysburg Doll, the Post-Mortem Doll, and the Custom House boots. The most famous item there is Lizzie the Doll, whose eyes follow visitors as they move about the museum.

  The Paranormal Museum in Asbury Park, New Jersey (theparanormalmuseumnj.com) has numerous exhibits at any given time, often featuring allegedly haunted objects. In addition, the museum offers ghost tours of other noted haunted locations across Asbury Park.

  The International Museum of Spiritual Investigations (museumofspirits.com) is located in historically haunted Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and operates out of a Civil War-era home. Its “Residual Room” features many allegedly haunted objects from dolls to Ouija boards. It is affordable to visit; adult admission is $2.

  These are just a few sites in which the paranormal is the direct focus of the museum; there are countless other allegedly haunted objects that rest in various historical museums across the country and the world. Haunted items can be used as a hook to bring in visitors. It’s like the motto we often use on “Spooky Southcoast” and at some of the events we conduct at historic locations: Come for the ghosts, stay for the history.

  The high overhead cost of running a brick-and-mortar museum has led to the current trend of online museums. There are many of these on the Web, usually featuring the private collections of investigators and other purveyors of paranormal trinkets.

  Although online museums take away the ability to be in the presence of haunted objects and to feel the energy they emit, they require no travel, no admission fees, and best of all, no chance of bringing an unwanted spirit home with you!

  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: St
ephanie 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.