10 Most Haunted Paintings That Scared Their Owners

Do you know how haunted paintings looks like? Paintings are an art form that stems back thousands of years and has always held a certain degree of mystery. A lot of people report phenomena like paintings watching them or moving in their frames. Here are the 10 most haunted paintings in the world that scared their owners.

10. The Cursed Painting

Just one in a series of paintings about death by artist Zdzislaw Beksinski, an expert in the art of dystopian surrealism, this untitled piece seems like something right out of a nightmare both visually and how being around it makes people feel.

It’s believed the painter’s obsession with death seemed to draw it directly to him. He lost his wife in 1998 to cancer and his son to an unfortunate death only a year later.

Then, in 2005, he was found dead in his apartment. Today the ghostly artwork is said to give off an eerie feeling, and many believe that looking at it too long will bring the viewer an unhealthy dose of misfortune as well. That’s right, the very painting you’re looking at on your screen right now.

9. Pogo The Clown

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John Wayne Gacy the serial killer whom himself dressed up as a clown and performed at events and children’s parties painted this piece while he was on death row.

People used to call him Pogo the Clown so many people believe his spirit still haunts the painting because bad things have happened to every person that owned the painting.

Musician Nikki Stone bought the painting but got rid of it nearly just as fast because after it entered his house, his dog died and his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

I mean it could be purely coincidental but it could also totally not be. Even Johnny Depp bought the painting but somehow contracted a severe pathological phobia of clowns and ditched the painting too.

8. Misty Bernardo de Galvez

Look at this majestic fellow! This is a powerful historical Spaniard, Bernardo de Galvez who was instrumental in the Spanish Military in the late 1700s.

The city of Galveston in Texas is named after him, as is the city hotel, Hotel Galvez. In the hotel, there is an oil painting of Bernardo that is reportedly haunted by none other than the chap himself.

The painting sits at the end of the downstairs hallway and is quite the feature. Despite being a beautiful old oil painting, a lot of guests at the hotel don’t like the picture one bit.

A lot of people have complained that they feel cold when they’re near the painting, and almost all guests of the hotel will tell you they feel Bernardo’s eyes move to watch you.

It seems if you try and take a picture of the painting without asking permission from the late great Bernardo de Galvez, it will become blurry. If you ask, however, he will allow a nice clear picture to be taken. Those eyes. They clearly see you!

7. Ivan The Terrible and his Son Ivan

This 1885 painting by Russian Realist Artist, Ilya Repin has been causing a stir since it was created. The painting shows a mortally wounded Ivan being cradled by his Tsar father, who has mortally wounded him.

A lot of critics challenge the historical accuracy of the painting. Still, nonetheless, it is one of the most famous Russian classics and is currently in the Moscow State Tretyakov Gallery.

When the painting was first unveiled, a lot of people claimed to be deeply unsettled by it, some saying they saw something terrible within the picture, other than the already terrible subject matter.

In 1913, a mentally ill man slashed the painting with a knife and Repin himself restored it. Once again, the painting was slashed in 2018 by a visitor to the Moscow museum who was reported to be shouting that he saw terrible images moving within the picture.

The man was identified as Igor Podporin who claimed he was overwhelmed by something. He later blamed vodka for his outburst.

6. Love Letters

Love Letters is a painting of a four-year-old girl – Samantha Houston – painted by Richard King in the style of a pre-existing work by Charles Trevor Garland.

Samantha was the daughter of a Texan US Senator who died in 1887 aged four when she tripped and fell down a staircase as she chased a ball.

It seems, as a tribute, The Driskill Hotel in Texas had a painting of her commissioned which still hangs there today on the fifth floor. It seems that Samantha’s spirit may have been imprinted on the picture as guests say they have heard her giggling when they’re near the picture.

Many guests report feeling like she is trying to tell them something, saying they have seen her expression change when they look at the picture.

5. Soul Bowl

After finding an interesting painting of a bowl in an antique shop in Pauanui, New Zealand, a person named Heylin bought it and brought it home.

Soon after purchasing it, he found on the side of the canvas there was an inscription that read “Soul is a bowl.” It wasn’t long before he felt that perhaps the writing was meant as a warning.

After it was hung in their home, the painting fell off the wall, even though there was no wind entering the room and nothing touched it.

A short time later, their family was outside the house when they spotted a dark figure standing in the room that the painting was in. Upon investigation, they discovered that there was nobody in their home at all.

Things eventually became so terrifying that Heylin was forced to auction it off and get out of the house. Yeah, haunted paintings auctioned off, right?

4. Painting of a Headless Man

I am not okay with this painting. Why? Well because it at first looks like a nice little depiction of an old station wagon that is until you realize a freaking headless man is hovering like a decapitated creep behind it.

The artist, Laura P, painted this image in response to a photograph James Kidd had taken of a stagecoach stop in Tombstone Arizona.

Her finished painting was hung at an office in Arizona, but after three days staff demanded the edit be returned to the artist. Workers said that their papers would go missing and that the painting seemed to always move.

They reported that despite being constantly straightened, the painting would always become crooked on the wall. Laura then took the painting back and hung it at her home.

Unfortunately for her, the weird occurrences and picture moving followed her! She said doors would start opening and closing on their own in the room the painting was in, and a glass smashed in her hand right in from of the picture.

Laura has expressed a desire to have the image destroyed, regretting ever creating the painting. She is worried about what will happen if she does, though. One of the most haunted paintings.

3. The Dead Mother by Edvard Munch

Like Edvard basically just needed a hug. If you recognize his name, that is because this artist is the famous painter behind The Scream.

Munch’s work is notoriously filled with pain and anguish, which is more likely than not down to his poor health and difficult upbringing.

His mother died when he was 5 which probably explains this unsettling painting, the dead mother, completed in 1900. The picture is already scary to look at, but it gets even creepier when you hear those who have owned it or worked with it in a gallery.

Legend has it that many people who happened to look at this cursed painting began screaming uncontrollably, terrified of something unseen coming from the painting.

The little girl’s eyes are said to incessantly follow people wherever they go but worse still, it is said that the sheets on the dead mother’s bed rustle or move. Some have even sworn the little girl leaves the painting altogether.

2. The Hands Resist Him Painting

“The Hands Resist Him” painted by artist Bill Stoneham is considered to be one of the most haunted pieces of art ever produced. The painting gained notoriety in 2000 when it sold on eBay for just over 1000 dollars, claiming to be haunted.

Each owner has passed on a similar warning to the next potential buyer, which is that come nightfall, the characters within the painting either move or disappear entirely.

The painting shows a young boy with a large head, his eyes seem to be black like they’re staring into your soul. He’s standing next to an eerie doll and the window behind him appears to depict many hands.

It’s said that when children see this, they run away as they feel the hands reaching out towards them. Many people that have simply viewed the painting, have complained about immediately feeling sick or weak.

The most striking coincidence documented is that the owner of the first gallery to ever show the painting and the art critic who reviewed it both died within one year of first seeing it. Certainly, one of the most haunted paintings.

1. Painting that Stopped a Haunting

The story goes that Heale House, the mansion belonging to Alan Smith was plagued with the sightings of a pale Edwardian figure accompanied by eerie music.

Many people saw her floating around surrounded by a blue haze. At points, she would just be standing at the foot of Alan’s bed.

Weirdly enough the owner of a local junk shop approached Alan saying she had something for him that should be returned to its rightful home.

When he looked at what she had given him he recognised it straight away. Painted by Cyril Roberts, the portrait of a woman named Mrs. Bell, playing the piano matched the apparition he had seen around his home.

After doing some research he found out that the lady was the wife of an Argentine beef rancher and they both lived in one of the bedrooms at Heale House in the early 1900s.

A tragedy hit them when they went bankrupt and were forced to sell all their possessions including the portrait. Now that the portrait is back in the house the curse and haunting have stopped altogether.

Phew! So these were 10 haunted paintings. So which of these haunted paintings are you willing to bring home?