115. The Cursed Painting - The Hands Resist Him

Summary

Podcast Summary: Into The Dark - Episode 115: "The Cursed Painting - The Hands Resist Him"

Released on April 16, 2025, Episode 115 of "Into The Dark" delves into the eerie history and sinister legends surrounding the infamous painting "The Hands Resist Him." Hosted by Payton Moreland from OH NO MEDIA, this episode combines true crime elements with hints of horror and mystery, exploring whether the painting truly harbors supernatural powers.

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1. Introduction to "The Hands Resist Him"

At the outset, Payton Moreland introduces listeners to "The Hands Resist Him," a physical painting measuring 36 by 24 inches. The artwork features a young boy in a blue shirt standing beside a life-size girl doll holding what the artist, William Stoneham, describes as a "battery with wires" (transcript, [01:00]). However, viewers often perceive this device as resembling a bomb or weapon, adding to the painting's unsettling presence. The backdrop showcases a dark interior with eleven hands reaching through a glass window, attempting to push through, accompanied by a crescent moon above the boy's head.

Notable Quote:
Sam Ashford, a blogger, remarked at [05:45], “The Hands Resist Him is one of the few paintings I’ve ever seen that sends chills down my spine from a single glance.”

2. The Origin and Early History

Created in 1972 by William Stoneham, a multifaceted artist from California with credits in entertainment and video games, the painting was part of a contractual agreement with a local gallery. Stoneham produced two paintings monthly at $200 each, leading to a collection of 48 works by 1974. His one-man show garnered positive reviews, notably from Henry Seldes, LA Times art critic, who stated at [10:20], “William Stoneham's paintings are at their best when at their weirdest. The best works here deserve the attention of collectors.”

Despite the acclaim, only "The Hands Resist Him" sold, purchased by actor John Marley, famed for his role in The Godfather. This sale marked the beginning of a series of tragic coincidences linked to the painting.

3. Tragic Coincidences and Cursed Reputation

Within ten years of the painting's exhibition, three individuals closely associated with it met untimely deaths:

• Henry Seldes (1978): Found dead in his home, suspected suicide.
• Gallery Owner (1981): Deceased following a mysterious incident.
• John Marley: Suffered unsuccessful open-heart surgery leading to his death.

These events fueled rumors that the painting might be cursed, though no direct evidence linked the deaths to the artwork.

4. The Mysterious eBay Sale in 2000

After a 16-year disappearance, "The Hands Resist Him" resurfaced online in 2000 when an anonymous seller listed it on eBay. The seller, pseudonymously named Sarah and Jack, claimed to have acquired the painting from a picker who found it abandoned behind a brewery. Upon displaying it in their home, their four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Kathy, began reporting supernatural disturbances:

• Kathy's Claims: She believed the boy and doll were coming to life, engaging in nightly battles and escaping the painting into her bedroom.

Notable Quote:
Kathy expressed her fear at [18:50], “I’m terrified of the new painting my parents bought. The little boy and the doll are trying to come to life in our home.”

Attempting to disprove her fears, Jack installed motion-detecting cameras. The footage allegedly showed the painting undergoing transformations:

• Doll Transformation: The girl doll glowed with an orange aura, and the "battery" became weapon-like.
• Movement of Figures: The boy in the painting appeared to move and flee the girl.

Despite their skepticism, Jack and Sarah decided to sell the painting on eBay, adding a cryptic warning:

Notable Quote:
Their listing stated at [22:30], “Do not bid on this painting if you are susceptible to stress-related disease, faint of heart, or unfamiliar with supernatural events.”

This paradoxical warning—cautioning against belief in the supernatural while denying its existence—sparked widespread intrigue and speculation.

5. The Artist's Involvement and Further Developments

Kim Smith, a Grand Rapids gallery owner, acquired the painting for $1,050 after communicating with William Stoneham via email. Stoneham, initially unaware of the painting's haunted reputation, learned of the legends only through Smith's correspondence. Despite recognizing the painting, Stoneham dismissed the supernatural claims, attributing the tragedies to mere coincidences.

Notable Quote:
William stated at [25:15], “There is nothing haunted about my piece. These are just unfortunate coincidences.”

Kim, however, grew uneasy and chose to keep the painting hidden in his gallery's back room, refusing numerous high-value offers to sell, fearing the spread of its cursed reputation.

6. Expansion of the Cursed Lore

William Stoneham continued his artistic journey, creating sequels and prequels to "The Hands Resist Him," including:

• "Renaissance at the Threshold" (2004)
• "Threshold of Revelation" (2012): Features the doll becoming a real girl, coinciding with Stoneham discovering he had a biological sister.

These subsequent works did not inherit the cursed reputation, though "The Hands Resist Him" remained the focal point of ongoing supernatural tales.

Additional stories emerged, such as Darren Kyle O'Neill's account where a mold infection spared only his print of the painting, inspiring his fictional novel. These narratives, whether true or embellished, perpetuated the painting's eerie legacy.

Notable Quote:
Darren shared at [27:45], “The printed Hands Resist Him repelled the mold entirely. There’s something inexplicable about this piece.”

7. Conclusion and Reflections

Payton Moreland concludes the episode by reflecting on the thin line between artistic expression and perceived curses. While William Stoneham never intended for his painting to be malevolent, the unsettling imagery and coincidental tragedies have woven a compelling narrative around "The Hands Resist Him." The episode leaves listeners pondering the nature of belief, coincidence, and the potential for art to transcend its canvas in the collective consciousness.

Final Thought:
As Moreland muses at [28:22], “Maybe, just maybe, we live in a universe where ghosts exist, where our memories can predict our futures, and where paintings can come to life.”

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Key Takeaways

• "The Hands Resist Him" is an unsettling painting with a history of associated tragedies, leading to rumors of it being cursed.
• William Stoneham, the artist, denies any supernatural aspects, attributing events to coincidence.
• The painting's resurgence online in 2000 reignited its haunted reputation, amplified by mysterious incidents reported by new owners.
• Skepticism vs. Belief: The episode explores how perception and belief can shape the narrative around art and alleged curses.
• Artistic Intent: Stoneham's original intent was to capture a personal moment and explore alternate life paths, not to invoke horror.

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Episode 115 of "Into The Dark" masterfully intertwines art history with supernatural lore, encouraging listeners to question the origins of legends and the stories we tell about the objects that surround us.

Transcript

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[Peyton Moreland]

You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey everyone and welcome back to the into the Dark podcast. I'm your host, Peyton Moreland. I just want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting this show and for supporting ONO Media and for supporting me. Honestly, you guys, it means more than you know just for you to even click on this episode and listen. So I just want to say thank you. Jumping into my 10 seconds for this episode, I just got back from Arizona. I went to meet my brand new nephew. He was so cute and so little. Honestly, babies are just precious. Also, I have to tell this funny story. I was on the flight home from Arizona and I just happened to be sitting across the aisle. Like I had an aisle seat in the person on the aisle seat in my same row across from me. Listen to the podcast. And so she's actually a pilot, but she wasn't flying that plane. So we've been talking since we got on and then they start doing like the presentation thing where the stewardess and stewards stand and show you how to like buckle and inflate your life vest and stuff. And so one just happened to come and stand right, like almost right between us, but she was facing the people behind us. So we kind of just like tilted our heads and looked around her to keep talking as she was doing it. But then the stuff that she brought out, like you know how they bring out the actual buckle and stuff, she laid it on the floor in front of her. So we're chatting and then she's done showing the seat belt. So she drops it and goes to pick up the life vest and like bends over and I kid you not her butt just like, she bent over. It just like moved right into our talking space where we were talking and these aisles were closed. Okay. It was a small plane. And so we start laughing because it was just so awkward because she had no idea, but both of us just had our butt or had her butt in our face. So we're, we're just laughing and then we keep talking and then she bends down again and does it again. And honestly, it was just like so awkward that it was funny. I literally don't know. But we were cracking up. And I told her I was like, I'm gonna use this as my 10 seconds on into the Dark. Because it was just. I couldn't even. I couldn't. I could not even. But that's it. That's all I have for my 10 seconds this week. So let's jump right into the episode. Okay. I'd like to open today's episode by reading a quote to you. It's from a website for an artist named William Stoneham. His page says, stoneham Studios warns all who seek Internet posts etc to doubt more than you believe. So basically it's saying that if you're reading information on the Internet, you should be a little skeptical about whatever you come across. That's very good advice, especially when it comes to the things you find online. On the web, it's almost impossible to know what's true and what's completely made up. And that's especially relevant when it comes to a particular painting that is very famous online. This painting is called the Hands Resist Him. And even though it's well known on the Internet, this is a physical painting that exists in the real world. It's pretty big, 36 inches by 24 inches. And the piece depicts a young boy in a blue shirt standing next to a life size little girl doll. She's holding some kind of metal contraption in her hands in this painting. And the artist who painted her says it's supposed to be a battery with wires coming out of it, something you might stick in a model airplane or another toy. But it honestly doesn't look much like a battery. Some people who have seen the painting claim it looks more like a bomb or some other kind of weapon. So a little eerie either way. The two of them are standing in front of either a paned glass door or a window. Honestly, the painting is dark, but there are 11 different hands reaching through the shadows and pressing against the glass. Kind of like those hands are trying to push through. And if you look closely at the painting, you'll See other eerie images in the murky darkness, like a crescent moon above the boy's head. All in all, the whole piece is a bit unsettling and hard to interpret. And that's not just my take. One blogger named Sam Ashford had this to say about the painting, the Hands Resist Him. It's one of the few paintings I've ever looked at in my life that just sends chills down my spine from one single glance. And there are a lot of similar takes all over the Internet. So needless to say, this painting, this famous work, just creeps a bunch of people out. Now let's learn some history on it. The painting was made in 1972, and the artist was a man named William Stoneham. As in the painter whose website I quoted earlier. He lived in California, and over the years, William had dabbled in a lot of other fields besides the visual arts. He's been credited in the entertainment industry and in video games. But in 1972, he was focused on painting. And that year he got an offer that he couldn't refuse. A local gallery wanted to buy two paintings a month from him at 200 bucks a pop. Now, that may not sound like a ton of money, but it is hard to make a living as an artist. And for William, who was in his 20s and living in LA, getting, you know, his career started was a great offer. So he accepted. And then every month afterward, he made two paintings, including the famous the Hands Resist Him. Once they were done, they were all displayed at the gallery that had bought them. And by this point, two years had gone by. It was now 1974 and William had created 48 paintings in total. That was enough for him to have a one man show where his works were the only ones that were hanging in the gallery. So they premiered at a huge event with lots of potential buyers and other professionals there. That included Henry Seldes, who worked as the LA Times art critic. He wrote a review of the event where he said, quote, william Stoneham's paintings are at their best when at their weirdest. The best works here deserve the attention of collectors. The same review mentioned the Hands Resist him by name. It was the first time that this particular piece was ever covered in the news, which was pretty exciting. But despite the good reviews, William only ended up selling one painting at this event. It was the Hands Resist Him. And the buyer was a man named John Marley. He was a professional actor. And there's one scene in particular that he's really well known for. Even if you've never seen the Godfather, you Probably know that at one point in the film, a man wakes up with a horse's head in his bed with him. That man was played by John, the man who would go on to buy the painting. So it was exciting for William to sell one of his pieces to an established actor, but disappointing that nobody made an offer on any of the other 47 paintings. It was a letdown after two full years of hard work. But it was hardly the worst thing to come out of this show. See, just four years later, in 1978, that art critic who wrote for the New York Times, Henry, he was found dead in his home. The police who investigated the scene believed that he had taken his own life. And then three years later, in 1981, there was another death linked to people who went to this show. This time it was the man who owned the gallery that had hosted William's event. Another three years go by, and John the actor had to get open heart surgery. Sadly, the operation wasn't successful and he passed away as well. So in just 10 years from this night, three people who had been very close to the Hands Resist him painting had all died. In fairness, this could be a coincidence. There's no proof that these three deaths had anything to do with the fact that they had all interacted with the same painting. But you have to admit, it's eerie. And it just gets stranger after this. See, we know that John the actor sold the painting before he died, the painting that's linked to all of these deaths. But there's no surviving record of who bought it or what happened after that. And so for about 16 years, it was like the Hands Resist him had dropped off the face of the earth. It was impossible to track it or to know if there were any other deaths or tragedies somehow in the vicinity of this painting. Not until it turned up again in 2000. That's when an anonymous user listed the painting on ebay. Now, the seller's identity is still not public to this day, but to make this next story a little easier to follow, I'm going to give the person who sold this painting in 2000 a pseudonymous. So let's say that the Hands Resist him now belonged to a couple named Sarah and Jack. They say they bought it from a picker, which is a word for someone who looks for valuable art in unexpected places and then resells it. You might have heard stories about people finding rare sculptures or paintings at garage sales or in thrift stores. Well, some people make a living out of finding, buying and reselling art from These sorts of places and they are called pickers. Apparently this picker just found the hands resist him lying on the ground behind a brewery. Sarah and Jack had no idea why someone would have left a perfectly good framed piece of art outside of a brewery for the picker to find. But they thought it was interesting, looking a little spooky, a little up their alley. So they bought it and took it home. So they hang it up and then showed it to their four and a half year old daughter again. The daughter's identity has not been made public. I don't know her name. I'm going to call her Kathy. Anyway, one night Kathy the four year old came to Sarah and Jack, her parents, and seemed very upset and unsettled. She said she was terrified of the new painting her parents had bought and hung up. In fact, she said that she thought the little boy and the doll in the picture were coming to life in their home. Each night the two of them apparently fought one another and sometimes they even climbed out of the painting and ran around in Kathy's bedroom. Now, Sarah, her mother, thought that Kathy just had a very active imagination. Maybe she had had a bad dream and confused it with reality. Or perhaps she was telling made up stories because she thought it was fun. So she doesn't take her daughter's complaints too seriously. But Jack came up with a creative way to prove to Kathy, his daughter, that there was nothing to worry about. He set up motion detecting cameras and pointed them at the painting in their house. His thinking was that he'd keep them running overnight and they'd record hours of absolutely nothing. And then he'd show her that the little boy and the doll in the painting stayed in the painting overnight. There was nothing to be afraid of. So they filmed for three nights in a row. And when they looked at the footage afterward, Jack and Sarah were shocked at what they saw. There are a lot of awesome things that have come out of Australia. The Hemsworth brothers, Uggs Love Island, Australia. New favorite Aussie export that's finally available in the US is the Koala sofa bed. Sofa beds are honestly one of the greatest things for when you have guests coming over because you don't have to waste a bunch of space. You have something that's usable and Koala sofa bed is the best option. 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You guys, that's half off with my code DARK50OFF. Code DARK50OFF@Factor Meals.com dark50OFF for 50% off plus free shipping it turned out the painting was changing during the night. Or at least it looked like it was. Maybe there was an alternative explanation. See, Jack and Sarah were very grounded people who didn't believe in magic or living paintings. So they tried to dismiss the footage as a camera glitch or a trick of the light at night. But I'm gonna be real now. I haven't seen the clips because Jack and Sarah never shared them. They did post individual stills and describe what was in the video though, and based on what they said and uploaded, it's very difficult to believe that this could have been a simple glitch. Apparently at one point during the night in these videos, the little girl doll in the painting seemed to change colors. She became wreathed in an orange glow like some other worldly power was possessing her. And the wired battery thing in her hand turned into something that honestly resembled a gun. Jack and Sarah posted pictures of both the orange glow and the gun. But as for what happened next, we just have to take their word for it. Supposedly after the doll in the battery transformed, the boy in the picture actually began moving. He turned and ran away from the girl. And again, I just don't know how you would explain that as a trick of the light. It sounds like Jack and Sarah had a hard time believing this excuse too. All they knew was that they couldn't have this painting in their house anymore. I mean, kind of think like the Annabelle doll. So they decide to put it up for sale on ebay. Now in the listing they did say, warning, do not bid on this painting if you are susceptible to stress related disease, faint of heart, or are unfamiliar with supernatural events. By bidding on this painting, you agree to release the owners of all liability in relation to the cell or any events happening after the sale that might be contributed to this pa. The painting may or may not possess supernatural powers that could impact or change your life. Now if you hear that, you might think that Sarah and Jack are basically announcing that they believe this painting is cursed. But later on in the exact same listing, they insisted that they still didn't actually believe in the occult. Their page said there are no ghosts in this world, no supernatural powers. So basically they are saying people should be careful about buying this painting because it could hurt them. But also at the same time, there was nothing special about it because mysticism and ghosts don't exist. So in other words, it felt like Sarah and Jack were contradicting themselves within their own post. However, contradictory or not, their language was very intense and attention grabbing. And of course some people saw it and thought that Jack and Sarah had to be lying. There's this painting for sale on ebay that can apparently harness the supernatural. So people begin to talk about it and they believe that the couple is telling wild stories about the painting to generate buzz, maybe get more money. Which if that was true, it was kind of working because this ebay post goes a little viral. Approximately 30,000 people visited the page and looked at the listing, which is a huge number, especially in 2000 when there were a lot fewer Internet users than there are today. I mean, we think millions is viral, but back then, this. This was viral. This was enough for Jack and Sarah to be interviewed by a popular supernatural website. And in that interview, they insisted that they didn't believe in hauntings or mysticism again. But also, they said they couldn't deny that something about the Hands Resist him seemed to be affecting people. In fact, they'd heard from a lot of strangers who'd experienced weird things since seeing the ebay post. Literally, these individuals hadn't even seen the painting in real life, just a picture of it online. But they'd still reached out to Jack and Sarah to say that after they saw it, they had become physically ill. One person didn't recover until they burned sage in their house, which, according to folklore, can get rid of evil spirits. Someone else had looked at the ebay listing, and then they claimed they'd heard a deep, guttural voice, like a demon was speaking to them. And then a blast of hot air had hit them in their face. But there was no explanation for where the heat or the voice had come from. Another user said they'd actually tried to download the picture of the painting, only for their printer to suddenly spring to life like it had become possessed. It just began ripping up blank sheets of paper and spitting the shreds out, even though it's not supposed to be doing anything except printing. Again, that information all came from Jack and Sarah, and they could have been exaggerating for attention. Or maybe these stories were true. It's impossible to say. Either way, bid after bid begins to roll in for this painting. The Hands Resist him stayed up for auction for 30 days. And during that time, the offers climbed from the starting price of $199 to $1,050. Now, that final winning bid was placed by a man named Kim Smith. He owned a gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and he had never met William, the original artist of the painting, before. But he saw his name on a label on the back of the painting, and that was enough for him to figure out William's email address and send him a message with the subject line, do you know the Hands Resist Him. He didn't say anything else about why he was reaching out. So when William checked his email, soon afterward, he reads this bizarre message from a complete stranger about a very old art piece he had done, and he's confused. But William replied to say that this was the name of one of his paintings, and he also added that it was a line from a poem that his ex wife had written. He claims that's where he'd gotten the pieces title from. Now, when Kim replied, it was another bizarre, vague email. He just sent back a link to the ebay listing. Now, keep in mind, it had been 28 years since William had finished the hands Resist Him. He was about 55 now, and he hadn't thought much about the piece since then. In fact, he'd moved on with his career and stopped painting entirely. He hadn't even heard about the ebay listing yet, meaning he had no idea that this piece he had painted years ago was actually becoming famous online because it's supposedly haunted. So when he clicked on the link, he basically felt a chill run down his spine. He was sitting at his computer, scrolling down to see a picture that Jack and Sarah had posted. And as he's scrolling, he then sees a picture of his face because he was the artist. Then he read everything that they'd written about the supposed supernatural occurrences attached to this piece. So when William talked some more with Kim, he realized that he was chatting with the new owner of his painting. But even after he heard the entire story, William still didn't think that his art piece was haunted. To be clear, he was aware that an art critic, a gallery owner, and an actor had all died after reviewing or owning it. But he figured it was just a coincidence. Jack and Sarah's story, though, was harder to explain away, and it just left him feeling a bit unsettled. And William's reaction to the lore of this art piece made Kim nervous, too. Basically, the both of them were thinking, I'm not sure how much of this is true and how much is Internet rumor, but I just feel weird about the entire situation. So after their conversation, Kim decided not to keep the painting he had just bought in his home. Instead, he stored it at the gallery he owned. To be clear, it was not on display in the gallery. It was tucked away in a back room. He wouldn't let anyone look at it unless they made special arrangements for a private viewing. Keep in mind, Kim bought the painting in 2000, and he still owns it now. And in those 25 years, he's only set up these special private showings six times total. Six times in 25 years. Over the years, apparently, many people have come to Kim to ask if they can buy it from him. Reportedly, some of these offers have reached up to the six figures range, which would have been a huge profit for Kim, given that he'd only spent a little over a thousand dollars on this piece in the first place. But no matter how high the offers were, Kim always refused to sell to him. It wasn't worth the risk because he was concerned that maybe the rumors were true and this piece was capable of something. So now, if we want to answer the question of whether the painting really is haunted, I think it's worth listening to William. And after all, he created it. And William does say there is nothing haunted about his piece. As for all the rumors that have been going around, William has actually spread some misinformation himself. He apparently likes pranking people who believe the Hands Resist him is magical. On one occasion, he'd told a child that anyone who even looked at the painting would die. Of course, that's not true. In different interviews, William has also said that he never intended to make a creepy, unsettling, haunted piece. Instead, the Hands Resist him was supposed to explore his complicated feelings about the way he grew up. See, William was adopted. His birth mother gave him up immediately after he was born, so he never met her or learned anything about her or his biological father. And his adoptive dad, who raised him, traveled a lot for work, so he wasn't around very often. Rather than sit around in an empty house waiting for him to come home, William and his adoptive mother would spend time in Chicago. His grandmother lived there, and even though her apartment was tiny, his it was cheaper to stay there than to pay for a big house that the family hardly used. So according to him, one day, while he was at his grandmother's place, a little girl from the neighborhood came over. And while William and the girl were standing in front of the building's front door, one of the adults snapped a photo of them. And then, years later, as he grew up, when he was looking for inspiration for a painting, William found that old picture. He barely remembered the girl in it, so he decided to paint her as a doll and himself as a real boy. And that's what became the Hands Resist Him. In other words, the painting was meant to recapture this half forgotten moment from William's own childhood. As for all of the hands reaching through the window behind the boy, that is really scary. They were supposed to represent the other directions his life could have gone if a few small things had changed, like if his biological mother had decided to keep him, William could have grown up with his birth family. Or if the adoptive process had played out just a little differently, he could have been raised by someone else, or maybe not even adopted at all. A few small adjustments in his whole life could have been totally unlike the one he ended up living. So the painting showed those alternate scenarios as hands in the distance. They were always sort of hovering over him, never quite leaving him alone right there in the back of his mind. But they were also always just out of reach. The glass that separated the hands from the boy represented the boundary between our waking lives and our dreams. Which does sound very artistic, but it's worth keeping in mind that William believed in something that he called the collective unconsciousness, the idea that some people are born already understanding certain things, ideas that we have inherited from our ancestors. We're not consciously aware of those ideas, but sometimes we can tap into them when we're sleeping and dreaming. We could be exploring the collective unconscious.

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[Peyton Moreland]

All to say the Hands Resist him was about history, the subconscious mind, and the paths not taken in William's own life. It wasn't meant to look spooky or evil. Sounds like a bunch of other people saw it and just made some assumptions about what it represented after it was painted. But that being said, it's also worth keeping in mind that William had a long history of making disturbing, unsettling artwork. It was kind of what he was known for. And the Hands Resist him wasn't even the only piece he made that was allegedly cursed. See, William also painted something called the Gathering. It looks like a scene from a horror movie. The picture is very dark and shadowy. It depicts a group of naked people on horses, and they seem to be fighting each other. Although it's hard to say for sure. One of the people has exposed bones, like they're turning into a skeleton, and there are black birds circling overhead. All in all, it's a lot of very upsetting imagery. And if you want to see any of these, please go to my Instagram into the Dark pod to look at these paintings. But after he finished it, William actually sold the Gathering to a buyer. And not long after that, the new owner had a mental health episode that culminated in him lighting a building on fire. He survived the fire, but ended up behind bars for what he'd done. So that's one more person who suffered a random tragedy after buying one of William's eerie paintings. Just like the art critic, the gallery owner, and the actor who all died after the show where the Hands Resist him was displayed. And here's where things get really interesting. After the Hands Resist him became famous, a lot of people came to William and asked him to recreate the painting for them. Because if Kim wasn't selling it, there was no other way for buyers to get their hands on this piece. Unless William remade a brand new one for interested art fans. A lot of people wanted him to make another one, but William refused. Not because he was worried about hauntings, but because he liked to always challenge himself and push himself artistically. Repainting the same image over and over was not what he wanted to do with his career. And remember, he had retired from painting by this point, so he wasn't excited about going back to his old job just for it to become repetitive. But that doesn't mean he still didn't love painting. So as he learns all of this, his, you know, Painting passion reignites and he decides to get back to it. But this time he focused on making sequels and prequels to the Hands Resist him. In them, he showed the girl doll and the little boy going on other adventures. So, so basically, he turns the painting into a series. In 2004, William created Renaissance at the Threshold, which showed William as an adult, still standing in front of the glass with the doll again. And then in 2012, he made the Threshold of Revelation, which was interesting because in this painting, the doll had turned into a real girl. This was also really meaningful to William because around this time, he learned that he had a biological sister. They actually reconnected while the painting was in progress, after he'd started it, but before he had finished it. So he was depicting this doll becoming human. And then meanwhile, in real life, he also reconnected with this real woman he'd existed, even though she was immensely important to him. Which does remind me of what I said earlier, how William believed in a collective unconscious. You have to wonder, did his unconscious mind somehow know that he was going to reunite with his sister? Even though there was no logical way he could have known she existed at that time, he thought that was the case, that there was something mystical about the Threshold of Revelation. Sadly, William's sister passed away just five years after they met, and he didn't have much time to get to know her at all. But he kept painting, even while he was grieving. So there were five pieces in this series total, with the most recent one actually being completed in 2021. Some pictures showed one side of the glass wall, while others depicted what was happening inside the house. And all of them had strange imagery that could come across as very unsettling to some people. I want to be clear, though, no one has ever reported any supernatural experiences with any of those other paintings. It doesn't sound like any of them are mystical or powerful. One of them is actually on display in a haunted museum, but most likely that's only because of its connection to the original. The hands resist him. And speaking of this legendary. The hands resist him. There are new reports coming out about it. Even to this day, it's still apparently doing things to the people who own it or interact with it. William actually ordered a print of the piece, even though he had originally created it. He reached out to Kim and asked him to send a high quality copy of it. He wanted to hang it on his wall, just because of basically the lore it it had, what it had become. So he keeps it on display in his home for a while. But when it was time for William to move to a new place, he loaded the painting and some other furniture into a U Haul. But the truck actually broke down on its way to William's new home. So again, just another small disaster. William shrugged it off as an eerie coincidence and he hung the print in his new living room. But that's just one of many stories about bad luck that has followed this piece around. Take this account from an author named Darren Kyle O'Neill. The first time that Darren ever heard of the painting, he was doing a lot of international travel. So he was online when he saw a story about the ebay listing and all of the interesting things that had happened. He wanted to learn more. So Darren printed a picture of the work and left it on a stack of other papers that he was planning to go over later. And then he left for a month long trip to Italy. When Darren came back, he found that his apartment had been destroyed. Something had gone wrong with his air conditioner, and a green mold had grown over all over his home. It was everywhere. With one exception. The printout of the Hands Resist him was completely untouched. Like something about this piece of art had repelled the mold. Darren was so inspired by this incident that he decided to write a fictional novel about the painting. He loosely based it on the things that Jack and Sarah had been through. In fact, he interviewed them at one point about their experiences, and he found them to be very grounded, reasonable people who, it seemed like, would never make up a story about a haunted painting anyway. Since Darren was a creative writer, he invented a lot of details to put into his book, which just added to the rumors that were already swirling around about this haunted artwork piece. Still, Darren insisted that the mold story around his printed out copy of the piece was true. Now, maybe that all really happened. Or maybe Darren made the mold story up to help promote his new book. The point is, when it comes to the hands, resist him. It's hard to say for sure that's the case with any online urban legend or story. Anyone could be telling lies or exaggerating. But it's also worth remembering that the world is often stranger and more mysterious than many of us will ever realize. And maybe, just maybe, we live in a universe where ghosts exist, where we can predict the future using memories stored in our unconscious minds, and where paintings can come to life. Okay, if you listen to this episode and you're gonna go over to Instagram and take a look at the paintings, you have to half, half, half to let me know if anything strange happens to you. Once you introduce this painting into your life because that is the history around it. Thank you so much for diving into the dark with me on this episode and I will see you next time. Goodbye.

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