Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Is it possible that art can take on another role? A supernatural role? That may just be the case when it comes to the painting, The Anguished Man.
The painting is simple. A “rusty” colored man set against a blue background with dark eyes and a wide mouth in the shape of an “O”. He appears to be crying out, but for who, or what? The answer to that remains a mystery, perhaps one the painting itself is trying to tell us.
The origins of the painting are relatively unknown. The owner, Sean Robinson, received the oil painting from his grandmother, who had owned it for 25 years. His grandmother had kept it in her attic, believing it was evil. She once told Sean that she used to see the dark figure of a man around the house at night. and would hear strange noises and crying.
When she passed the painting to him, she told him the story she was given when the painting was passed to her: The artist had used his own blood mixed in with the oils in creating this work of art. Shortly after its completion, however, the man committed suicide, and no further details are known.
Sean admittedly loved the painting, but his wife didn’t, and so it was kept in the cellar. Even so, members of his family began to see the dark figure of a man. They, too, heard noises including crying and moaning. The painting remained in the cellar until heavy rains flooded it, and the painting, along with numerous other items, were moved to his parents garage for safe keeping. When he finally took the painting back, he chose to place it in a spare bedroom on the third floor of his home.
Again, the strange noises were heard, loud bangs, odd scraping sounds as though someone were scratching their nails on fabric. Another peculiar thing worth mentioning is the family dog. While the painting had been in the cellar, the dog would not go down, instead stood at the top growling. Once the painting was moved upstairs, she refused to go to the top floor, despite the fact that she usually followed Sean everywhere.
At night, the family would often hear crying and sobbing. Skeptical of the paranormal, Sean presumed the noises could have come from outside the house, and it was even suggested that the crying could have been a cat outside. Fair explanation, except they sounded like they came from within the house.
It wasn’t until Sean himself saw the shadowy figure of a man in the house that he began to question things. It was suggested that all these things were imagined, since Sean and his family knew the history of the painting. Even with that in mind, the noises grew progressively worse, the crying sounds seeming to come from his own bedroom.
Then he caught a good look at the shadowy man. He had been asleep when he suddenly woke up and saw the man at the foot of his bed. He appeared to be middle aged, but he couldn’t make out his features.
The family began to notice cold spots around the house, and often had the feeling of being watched. Sean himself reported feeling as though someone were standing directly behind him, whispering. Then one evening, Sean’s wife went to bed early. She noticed someone getting into bed beside her, and when she turned around, she found herself staring into the eyes of a stranger. She screamed, and when Sean got to her, she was unsure if she had really seen it, or if she had had a very lucid dream.
One thing was for sure, the painting had to go, but Sean still could not part with it, and so it went back down into the cellar.
Still skeptical, Sean began to record videos of the painting. He moved the painting back into the upstairs bedroom and set his camera to record. Over the course of three consecutive nights, he recorded approximately eight hours of footage. One thing he noticed right away was the noises the camera picked up. Most sounded like they came from outside the house, and could be easily explained. However there were a few that really stuck out.
They sounded as though they were coming from inside the bedroom. There was a strange scraping sound similar to the noises they had previously heard as well as a loud bang, like something had fallen, yet when he checked the room in the morning, everything was still in its place.
Footage from the second night showed the bedroom door suddenly swing shut, despite there being no drafts in the room. The painting remained in the bedroom for the next few weeks, and during that time, Sean’s wife reported feeling someone stroke her hair when she was in the bathroom.
Sean also saw a strange “fog like” mist at the top of the stairs, and when he walked into the middle of it, he felt extremely cold, as though he were standing in the middle of some dry ice. His vision blurred and he became light headed, but then the mist vanished and all was back to normal again.
The longer the painting remained upstairs, the worse the feelings of anxiety and dread became. The family always felt as though they were being watched, and they also began to experience nightmares, including recurring dreams of a man, tall and middle aged, but he could never make out the face.
A few weeks later, Sean again decided to set up the video camera. Over the course of the next four nights, he recorded several strange light anomalies, which he was unable to debunk, as the room had thick curtains that had been closed, and the family had all been in bed. The light anomalies were not like the usual ‘orbs’ reported during paranormal investigations. These seemed to be moving around and over the painting.
Then, just a few days later, Sean heard his sons footsteps coming down the stairs, then suddenly he stumbled and fell down the last four or five steps. Thankfully he was unhurt. Later on, when he noticed his son was still bothered by something, he encouraged him to talk. The boy said that when he was walking down the stairs, it felt like something had pushed him, he felt the pressure on his back. He tried to stop himself from falling, but the force was too strong.
The painting went back down to the cellar, and activity seemed to stop once again.
Some time later, Sean temporarily moved back home with his parents. He took the painting with him, and in a matter of days, the noises were back. Then, on the third night, his father fell down the stairs, just as his son had. Thankfully, he too, was unhurt.
Sean put the painting into storage, pulling it out only when he worked with John Blackburn and Ian Lawman for the Mysteria Paranormal group (now known as Enigma Paranormal). They took the painting to several of the most haunted locations in the UK, and on May 18, 2013, at Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, a group of guests experienced the unexplainable.
The room went icy cold, a large dark figure appeared in the middle of the séance circle and a large wooden bench banged on the floor of its own accord in response to John Blackburn’s questions to the painting, then suddenly the bench was flipped upside down violently by what was believed to be [the ghost of] John Sage, one of Chillingham Castle’s resident powerful spirits, who we think was showing his anger to a foreign uninvited spirit to his castle.
from an email sent to Greg Newkirk with weekinweird.com.
It has been suggested that since the artist used his own blood in the oils used in the painting, the restless spirit of the artist could be haunting it, while others believe it could be some sort of demonic attachment. Regardless of what it is, Sean Robinson is not prepared to destroy or give up his painting. He intends to continue to search for the artist, and see if he can find out what is really behind The Anguished Man.
You can check out Sean’s videos on YouTube here
