The Crying Boy Paintings
(Couldn't find anything about this under the art tag, but if it's already been posted, I aplogise.)
From Wikipedia: The Crying Boy is a mass-produced print of a painting by Spanish painter Bruno Amadio, also known as Giovanni Bragolin. It was widely distributed from the 1950s onwards. There are numerous alternate versions, all portraits of tearful young boys or girls.
On September 4, 1985, the British tabloid newspaper The Sun reported that a firefighter from Yorkshire was claiming that undamaged copies of the painting were frequently found amidst the ruins of burned houses. He stated that no firefighter would allow a copy of the painting into his own house. Over the next few months, The Sun and other tabloids ran several articles on house fires suffered by people who had owned the painting.
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When I was little, my mum put up a huge print of this one on the wall by the foot of my bed. I was absolutely terrified of this picture. My parents thought I was being silly (I was also hysterical about locking the door at night because I feared pigs would break in), so they didn't take it down. I remember it so well. I was afraid of going to sleep, and would frequently cry either silently or hysterically because of it. I was maybe two or three at the time. We don't have it any more now. I have no idea what happened to it, I never asked.
My grandparents also have a few prints of these, but smaller than the one I had on my wall. I still find them very unsettling. I'm not really scared of them any more, but I definitely feel a negative vibe around them and they do give me the chills.
What are your takes on these? Do you have any experiences with them?