Here's an excerpt from the original description of the box
by the first seller, nw-net-trade.
All of the events that I am about to set forth in this
listing are accurate and may be verified by the winning bidder
with the copies of hospital records and sworn affidavits that
I am including as part of the sale of the cabinet. The winning
bidder will also be able to contact most of the persons
mentioned herein for the purposes of verification,
corroboration, and to gain insight into the full scope of
whatever it is. During September of 2001, I attended an estate
sale in Portland Oregon. The items liquidated at this sale
were from the estate of a woman who had passed away at the age
of 103. A grand-daughter of the woman told me that her
grandmother had been born in Poland where she grew up,
married, raised a family, and lived until she was sent to a
nazi concentration camp during World War II. She was the only
member of her family who survived the camp. Her parents,
brothers, a sister, husband, and two sons and a daughter were
all killed. She survived the camp by escaping with some other
prisoners and somehow making her way to Spain where she lived
until the end of the war. I was told that she acquired the
small wine cabinet listed here in Spain and it was one of only
three items that she brought with her when she immigrated to
the United States. The other two items were a steamer trunk,
and a sewing box.
I purchased the wine cabinet, along with the sewing box and
some other furniture at the estate sale. After the sale, I was
approached by the woman's granddaughter who said, I see you
got the dibbuk box. She was referring to the wine cabinet. I
asked her what a dibbuk box was, and she told me that when she
was growing up, her grandmother always kept the wine cabinet
in her sewing room. It was always shut, and set in a place
that was out of reach. The grandmother always called it the
dibbuk box. When the girl asked her grandmother what was
inside, her grandmother spit three times through her fingers
said, A dibbuk, and keselim. The grandmother went on to tell
the girl that the wine cabinet was never, ever, to be opened.
The granddaughter told me that her grandmother had asked
that the box be buried with her. However, as such a request
was contrary to the rules of an orthodox Jewish burial, the
grandmothers request had not been honored.
I asked the granddaughter what a dibbuk, and keselim were,
but she did not know. I asked if she would like to open it
with me. She did not want to open it, as her grandmother had
been very emphatic and serious when she instructed her not to
do so, and, regardless of the reason, she wanted to honor her
grandmothers request.
I finally ended up offering to let her keep what seemed to
me to be a sentimental keepsake. At that point, she was very
insistent and said, No, no you bought it!
I explained that I didnt want my money back, and that it
would make me feel better to do what I thought was an act of
kindness. She then became somewhat upset. Looking back now,
the way she became upset was just plain odd. She raised her
voice to me and said, You bought it! You made a deal!
When I tried to speak, she yelled, We don't want it! She
began to cry, asked me to leave, and quickly walked away. I
wrote the whole episode off to the stress and grief she must
have been experiencing. I took my purchases and politely left.
At the time when I bought the cabinet, I owned a small
furniture refinishing business. I took the cabinet to my
store, and put it in my basement workshop where I intended to
refinish it and give it as a gift to my Mother. I didn't think
anything more about it. I opened my shop for the day and went
to run some errands leaving the young woman who did sales for
me in charge.
After about a half-hour, I got a call on my cell phone. The
call was from my salesperson. She was absolutely hysterical
and screaming that someone was in my workshop breaking glass
and swearing. Furthermore, the intruder had locked the iron
security gates and the emergency exit and she couldn't get
out. As I told her to call the police, my cell phone battery
went dead.
I hit speeds of 100 mph getting back to the shop. When I
arrived, I found the gates locked. I went inside and found my
employee on the floor in a corner of my office sobbing
hysterically. I ran to the basement and went downstairs. At
the bottom of the stairs, I was hit by an overpowering
unmistakable odor of cat urine (there had never been any
animals kept or found in my shop). The lights didn't work. As
I investigated, I found that the reason the lights didn't work
also explained the sounds of glass breaking. All of the light
bulbs in the basement were broken. All nine incandescent bulbs
had been broken in their sockets, and 10 four-foot fluorescent
tubes were lying shattered on the floor. I did not find an
intruder, however. I should also add that there was only one
entrance to the basement. It would have been impossible for
anyone to leave without meeting me head-on. I went back up to
speak with my salesperson, but she had left.
She never returned to work (after having been with me for
two years). She refuses to discuss the incident to this day. I
never thought of relating the events of that day to anything
having to do with the cabinet.
Then, things got worse.
As I already indicated, I had decided to give the cabinet
to my Mother as a birthday gift. About two weeks after I made
the purchase, I decided to get started refinishing it. I was
surprised to find that the cabinet has a unique little
mechanism. When you open one of the doors, the mechanism
causes the opposite door, and the little drawer below, to open
at the same time. It is very well made. Inside the cabinet, I
found the following items:
1 1928 U.S. Wheat Penny; 1 1925 U.S. Wheat Penny; One small
lock of blonde hair (bound with string); One small lock of
black/brown hair (bound with string); One small granite statue
engraved and gilded with Hebrew letters (I have been told that
the letters spell out the word SHALOM); One dried rosebud; One
golden wine cup; One very strange black cast iron candlestick
holder with octopus legs.
I saved all of the items in a box intending to return them
to the estate. The family has refused the items, so they will
be included in this sale of the cabinet.
After opening the cabinet, I decided not to refinish it. I
cleaned it, and rubbed in some lemon oil. It was at this time
that I noticed that there was an inscription in Hebrew carved
into the back of the cabinet. I have no idea what it says or
if it is significant. I have included a picture of that
inscription below. On my mothers birthday, October 28, 2001,
my mother called to tell me that she was going out of town
with my sister for three days, and we postponed celebrating
her birthday together until she returned. On October 31, 2001,
my mother came to my shop. We were going to have lunch
together, but before we were going to leave, I gave her the
wine cabinet. She seemed to like it. While she examined it, I
went to make a phone call. I hadn't been out of sight more
than 5 minutes when one of my employees came running into my
office saying that something was wrong with my mom.
When I went back to see what the matter was, I found my mom
sitting in a chair beside the cabinet. Her face had no
expression, but tears were streaming down her cheeks. No
matter how I tried to get her to respond, she would not. She
could not. It turns out that my mother had suffered a stroke.
She was taken to the hospital by ambulance. She ended up
suffering partial paralysis, and losing her ability to speak
and form words (she has since regained the ability to speak).
She could understand things being said to her, and could
respond by pointing to letters of the alphabet to spell out
words she wanted to say. When I asked her the following day
how she was doing, she teared up and spelled out the words:
N-O G-I-F-T. I assured her that I had given her a gift for her
birthday, thinking that she didnt remember, but she became
even more upset and spelled out the words: H-A-T-E G-I-F-T. I
laughed and told her not to worry. I told her I was sorry she
didnt like the cabinet, and that I would get her anything she
wanted if she would promise to get well soon.
Still, I didn't associate anything that had happened with
the cabinet itself or anything paranormal. Frankly, I dont
think I ever even used the term paranormal until this last
month.
I'll try to make this short now. I gave the cabinet to my
sister. She kept it for a week, then gave it back. She
complained that she couldn't get the doors to stay closed and
that they kept coming open. There are no springs in the door
mechanism and I have never found that the doors come open. I
gave it to my brother and his wife who kept it for three days
and then gave it back. My brother said it smelled like Jasmine
flowers, while his wife insisted that it put out an odor of
cat urine. I gave it to my girlfriend who asked me to sell it
for her after only two days. I sold it the same day to a nice
middle aged couple. Three days later, when I came to open the
shop for the day, I found the cabinet sitting at the front
doors with a note that read, This has a bad darkness. I had no
idea what that meant. Anyway, I ended up taking it home.
Then, things got even worse.
Since the day I brought it home, I began having a strange
recurring nightmare. Every time I have the horrible dream it
goes something like this: I find myself walking with a friend,
usually someone I know well and trust at some point in the
dream, I find myself looking into the eyes of the person that
I am with. It is then that I realize that there is something
different, something evil looking back at me. At that point in
my dream, the person I am with changes into what can only be
described as the most gruesome, demonic looking Hag that I
have ever seen. This Hag proceeds then, to beat the living tar
out of me. I have awakened numerous times to find bruises and
marks on myself where I had been hit by the old woman during
the previous night. Still, I never related the nightmares to
the cabinet, nor do I think that I ever would have.
About a month ago, however, my sister, and my brother and
his wife came over to my house and spent the night. The
following morning, during breakfast, my sister complained that
she had had a horrible nightmare. She said that she recalled
having had it a couple of times before, and went on to
describe my nightmare exactly to the last detail. My brother
and his wife froze as they listened, and then chimed in that
they had both had had the exact same dreams during the night
as well. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck and
still is. As we talked, it became clear that the common
denominator was that each of us had had the nightmare during
the times that the cabinet was in our respective homes. I
called my girlfriend and asked if she could recall having any
nightmares recently. She described the same nightmare, same
Hag, everything. When I asked her if she remembered the date
when she had the nightmare, she said she did not. Then I asked
if it happened to be the night before she gave me the cabinet
back to sell for her. She said, Yeah! Hey, how did you know
that?!!!
Now then, since my family discussion, it seems like all
hell is breaking loose. For a week afterward I started seeing
what I can only describe as shadow things in my peripheral
vision. In fact, numerous visitors to my house have claimed
that they have seen these shadow things. I put the cabinet in
an outside storage unit and was awakened when the smoke alarm
in the unit went off in the middle of the night. When I went
to see what was burning, I opened the door and didnt see any
smoke. However, I did get hit with the smell of cat urine.
When I went back inside, the smell was there in my house. I DO
NOT OWN A CAT AND I NEVER HAVE. I went back outside and
grabbed the cabinet. I brought it back inside and tried to
research it on the Internet. While I was surfing the net, I
fell asleep and once again had the same freakin nightmare. I
woke up at around 4:30am (when it felt and smelled like
someone was breathing on my neck) to find that my house now
smelled like Jasmine flowers, and just in time to see a HUGE
shadow thing go loping down the hall away from me.
I would destroy this thing in a second, except I really
dont have any understanding of what I may or may not be
dealing with. I am afraid (and I do mean afraid) that if I
destroy the cabinet, whatever it is that seems to have come
with the cabinet may just stay here with me. I have been told
that there are people who shop on EBAY that understand these
kinds of things and specifically look for these kinds of
items. If you are one of these people, please, please buy this
cabinet and do whatever you do with a thing like this. Help
me.
You can see that I have no reserve price or minimum bid. If
I can make things any easier let me know and I will do
everything within my abilities.
One more note. On the same day my Mom had her stroke, the
lease to my store was summarily terminated without cause.
The measurements are 12.5" x 7.5" x 16.25"
ALL OF THE ITEMS THAT I ORIGINALLY FOUND INSIDE THE CABINET
ARE INCLUDED IN THE SALE AND WILL BE DELIVERED WITH THE
CABINET. -------------
I bought the box from the first sellar above in the Ebay
auction around June of 2003, out of curiosity about the
'haunted' box. After receiving a deluge of e-mail about the
box, I set up a web site to answer some questions, which I
stopped updating in September and haven't updated to this day
because I didn't want to talk about it with anyone.
For the sake of information, I found that a dibbuk/dybbuk
in Jewish folklore/mythology/teaching/whatever is a misplaced
spirit that can neither rise to Heaven nor descend into Hell,
essentially stuck in Limbo or purgatory. Here's another
definition I found: 1. (Jewish folklore) a demon that enters
the body of a living person and controls that body's behavior.
Synonyms: dybbuk. 2. Evil Spirits, that cause mental illness,
rage and changes of personality. The spirit or soul of a dead
person that inhabits the body of a living one, with sometimes
evil, sometimes positive results.
If you believe in paranormal phenomena, the box contains or
is possessed by at least one dibbuk, possibly two, as the
grandmother stated: a dibbuk, and a keslim. Keselim is a term
similar to a turkish word that means "priest." This would
probably correspond to the pair of wrapped strands of blonde
and brown/black hair.
The Hebrew carving on the back, to my knowledge, is a
relatively common Jewish prayer: Hear O Israel, the Lord is
our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of his honored
kingdom forever. Said frequently at times of fear, death,
etc...
I was doubtful of the 'haunted' box, and I still don't
believe in the paranormal. What happened in August and
Septemember is likely coincidental, so I will relate it as I
originally wrote it down in a log.
Sunday, 31 August 2003 Over the last week some interesting,
though possibly coincidental, items of note have come up.
Firstly, I share a house with six other people; we have been
taking turns sleeping with the box in each of our rooms.
Two people are now complaining of burning eyes, one is
listless and depleted of energy, and another became
spontaneously sick. [In retrospect I would say it was
alergies.] A few days after these ongoing annoyances
started, the air outside our house was filled with small bugs
for several hours (a Friday). [Weird summer stuff?] Last
night (Saturday) we discovered that the box, now located in
the back corner of the house, had come mostly open, though it
had been shut and it seems unlikely that anyone could or would
have touched it.
Wednesday, 10 September 2003 Though it seems impossible to
prove that the box is a direct cause of misfortune, we have
definitely seen a tidal wave of "bad luck." Strange odors
now permeate the house, the dumpster out back overflows with
trash and decay, one roomate suddenly got bronchitis, and I
broke a finger. Several mice have died in the engine of
one car, and more electronic devices seem to be dying
everyday: xbox, toaster, t.v., and watches. ------
I don't really want to talk about anything between
September and January, so I'll just say that I'm selling the
box now for a couple reasons:
- Around October 6th, I started feeling bad, with trouble
sleeping. This problem has persisted through today.
- I live alone now, and as of late I have noticed
replacing a lot of burnt out lightbulbs, and getting many
unusual car repairs (transmission fluid was burned out of
the reservoir.)
- I've started seeing things, sort of like large vertical
dark blurs in my periphreal vision.
- I smell something like juniper bushes or stingy ammonia
in my garage often, and I have no idea what from.
- Most disturbingly, last Tuesday (1-27-2004), my hair
began to fall out. Today (Friday) it's about half gone. I'm
in my early twenties, and I just got a clean blood test back
from the doctor's. Maybe it's stress related, I don't know.
Anyhow, for personal reasons I very strongly do not want
this box anymore. I hope there's someone on Ebay that will
take this thing off of my hands. [I would just throw it away
in the woods or something, but I know there has been some
interest in it in the past.]
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