• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Crying Boy Portrait

kevanf1 said:
There is an offshoot to the legend that claims if you hang a Crying Boy together with a Crying Girl then the curse is negated...

But the chamber becomes really, really damp.
 
Fizz32 said:
OTR, the artist's name is Steven Pearson.

Thank you, my friend!

The sea extending across floor tiles seems to be one of the artist's most recurring motifs
 
Crying boy

I know 2 families personally who were afflicted of the crying boy "curse" in the early 1980's (Fortean Times issue 234 page 32) one of the homes was a pre-war gable ended terrace house with a fireplace, but the other was a new non-fireplaced central heated semi-detached house, but the painting in both was of the "Crying Toby" variant (As the second picture at the top of page 34 but in colour).

In the gable ended house the print was framed above the fireplace in the main living room, but in the semi was on a internal support wall in the living room with no pipes or electricity wires again etc.

But in both cases the print was untouched even though the frames were slightly scorched and the rooms the prints were in were totally devistated, but amazingly enough the fires did not spread thoughout the rest of the buildings, and as I remembered rightly (I have just phoned both parties involved after I read the article) that neither families received thier insurance settlements as both companies refused to pay out due to owning the "Crying Toby" print.

Also as a foot note both prints were "prizes" from the local travelling fair (Romany Gypsy curse maybe?).
 
Crying boy

I know 2 families personally who were afflicted of the crying boy "curse" in the early 1980's (Fortean Times issue 234 page 32) one of the homes was a pre-war gable ended terrace house with a fireplace, but the other was a new non-fireplaced central heated semi-detached house, but the painting in both was of the "Crying Toby" variant (As the second picture at the top of page 34 but in colour).

In the gable ended house the print was framed above the fireplace in the main living room, but in the semi was on a internal support wall in the living room with no pipes or electricity wires again etc.

But in both cases the print was untouched even though the frames were slightly scorched and the rooms the prints were in were totally devistated, but amazingly enough the fires did not spread thoughout the rest of the buildings, and as I remembered rightly (I have just phoned both parties involved after I read the article) that neither families received thier insurance settlements as both companies refused to pay out due to owning the "Crying Toby" print.

Also as a foot note both prints were "prizes" from the local travelling fair (Romany Gypsy curse maybe?).
 
gerardwilkie said:
Thanks for pointing all that out, but I started this thread back in 2005 , and that was when my point was raised. I live in the UK also and subscribe to FT so I'm aware that it is on the current front cover. My musing about downloading it as wallpaper was a joke. Sorry if you took it too literally. Glad to see that the threads have been merged to stop any further confusion.

Please accept my apologies for sort of hijacking the thread. I did honestly run a search on the term 'Crying Boy' before I inadvertently started a new thread about it. Nothing came up in the search :(

It would be an interesting experiment to actually download a good picture of one of the 'Crying Boys' and hang it in an old shed or something. :)
 
At least if your home did burn down your copy of FT 234 would be unscathed.
 
kevanf1 M8, don't worry, your contribution is highly valued. :D






But no hanging Crying Boy pictures in any of my sheds, please. :evil:
 
kevanf1 said:
gerardwilkie said:
Thanks for pointing all that out, but I started this thread back in 2005 , and that was when my point was raised. I live in the UK also and subscribe to FT so I'm aware that it is on the current front cover. My musing about downloading it as wallpaper was a joke. Sorry if you took it too literally. Glad to see that the threads have been merged to stop any further confusion.

Please accept my apologies for sort of hijacking the thread. I did honestly run a search on the term 'Crying Boy' before I inadvertently started a new thread about it. Nothing came up in the search :(

It would be an interesting experiment to actually download a good picture of one of the 'Crying Boys' and hang it in an old shed or something. :)

No probs at all , and happy posting. I started this thread through an experience in my family (all explained in the initial post) , and it has been somethng that has fascinated me ever since. One thing got me thinking though.....in my initial post I mentioned that my aunt was bought the picture by one of her sons, and had a house fire not long after. Subsequently we heard about the legend and my aunt gave the picture away (it survived the blaze). She never said who she gave it to though. A few years later her son (my cousin, ad the one who bought her the picture) sadly died in a separate house fire. I'm wondering if she gave it to him :? .I'll never know as they are both now dead , so there's no-one I can ask.
 
kevanf1 said:
Just a quick apology to the moderators for causing them more work with this thread :( I honestly did a search and the original thread did not show up which is why I started a new one (now merged, thank you).
Not a problem :). The search function does seem to have "off days" from time to time - I'm just lucky in remembering where a lot of threads are.


We were discussing this at my "Must Get Out More" club just last week.
 
My nan had this picture to and my nan gave it a way and i never did like that picture it gave me the creeps.
 
It's probably a working class suspicion of any object without an obvious function. My mother attached prolific ill-tidings to all manner of artisanal simulacra from pot birds to paintings. Among groups where work and money are subject to caprice the idea of a fancy indulgence seems to go hand in hand with misfortune.
The toffs can have the Koh-i-Noor but us plebs have to make do with litho prints of teary eyed juveniles.
 
Oh, it would have been too much to ask for those prints to be destroyed by fire, wouldn't it?

In response to a post upthread, if I had the misfortune to suffer a house fire, could the insurers get away with refusing to pay out because of a supposedly cursed painting? I can't think how anyone would just accept that decision without question.
 
Hi all,

I wanted to relay an experience that my family had with a similar print of a painting, probably about 20 years ago - no house fires, but a few odd bits and pieces. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough...

Most Sunday mornings my dad would go to a local car-boot sale, usually bringing back a few interesting curios, ornaments, and often toys for me and my brothers.

One Sunday, he brought back a framed print of a rather ugly painting, similar but not identical to the well-known Bragolino pic. This one was actually of a little boy, holding a puppy and crying, similar to "Puppy Love" shown here (although, again, not identical):

http://www.flying-duck.com/HTMLs/art/artproduct.html

I remember my mum asking him why the hell he'd buy such an ugly, nasty-looking thing, and my dad sheepishly replying that he didn't really know... This itself was a bit weird, as my dad has never really been one for kitsch decorations, and would be the first to scoff at such naffness.

Anyway, for some reason, despite no-one really liking the painting, it was hung on the wall of the living room, above the back of a large sofa.

From that afternoon, a few weird things started happening. Firstly our dog at the time, a daft-as-a-brush Yokshire terrier, would stare at the picture and growl and bark, which she had never done before, at any other wall decorations or any people.

Also, my mum, myself and my three brothers all became very ill over the next day or two, with fevers and vomiting, etc., and were pretty much unable to get out of bed. Not so unusual I admit, but the severity of the illness and the sudden way it afflicted the family and then disappeared after about a day was unusual. I concede that this was probably just a touch of the flu or whatever though.

The most horrible aspect for me as a 9-year old kid at the time was the way the atmosphere in the house changed: where normally we'd been a happy family (mum, dad, and four kids ranging from ages 2 to 14), we were suddenly at each other's throats, and generally just felt sad and low.:(

I remember my parents screaming and throwing things at each other, something I've never seen before or since. Again, this could be explained by the fact that this was during the school summer holidays, and everyone was pretty much cooped up in the house and was perhaps a little stir-crazy...still felt a bit 'Amityville' though.

The weirdest thing was that we all 'knew' that the change in things around the house was because of the print on the wall. My dad actually took the picture down at this point and put it behind the couch. Again, I'm not really sure why he didn't just chuck it out at this point...

It all came to a head one morning, about two weeks after my dad first came home with the picture, when me and my brothers got up to the sound of hammering (and my dad's cursing) coming from the back garden. Dad had got the picture out from behind the couch, took it into the garden, and proceeded to smash the picture, frame and all, into bits with a lump hammer.

He then took the pieces and burnt them in the brick barbecue that we had in the garden.

When my brothers and I asked my mum why he'd done this now, she said that my dad had got up to go the toilet in the middle of the night and caught a glimpse of someone walking down the hallway in the house, and turning into the living room. He'd turned the lights on and given chase, thinking there might be an intruder, and lost sight of the figure as it walked into the living room, where the picture was. He'd said that the figure looked like a small woman, or possibly a boy, dressed in a light-coloured robe. At this point, he'd apparently thought 'enough is enough', grabbed the picture and thrown it into the garden before going back to bed.

From the point where my dad destroyed the picture, everything seemed to immediately snap back to normal, the oppressive atmosphere in the house seemed to disappear, everbody suddenly got on a lot better with each other, and even the dog stopped being a surly little bugger.

Now, I realise that there's probably a rational explanation for everything mentioned above, tensions over money worries, a bout of the flu, my dad's stress (his mother was very ill at the time and died a few months later), etc., but at the risk of sounding like a credulous berk, I really do think that the two weeks or so that the picture was in the household, things were very different, and not in a good way.

I haven't had a chance to talk to my parents or older brothers since being reminded of this, but I will do soon and will post any relevant, perhaps more tangible things that they remember.

Incidentally, I've never seen a picture of this particular painting on the internet, although the 'Puppy Love' picture on the site above is quite similar.
 
:D A great story!

I'd love to hear what your family have to say about it.
 
Was your father's mother a small woman? Could the mystery figure in the hallway have been a projection of her perhaps? Maybe the picture was a catalyst for all sorts of bad "vibes" (for want of a better word) including the psychological effects of the illness on your family?

Just speculating, fine story, though...
 
gncxx said:
Was your father's mother a small woman? Could the mystery figure in the hallway have been a projection of her perhaps? Maybe the picture was a catalyst for all sorts of bad "vibes" (for want of a better word) including the psychological effects of the illness on your family?

Just speculating, fine story, though...

I agree completely regarding the picture being a catalyst, but if anything it seemed to amplify and concentrate any bad feelings. As I said, home life had always been happy, and I know that my parents had always tried to shield us from their stress - putting on a happy face, so to speak.

I reckon the most likely rational explanation is that the creepiness of the picture made everyone that little bit uneasy, and tipped tensions in the household over the edge, making the atmosphere change, and the picture I suppose could then have become a scapegoat for this sudden change.

Regarding my Nan (dad's mum), I suppose she was quite small - your typical little old lady really... :)

Anyway, will try to post some more details and other viewpoints from the family after xmas.

Have a great Christmas all!
:D
 
How come those bloody awful Chinese Lady pictures weren't cursed and didn't burst into flames? :x
 
My aunt and uncle have had a "Crying Boy" picture for more than thirty years, and nothing unusual has happened - no house fires, no other strangeness. Perhaps this is one of the few non-cursed pictures?
 
Enjoyed Steve Punt's programme on the Crying Boy painting this morning -
Punt PI

Steve Punt turns private eye, investigating the supposed curse of the Crying Boy paintings. The pictures became a tabloid sensation in the 1980s when in a spate of house fires the portraits were often the only items to survive unscathed.

25 years after the story hit the headlines, Punt attempts to get to the bottom of why the paintings didn't perish. Radio 4's dogged detective tracks down one of the mysterious portraits and speaks to former owners, an occultist and fire investigator as well as former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie who broke the story nationwide. Finally, Punt sets fire to the the portrait he's acquired - can he make it catch light?

It's on Listen Again for a week so Brits can catch up. :D
 
The Kelvin MacKenzie aspect makes me reluctant to listen I'm afraid.
 
A burning issue ... Crying Boy painting

Artist behind eerie riddle

SPANIARD Bruno Amadio was born in 1911 and died in 1981, just four years before reports of house fires involving his Crying Boy paintings made the headlines.

He was known as Bragolin but also went by the name Giovanni Bragolin, J Bragolin, or Seville.

He created 27 paintings, which were mass produced and sold globally in the 1960s and 70s.

Around 50,000 Crying Boy-style prints have been sold in Britain.

More than 2,500 were sent to The Sun in 1985, and burned under the supervision of the fire brigade.


Solved: The curse of the Crying Boy
By STEVE PUNT

Published: 09 Oct 2010

IN a chilling story that gripped the nation in 1985, the Yorkshire home of Ron and May Hall was gutted by fire - but their painting of a crying boy remained unscathed.

Hundreds more people went on to report experiences of house fires where a Crying Boy painting had survived. Now comedian STEVE PUNT has re-examined the "curse" for his Radio 4 programme Punt PI, in which he investigates quirky unsolved mysteries.


TWENTY-FIVE years ago, George Michael was a bouffant-haired pop god, David Cameron had just started at university - and Britain was in the grip of the Curse Of The Crying Boy. From all over the country came reports of house fires in which a picture of a tearful child was unscathed.

I remembered reading the story at the time and wanted to investigate whether anyone had ever solved the mystery.

I tracked one of the pictures down. Recession has clearly struck the art world because it was only a tenner.

I then talked to Kelvin MacKenzie - Editor of The Sun in 1985 who urged readers to send in their paintings before organising a bonfire - about what made the story so interesting.

The crucial factor, it seemed, was that it was a Yorkshire fireman, not a regular member of the public, who had noticed the unburnt painting and claimed that this was not the first time they had seen it survive a fire.

By this time I had realised that it wasn't just that the Crying Boy was involved in the fires - there were also rumours that it had STARTED them. How could that happen?

I talked to art expert Tim Marlow. He's not a big fan of the Crying Boy but did recognise the name of the artist, Bragolin, who died in 1981 and created a series of Crying Boy paintings for tourists in post-war Venice.

It didn't fit with the extraordinary tale that has appeared on the internet since the original story 25 years ago.

This version claims that the boy in the painting was an orphan whose parents had died in a fire. He was taken in by the painter despite warnings that he was a firestarter - a child who can burn things without touching them.

The artist's studio caught fire and he was ruined. The boy ran away - and ten years later a car crashed in flames on the outskirts of Barcelona.

The driver died in the crash, the online story goes, but a driving licence found inside showed it was the orphan boy.

This story is, of course, too good to be true. And even if the child himself could start fires, that's not the same as a painting of him starting fires, let alone 50,000 copies.

It didn't, to be honest, seem very likely. But was it true that the picture didn't burn? I went to the Building Research Establishment - a laboratory near Watford where they set things on fire for research purposes.

The result was a little surprising. A flame put immediately in front of the painting did set fire to a corner of the frame but only burnt around the outer edge of the child's profile before petering out.

But it turns out there is a reason why paintings often survive fires relatively undamaged: It is to do with the string on the back burning through first.

The painting falls face-down, giving it protection from smoke and heat.

It's easy to see how the Crying Boy became such a phenomenon. It has all the ingredients of a great spooky story.

An eerie child, a rash of fires, a mysterious artist, a "supernatural" ability to survive flames... and a newspaper with an eye for a good story.

Many people were spooked and wanted to be rid of them but Kelvin MacKenzie thinks there is another reason why the paintings flooded in.

He reckons many came from couples where one person had never liked the picture anyway - and saw a good opportunity to get rid of it.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...f-the-Crying-Boy-is-solved-by-Steve-Punt.html
 
Too many good elements to this story for it be fully written off in this way, I thought. Too many still mysterious.
 
The stuff about the artist, all those odd things about the kid the pic was based on. The'yre all floating in the air like something from a movie or an M R James piece.
And rightly so! :)
 
Kelvin MacKenzie described how when the Sun offered to destroy readers' copies of the painting, it was swamped with them. The affair came across as a national joke - I don't think people really believed the story.

I'm wondering if the painting was involved in so many fires because most house fires happen in poorer homes, occupied by people who are more likely to own it than, say, an original Rembrandt.

Also, of all the residents' posessions, that picture would probably be last on the 'save from a fire' list!
 
I've never heard of this! England sure is a strange place. Here in Canada I don't know of such things...beside a few haunted historical places and bloody mary, we don't get cool stuff like that :p The painting's pretty good too! I wonder if something will happen to me if I criticize the painting?
 
escargot1 said:
I'm wondering if the painting was involved in so many fires because most house fires happen in poorer homes, occupied by people who are more likely to own it than, say, an original Rembrandt.

I think that's probably most likely.
Back in the 70s and early 80s, I used to help my sister run a yearly jumble sale for charity, and we used to get loads of those pictures given to us. They were impossible to sell, too (because they were tacky-looking).
 
I'm wondering if the painting was involved in so many fires because most house fires happen in poorer homes, occupied by people who are more likely to own it than, say, an original Rembrandt.

You've got me thinking there... the only times i can remember seriously using candles was during the early 70s power cuts, i wonder if they might just have coincided with the pics initial popularity?

That wouldn;t explain later combustions though.
 
This is the thing. Sometimes a story is so good we're almost scared to kill it. But the other thing is, we WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH BECAUSE WE WANT THE STORIES TO BE REAL.
I saw a lot of these pictures in my childhood up here in the north east. A lot of kids looked like the subjects and I think I hated them because of that. Somehow, for me, the connections between the poverty and the fires feels like the sad connection, like their was something portentous about the gloom in the pictures and their presence in these homes. Maybe that's why something rings 'true' about these stories. They aren't technically 'true' but something beneath them 'is'. I don't remember any happy homes with these pictures in them at all.
 
Back
Top