Woman claims £20 portrait she bought from charity shop 'enchanted'

August 26, 2023

I’m the owner of the ‘haunted’ painting – it’s turned my life upside down: Woman claims £20 portrait of girl she bought from charity shop ‘enchanted’ her mother like Gollum and the One Ring – and now wants a ‘professional’ to ‘lift its curse’

The owner of a ‘cursed’ charity shop painting has insisted it has ‘enchanting’ powers reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings, claiming it has ‘transfixed’ her mum, who had begged her to buy it.

Zoe Elliott-Brown bought the portrait, which features a young girl in a red dress glaring into the distance, from Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex last month.

Upon purchasing the painting she was warned it was ‘possibly cursed’ by the charity shop manager after its previous owner returned it after claiming it ‘ruined her life’.

Intrigued by the portrait, Zoe, a 36-year-old carer, took a picture of it and showed it to her mother Jayne Elliott-Browne who reportedly became ‘transfixed’ with it, urging her to by the £20 piece.

Bizarrely, the mother and daughter have now said their lives have been turned upside down, with strange events starting to happen soon after they brought the painting home.

Zoe said her mother Jayne Elliott-Brown became ‘transfixed’ with the portrait of the young girl and urged her to buy the picture, which was priced at £20

Upon bringing the painting into the living room, their family dog Cilla, a Patterdale terrier, was ‘instantly growling’ at the painting and ‘wouldn’t go anywhere near it’.

Then Jayne, 68, began to suffer from hot flushes, turning shaky and having to wear four jumpers to keep warm.

Zoe claims her mother, whose health had taken a turn for the worst, had been ‘weirdly protective’ over the painting ever since and keeps staring at it.

Jayne then admitted she liked ‘stroking the cheek’ of the girl in the picture and thought she had heard knocking in the night despite no one being there.

In a bid to ‘cleanse’ the painting of its ‘curse’ Zoe has placed it in a box with sage.

The woman from Hastings, East Sussex, said: ‘I’ve never seen my mum want something so much. She was fascinated by it – but not in like a positive way.

‘She was weirdly protective over it. She was continually staring at it. She was running her figures over its cheekbones, she polished it even though it didn’t need polishing.

‘Any mention of getting rid of it… she got really snappy. It’s like some family heirloom she’s become protective over. My mum was point blank refusing to get rid of the picture.

‘I guess it is a bit like the power in Lord of the Rings. It’s definitely really enchanting – it kind of draws you into it but then you don’t really want to be near it at the same time. It is almost a bit like Gollum in Lord of the Rings.’

After buying the portrait, Jayne’s health began taking a turn for the worse – suffering hot flushes, turning shaky and having to wear four jumpers to keep warm

Jayne, a retired office worker, said: ‘I was quite taken with it. I felt like it was a very unhappy young girl and there was something about it you wanted to cheer up.

‘I’ve got a picture in the house of my mum in it and I stroke her cheek and I did the same to the girl because she just seems unhappy.

‘There was something about it that made me want to bring her home and cheer her up.

‘There were a few odd things, someone kept tapping on the door and there was nobody there.

‘I was overheating and not feeling quite right. I personally didn’t put it down to the picture, Zoe did. She felt odd about it ever since it’s been here.’

Zoe, however, is adamant that her mother’s ill health was thanks to the power of the painting.

She added: ‘My mum was just really shaky. She began coming out in all these really hot sweats and really hot flushes. She normally wears four jumpers a day. She was boiling hot.’

The pictured had been bought and returned by its previous owner after it ‘ruined her life’, leading the charity shop manager to include a ‘possibly cursed’ warning on the artwork for future purchases

The frantic daughter rang an ambulance after her mother collapsed in the bathroom, but they eventually cancelled it and she stayed overnight in her flat.

The following days more strange happenings began to occur – with Zoe coming downstairs one morning to find her mother ‘stroking the cheeks’ of the painting.

Zoe said: ‘It was odd behaviour, especially for my mum. She couldn’t remember anything that had happened the night before.

‘My mum is still really odd and vacant and won’t really discuss it.’

Around two weeks later, Zoe and her partner Ben went for a walk about three miles from her home to watch a lightning storm.

As they came out onto the top of the clearing, they saw a ‘big black figure’ standing in front of them.

Zoe bought the portrait, which features a young girl in a red dress glaring into the distance, from Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex

Zoe added: ‘We both looked at this figure thing and said ‘what is that’ at the same time.

‘He grabbed me and we began running back the way we had come. [Ben] was screaming that it was right behind him.

‘I didn’t clock that it could be anything to do with the picture but then I’ve never ever been chased by a dark figure in a lightning storm.

‘It was the most terrifying experience of both our lives.’

Determined on ridding herself of the ‘curse’, Zoe drove back to the charity shop the following morning to return the painting.

However she was shocked to discover a screw in her brand new tyres on arrival.

She warned the charity shop manager to be careful who he sold it to before walking out the store.

Intrigued to see if anyone had been brave enough to buy the ‘twice returned’ painting, Zoe returned to the charity shop but once there felt compelled to take it home with her again.

Intent on cleansing the omens, Zoe placed the ‘disturbing’ painting outside in a box alongside some sage

Zoe said: ‘I don’t think any normal person should go and get it as a joke.

‘The [manager] had taken it from the window… and said he really wanted it out the shop. He said technically it’s still yours and asked will I take it.

‘[I wanted] to get it to someone who actually knows about this stuff and can do something positive with it.

‘I thought knowing my luck some idiot will go and get it and try and burn it and I don’t really want to be left with the remainder of whatever the hell has been going on.

‘Technically I was the last owner. [I want it] dealt with properly.’

Zoe is now hoping to get in contact with a professional who can lift the supposed curse of the painting.

She added: ‘My friend said if you’re going to collect it, make sure you’re going to seal it up in a box and put some sage with it.

‘[I was hoping] the sage would cleanse it a bit. We put sage all around the corners of my mum’s house too which she wasn’t best pleased about.’

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