Crying boy

On September 4, 1985, the British newspaper The Sun published an article called Blazing Curse of the Crying Boy. In the article, a married couple of Ron and May Halls from Rotherham ( South Yorkshire ) claimed that after a house burned out as a result of a fire, amid the destruction on the wall there was an intact cheap reproduction of a painting with a crying boy.

In addition, it was reported that Ron’s brother, Peter Hull, works in the Rotherham fire station, and one of his colleagues, Alan Wilkinson, claimed that very often firefighters found an intact reproduction of “The Crying Boy” in the conflagration.

The article was accompanied by a photograph of the reproduction with the caption "Tears for fears ... the portrait that firemen claim is cursed" (Tears for fear ... a portrait that firefighters consider damned). Although the firefighter did not use the word “curse” in his story, the article was written in such a way that readers would have no doubt that this is so. Also included was a brief summary of the fact that more than 50,000 reproductions of the painting were sold in UK stores, which were distributed mainly in the working areas of Northern England.

In the mid-1980s, The Sun fought hard for readers. Calvin Mackenzie, editor of the newspaper, saw in the article a sensation so necessary for him to attract the public. He told his staff that this story has great potential and will last a long time.

Already on September 5, 1985, The Sun published an article stating that after the last report on the portrait the editors received a lot of information from readers about similar circumstances. The article actively used such words as “curse”, “bringing unhappiness”, “fear”, “horror”. The article cited messages of a similar type: “In the fire, all my paintings were destroyed, except for the Crying Boy” and “Those of my relatives and acquaintances who purchased the painting’s reproduction suffered from fires.”

The article also concluded that the presence of reproduction seriously increased the risk of fire or serious injury. So, Rose Farrington Preston wrote in a letter to the newspaper: “I bought a portrait in 1959. Since then, my husband and my three sons have died. I often ask myself, maybe they were damned? ” In another letter, it was reported that when one of the readers tried to burn the reproduction, it did not burn, despite the fact that it had been on fire for more than an hour.

The statement that the reproductions are not burning again reminded the public of the interview with the fireman. Although Alan Wilkinson stated that most of the fires where the “Crying Boy” appeared had rational reasons for violating fire safety rules, he could not explain how the portrait remained relatively intact, although the whole environment burned out. The Sun, however, was not at all interested in rational explanations, and therefore ignored his comments, saying that "firefighters have no logical explanation for a number of recent incidents."

It soon became clear that the paintings that took part in various incidents were not copies of the same painting. Some of the paintings were attributed to the Italian Giovanni Bragolin, some to the Scottish artist Anna Zinkeisen . In total, there were about 5 different versions of the picture, which united only two things: they depicted children and they were massively sold in English department stores in the 1960s and 1970s.

Journalists, referring to specialists in occultism, expressed the opinion that, perhaps, the author of the original portrait mistreated the child model, and fires could be the result of a child’s curse, his revenge.

Soon there was another fire in Rotherham, and a reproduction of a painting by Anna Zinkaisen was also present in the house. Many rumors and speculation forced the South Yorkshire Fire Department to make a statement. In it, the last fire was explained by a violation of fire safety rules, and the fact that the reproductions are not damaged - by the fact that they are printed on very thick paper, which is very difficult to set on fire. The overall picture of what was happening was explained by a simple coincidence: a lot of copies of the paintings were sold, so it is not surprising that they sometimes end up in houses where a fire occurs.

However, this statement could not have a big impact on public opinion, fueled by The Sun. After another fire, in which an Italian restaurant was damaged, the newspaper issued a statement: “That's enough. If you are worried that the painting “The Crying Boy” is in your house, immediately send it to us. We will destroy it and save you from the curse. "

In the local editorial office, a whole room was littered with reproductions. It turned out that the editor Kelvin Mackenzie is prone to superstition. When one of the editorial staff hung a reproduction on the wall, Mackenzie, having seen this, stopped and turned pale, after which he ordered to remove the picture and remove it: “This is not good.”

Fireman Alan Wilkinson reacted in a similar fashion. Although he said that he was not superstitious, he did not take the reproduction presented to him. Another fireman, Mick Riley, who made a statement to “debunk the curse”, also did not accept the picture, saying that his wife believes that the reproduction does not fit into the interior. Wilkinson hung another painting donated to him at the fire station, but a few days later he received instructions to remove it. But this story continued: in a few days, all the firefighters' dinners burned out on the stove.

By the end of September, The Sun decided to arrange the promised destruction of reproductions, staging a massive burning. The original plan was to make a bonfire on the roof of the newspaper’s office building, but firefighters banned the rally by refusing to collaborate on a cheap show for the public. As a result, reproductions were taken out of town and burned there, and a corresponding article appeared in the newspaper about this.

Gradually, references in the press to the “curse” came to naught.

However, since then in the press, and then on the Internet, the old story periodically comes to life again, and in a variety of ways: for example, with allegations that if the reproduction is handled well, the boy, on the contrary, will bring good luck to the owners, or that similar fires occur in other places in the world.

• The hands resist him

David Clarke. The Curse of the Crying Boy // ForteanTimes. - 2008-07. Archived May 23, 2010.