Curse of the Crying Boy
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What is the Curse of the Crying Boy?
It's 1982 in Nottingham, England. Jane McCutcheon is cleaning the kitchen. In the other room, her two young daughters are watching cartoons and giggling along. The happy scene was contrasted by the haunting portrait that hung above the fireplace in front of them. It's of a young boy, about 11 years old. He has blonde hair and wears a ragged, oversized shirt.
What happened during Jane McCutcheon's fire?
There's a sadness behind his crystal blue eyes. Teardrops roll down either side of his face. Then, Jane's two-year-old daughter runs into the kitchen and tugs at Jane's shirt. She points back to the living room, trying to vocalize something. The room is on fire. The ceiling, the Venetian blinds, the furniture. Within minutes, Jane's home is an inferno. Jane grabs her daughters and flees for safety just as firefighters arrive. As she passes some of the men, one of them exclaims, oh no, not another. He was referring to an item, the painting of the crying boy. Amidst the flames and the ashes, it was left unscathed. And it wasn't the first time it had happened. Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy.
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We've all heard stories about bad omens and superstitions, like how a broken mirror can lead to seven years of bad luck. An open umbrella can insult the home's guardian spirit. Stepping on a crack can break your mother's back. But it's unlikely you've heard that hanging a portrait of a young, crying boy can cause your house to catch on fire. In September 1985, The Sun, a British tabloid, published a shocking article that caught the public's attention. The headline read, The story detailed the curious case of Ron and Mary Hall, a couple living in Rotherham, England, about 80 miles east of Liverpool. they had purchased an inexpensive painting at a department store some months before. It was a medium-sized illustration of a young blonde boy with pale blue eyes and tears streaming down his face. But shortly after hanging the portrait of the crying boy, their kitchen went up in flames. The first floor of the home was completely destroyed in the blaze. And yet, the crying boy remained perfectly intact, just waiting to be discovered in the ash.
Ron's brother Peter was a firefighter in Rotherham. Peter knew that one of his colleagues, Alan Wilkinson, had been logging fires exactly like this one since 1973. Twelve years, 49 fires. A painting in every home. And after each blaze, the haunting image of the young crying boy left pristine, almost as if he had caused the damage himself. The day after the article's release, The Sun's editor, Calvin McKenzie, was bombarded by phone calls. His story had estimated 50,000 paintings had been sold in the UK in the 50s and 60s. Thousands of homes had the crying boy in their living rooms. Some of the callers claimed they too had been a victim of the portrait's curse. McKenzie published the stories in the next issue of The Sun, each more horrifying than the last. A woman in Surrey claims she lost her home to fire six months after she purchased one of the portraits. A kitchen fire in a pizza parlor destroyed an entire building. The crying boy portrait was the only thing that didn't turn to ash.
Sondra Caskey and her sister-in-law each purchased a copy of the painting while shopping together outside of London. They hung them in their respective homes, and both had a devastating fire shortly after. But it wasn't just fires that people associated with the painting. Many claimed they had experienced other strange and haunting occurrences as well.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the Curse of the Crying Boy?
0:04–0:28
2
What happened during Jane McCutcheon's fire?
0:28–6:35
3
How did The Sun newspaper popularize the curse?
6:35–9:13
4
What were the reported effects of the painting?
9:13–14:18
5
What was the public response to the painting?
14:18–17:23
6
Who was the artist behind the Crying Boy painting?
17:23–24:52
7
What theories exist about the boy in the painting?
24:52–26:26
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Conspiracy Theories
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