Anyone else unsettled by this?

by icegin
24 replies
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I came across photos of this painting a few months ago.

In general, viewing paintings/drawings do not elicit any strong emotional response in me (if any at all). However, when I first saw this particular painting, I was extremely disturbed. It's not graphic or violent or explicit in any way, but it put a pit in my stomach and I'm still not sure why. Admittedly I don't feel this way anymore when I see it, but I still find it quite unsettling.

I'd be interested in hearing about how other people respond to it.
  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Yeah, it's definitely out there. Good pic for the cover of a horror novel. The most disturbing part to me is the fact the little girl isn't real. Dolls always gave me the spooks - but the expressions on the faces just suggest that something is very, very not right.
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    • Profile picture of the author icegin
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Yeah, it's definitely out there. Good pic for the cover of a horror novel. The most disturbing part to me is the fact the little girl isn't real. Dolls always gave me the spooks - but the expressions on the faces just suggest that something is very, very not right.
      Yeah, the expressions are definitely off-putting, though I found the hands trying to reach in from the other side of the window incredibly disturbing as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisDH
    Yeah, I was going to say yeah that is freaky and ask if there was a story behind it, then I scrolled down and yeah now its even more creepy.
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  • Profile picture of the author katjapalmu
    The painting was fine, just a bit creepy but the website was horrible, that gave me the creeps...
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  • Profile picture of the author GT
    I don't know if it's the boy's expression or the hands coming through the dark that disturbs me the most! lol

    Hmm. That boy IS creepy. I wonder if it was he who banished the owners of the hands to eternal darkness?

    GT
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrician
    I think as far as this painting goes people are hysterical and suggestible. They are told it's haunted, ok they can see it.

    It is mildly disturbing maybe to kids and this goes great with the guy that is always under the bed or in the closet.

    Pretty weird - it has the same technique or element in the boys eyes of a print I have that makes his eyes change.

    In this case they seem to look up or down or blink.

    In mine you can look at it for an hour and the eyes are closed. The next time you look they are open. ... as if looking out from way off inside.

    The one that I have is a print of a very old German artist as an image of Christ.

    Interestingly when I bought the first one it was called 'Mustin Baba' during my Indian craze in the 60s. I don't know what ever happened to it.

    Then about 15 years ago I was looking at posters online and saw it was actually intended to be a picture of Christ so I grabbed it.

    I love it but it is weird.

    Here it is called St. Veronica's Handkerchief

    http://www.allposters.com/-sp/St-Ver..._i1698807_.htm

    and i am not the only one that sees them open and close

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  • That painting is a Stephen King novel just waiting to happen.


    I'll just stick to Jesus on toast, thank you -
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Pat,

      What was creepy to me was that I did see the eyes open, but they never closed again!

      Terra
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      • Profile picture of the author Patrician
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

        Pat,

        What was creepy to me was that I did see the eyes open, but they never closed again!

        Terra
        Terra you mean the boy? Yes I watched them change several times and then I went back after reading the article and it wouldn't change anymore.

        creepy...
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        • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
          Yes, Pat!

          After the initial opening, they were forever open when I viewed it, no matter how many times I've gone back, they're open and not changing.

          Worse, they're open in a menacing manner, like the eyes of someone who is ticked at you and sending a glaring look your way.

          I'm done with it, lol!

          Terra
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Patterson
    Maybe it's just me but....doesn't that close-up up the little boys face look like it could be a young George Bush Jr.?
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    • Originally Posted by Dave Patterson View Post

      Maybe it's just me but....doesn't that close-up up the little boys face look like it could be a young George Bush Jr.?
      LOL! I thought that too!
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  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    I read the whole thing and it is both entertaining and creepy. I would not bid on that picture, that is for sure!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sunfyre7896
    The initial painting put forth by the t.c. has in fact been the subject of much talk of its creepiness. Many people are disturbed by the boy and especially the hands in the dark windows as if they're ghosts or demonic hands and the boy represents some dark fears. However, the actual intention was that it was a boy standing in front of a window with hand prints and was supposed to be harmless but who can ever really say with artists. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    Originally Posted by icegin View Post

    I came across photos of this painting a few months ago.

    In general, viewing paintings/drawings do not elicit any strong emotional response in me (if any at all). However, when I first saw this particular painting, <snip>
    That is a creepy image. It reminds me of an Argentine painting I saw of a doll falling from a skyscraper about to crash onto a sidewalk.

    My 22-month-old toddler loves flipping through my National Geographic magazines more than his big collection of children's books. His mom hates the magazine because it always has photographs of mummies, snakes, and other kinds of images that creep her out, and naturally worries about how they might affect him. One day, my toddler got frightened by an image in National Geographic and pulled me towards the magazine. It wasn't a picture of a mummy or lizard biting into an insect or anything like that. It was a crude stylized drawing of a a face. It honestly didn't look like much to me, but shook him up. That same face spooked him on more than one occasion, causing me to hide the issue of the magazine that had that image.
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrician
    ooooooooooooooooh

    check under the bed tonight.

    LOL.

    I wish you could see the real St. Veronica's handkerchief - it is much prettier in black and white than that brown color it shows. It is really almost supernatural like it is a photograph negative but reversed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gaston Wolf
    Freaky painting, I shouldn't look at things like that late at night :|
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    This is about the 3rd time this has been posted here in OT.
    Everything old becomes new again.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Patterson
      Originally Posted by KimW View Post

      This is about the 3rd time this has been posted here in OT.
      Everything old becomes new again.
      Man, I sure hope so...
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    • Profile picture of the author icegin
      Originally Posted by KimW View Post

      This is about the 3rd time this has been posted here in OT.
      Everything old becomes new again.
      Oops, I wasn't aware of that. Oh well, WF is constantly growing -- there seems to be plenty of people who never saw it the first couple of times
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  • Profile picture of the author bailbondsguys
    That kid looks like my dad did in his pictures when he as young. Haha! Good post.
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  • Profile picture of the author YoungLoft
    im vey unsettled about this. its kind wierd
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I don't know if it's the boy's expression or the hands coming through the dark that disturbs me the most! lol

    Hmm. That boy IS creepy. I wonder if it was he who banished the owners of the hands to eternal darkness?

    GT
    If you really look at those hands, they are deformed.

    I love it but it is weird.

    Here it is called St. Veronica's Handkerchief
    Awesome pic, Pat. I kind of like it myself.

    Maybe it's just me but....doesn't that close-up up the little boys face look like it could be a young George Bush Jr.?
    That's one of the things that disturbed me about the pic is that the kids face looks aged and adult - not the face of a kid at all.
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    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
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