Dybbuk Box
A wine cabinet from a Holocaust survivor's estate. Every owner suffered nightmares, illness, and death. Hair fell out. Strokes occurred. It sold on eBay. Jason Haxton now keeps it hidden.
The Dybbuk Box stands as modern folklore’s most terrifying haunted object, a small wine cabinet that has allegedly brought suffering to everyone who has owned it.
The Origin
The story begins in 2001 at an estate sale in Portland, Oregon. The cabinet had belonged to a Holocaust survivor named Havela, who had immigrated to the United States after World War II. According to her granddaughter, the box had always been kept in a special place, and Havela had been adamant that it should never, ever be opened.
Kevin Mannis, a furniture dealer and refinisher, purchased the cabinet despite the family’s warnings. Almost immediately, strange things began to happen. His employees reported seeing a shadow figure in the shop. Lights exploded. The smell of cat urine and jasmine flowers would appear from nowhere. Mannis’s mother suffered a stroke the same day he gifted her the box.
The Chain of Owners
What makes the Dybbuk Box legend particularly unsettling is the consistent pattern of misfortune that followed it from owner to owner. Mannis eventually sold the cabinet on eBay, describing the strange occurrences in his auction listing. The buyer, a university student, contacted him within two days, claiming the box was causing her terrible nightmares and demanding he take it back.
It passed through several more hands, and each time the same phenomena repeated: vivid nightmares featuring the same cackling old hag, unexplained health problems, hair loss, and a general sense of oppressive dread. At least two owners reported suffering strokes.
What Was Found Inside
When the box was finally opened for investigation, its contents proved both mundane and deeply strange:
- Two small locks of hair (blonde and dark)
- A small granite slab inscribed with Hebrew letters
- A dried rosebud and a golden wine goblet
- Two wheat pennies from the 1920s
The items suggested some kind of binding ritual from Jewish mystical tradition. In Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is a malicious spirit that must possess a living host or be trapped in an object to exist in this world.
Jason Haxton and the Current State
The box eventually came into the possession of Jason Haxton, Director of the Medical Museum at A.T. Still University. Haxton researched the cabinet extensively, traveling to consult with rabbis and Jewish mystics about its possible origins. He documented his findings in the book “The Dybbuk Box” and worked with a rabbi to build a special cabinet designed to contain the object’s power.
Today, the Dybbuk Box remains hidden in an undisclosed location, kept sealed and protected. Haxton has reported that even handling the box or being in close proximity to it causes health effects and disturbing dreams. The story inspired the 2012 horror film “The Possession,” bringing the legend to a global audience and cementing the Dybbuk Box’s place in paranormal history.