Many know about haunted houses and the sheer terror that they can instill. Fewer people know that objects can be haunted.
Sometimes, a spirit or demon will attach itself to an object, ranging from jewelry and paintings to dolls and mirrors.
Don’t underestimate it either because haunted objects can leave you just as terrified as living in a haunted house. Let’s take a look at the world’s most haunted objects.
Related article: Do Cursed Objects Really Exist? An Expert Weigh In
#1: Annabelle
Annabelle the movie differs so much from the true-life story of the haunted doll that inspired the movie. The real Annabelle started her reign of terror in 1970 when a mother bought a Raggedy Anne doll for her college-aged daughter at a hobby shop as a gift.
Not long after that purchase, horrific happenings started, including levitation and brutal attacks. In one case, Annabelle allegedly attempted to strangle a family friend in his sleep.
When famous ghost investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren took control of the doll and attempted to bring it to their museum in Connecticut, Ed claimed that the doll tried to cause the brakes and steering to fail repeatedly. He says he threw holy water on the doll in the backseat to continue driving his car safely.
Today, the doll sits behind a protective glass case secured with ritualistic prayers. The prayers, meant to bind evil, act as an electric fence to the doll. She may not look as scary as the doll in the movie, but she poses every bit of danger and more than the doll in the movie if you believe the stories.
This tale happened a couple of decades ago, but a young man was banging on the glass enclosure at the museum and taunting the doll.
Ed kicked him out of the museum, and the offender rode off on his motorcycle with his girlfriend laughing and mocking the doll.
Suddenly, he lost control of his motorcycle and struck a tree. He reportedly died a few hours later in the hospital.
#2: The Dancing Wedding Dress
Anna Baker came from a rich family, and in 1849, she fell in love with a local ironworker—considered low class. Ellis Baker, the father of Anna, refused to let her marry.
He banished the young man from Altoona, Pennsylvania, but Anna Baker was so angry that she refused to ever marry. In fact, she stayed angry and bitter up until she died in 1914. She never married as an act of vengeance against her father.
Before her father banished the young man, Anna had picked out a wedding dress. Eventually, another affluent woman bought the dress, but she eventually gave it to a historical society.
Guests often come to see it in its glass case sway from side to side on full moon nights. Some speculate that the dress dancing is Anna spinning in it to admire herself in front of a mirror.
#3: Don’t Take This Haunted Doll’s Photo!
This doll rivals the spook factor of the Annabelle doll in the movie, and many paranormal experts consider it the world’s most terrifying doll—for a good reason! Those who disrespected the doll often had a tragedy overtake them, such as car accidents, arrests, divorces, and broken bones.
The doll, a little boy dressed as a sailor, was given to Robert Eugene Otto of Key West, Florida, in 1896. It was a handmade gift from a Bahamian female servant who allegedly practiced black magic and voodoo and hated the family for mistreating her.
Little Robert adored the doll, but his parents soon expressed concern when they thought they heard a sinister voice speaking to him in the other room. It wasn’t long before strange happenings began.
The straw-stuffed and unblinking doll began to smash vases, and while little Robert was terrified and would blame the doll, his parents would blame him.
Robert, an eccentric artist, inherited the family home and died in 1972. Another family bought the home, but the family had a little girl who saw the doll and immediately felt afraid, saying that the doll was alive and wished to kill her.
In 1994, they donated the doll to the Fort East Martello Museum. However, if you’re thinking about snapping a photo of it, you’d better ask permission.
Those who disrespect the doll and take a photo without asking permission are said to be cursed. If you think this is a joke, the museum displays letters from the victims who were cursed by the doll and apologized profusely, begging the doll to drop its curse.
Some local kids in the 1940s in Key West reported seeing the doll moving in the window at the Otto family home at 534 Eaton Street. Over the years, others have reported the doll laughing, moving independently, and throwing objects across the room. One even said they saw the doll’s chest moving as he could breathe.
How do you know when the doll permitted you to take its photo? In fact, you don’t because it gives no signs.
The doll is mostly said to curse those who act disrespectfully toward it. You might lose your luggage at the airport, or you might get struck by lightning—don’t mess with the doll.
The Robert doll rarely kills, but there have been cases. In one example, a tour guide had the Robert doll tattooed on his arm, and he died shortly after the tattoo was finished.
Related article: Beware of the Unseen: How to Spot a Haunted Object
#4: The Deadman’s Chair
Thomas Busby, a man who brutally murdered another with a hammer, cursed the haunted oak chair before his hanging execution in 1702 in North Yorkshire, England.
Every person who ever sat in the chair died soon after. The first documented victim happened in 1894. A chimney sweep sat in the chair after a hard day of work. After a few drinks, he left but never returned home.
The authorities said he committed suicide, but a former friend later admitted that he had robbed and killed the man.
During WWII, pilots would challenge their friends to sit in the chair. Those pilots who sat in it never returned after the war.
In the 1970s, bikers would sometimes plop down into the chair and later die on their motorcycles or in car accidents.
One woman who sat in it died of a brain tumor. Eventually, they took action to prevent people from sitting in it and put the chair in the basement. Still, a delivery man saw the chair, sat in it, and died in a car accident.
Today, they hung it from a wall in the Thirsk Museum in North Yorkshire, England, to prevent anyone from sitting in the chair.
#5: The Great Bed of Ware
A bed reported to sleep up to four couples, the journeyman carpenter Jonas Fosbrooke made it and presented it to the royal family in 1463. This bed is so famous that Shakespeare even mentioned this bed in his play, “The Twelfth Night.”
Those who would come to sleep in this bed didn’t rest easily. In fact, they would find themselves scratched, pinched and beaten around until they finally chose to sleep elsewhere.
Harrison Saxby, the Master of the Horse to King Henry VIII, is said to have endured a long and painful night in the bed. When onlookers found him in the morning, he was covered in bruises and exhausted to the core.
What’s more curious, he slept on the floor beside the bed rather than in it—utterly defeated.
Some say that the anger of the bed stems from its craftsman Jonas Fosbrooke angry at how commoners have slept in the bed since he originally made it for the royal family. While maybe not as terrifying as some of the other haunted objects on this list, it still deserves a spot.
You can see it today at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Related article: The Scary Truth About Haunted Objects: Are You at Risk?
#6: The Dybbuk Box
The Dybbuk Box is believed to have a spiritual attachment to it known as a dybbuk. A dybbuk in Jewish mythology is a malicious spirit that possesses people and causes mental illness. This box has reportedly cursed every person who ever owned it. It’s one of the “Big Four” haunted objects at Zak Baggans The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.
Some even believe that this is the box that inspired the horror movie, “The Possession.” The famous rapper Post Malone even believes that this box cursed him after he experienced a robbery, a car accident, and a plane crash.
Some say that even looking at photos of the haunted object can lead to a curse. The story begins with a survivor of the Holocaust. People who kept the box in their home report seeing shadows, hearing noises or smelling strange scents. When the box was given to Kevin Mannis’s mother as a gift, he instructed her never to open the box.
The story goes that his mother ignored those warnings and opened the box. They found her in a catatonic state, and she had allegedly suffered a stroke. He sold the box soon after getting it.
#7: The Anguished Man Painting
Considered the world’s most haunted painting, the Anguished Man is a painting by an unknown artist, but they believe he mixed his own blood into the painting.
He committed suicide not long after he painted it. Currently, Sean Robinson owns the painting and lives in Cumbria, England. When he was a young boy, he discovered the painting at his grandmother’s and would spend hours looking at it.
Later, his grandmother passed away and left the painting to Sean. When he brought the painting into his home, he started to experience strange happenings, such as screaming noises, a man crying, and scratching noises. Everyone in the family would experience nightmares.
Despite those occurrences, Sean refused to sell the painting and locked it away at a secure location from his family. He claimed that despite the occurrences, he didn’t believe in the supernatural.
Eventually, he changed his mind and began to post videos of what was happening due to what he believed was occurring because of the painting.
The painting has its own channel on Youtube that you can check out below:
#8: The Shadow Doll
Unlike some other dolls on this list with a relatively innocent appearance, the shadow doll maliciously gives you the creeps. It starts out looking gloomy and unpleasant right from the get-go. It’s one of the most frightening things you will see at Warren’s Occult Museum.
They created the doll as a ritual for diabolical purposes. It was made from human bones, teeth, and nails from animals.
Some believe it can even come to you in your sleep as a nightmare and stop your heart. The museum doesn’t state why this horrible doll was created, but it will send chills up your spine just looking at it.
Some of the files claim that a couple of deaths even happened due to this doll, but it’s a little more dubious of claims than some of the others.
The reason behind it is that it is claimed that this doll kills through nightmares. How do you know that someone died from a nightmare?
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this list of the most haunted objects in the world gives you an idea of the scariest objects.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about cursed objects, check out the book “Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World’s Most Infamous Items.” This book appeals to those who want to hear a few spine-tingling stories (affiliate link – Amazon).
