The owner of a ‘spooky’ painting had revealed how she became convinced the painting was cursed.
Zoe Elliott-Brown, from East Sussex, discussed her terrifying ordeal with the painting on This Morning, which depicts a stern-faced little girl in a red dress.
The 36-year-old bought the portrait, which shows a young girl in a red dress staring into the distance, from the Hastings Advice Representation Center (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex last month.
Strange things have happened in Zoe’s life since then, as her 68-year-old mother Jayne – who is “transfixed” by the painting – has had hot flashes, became shaky and had to wear four sweaters to keep warm.
The painting caused a stir online after Steve, the manager of a charity shop, posted it in the window with a post-it note on it that read: ‘She’s back!!! Sold twice and returned twice! Are you brave enough?’
Zoe Elliott-Brown, from East Sussex, spoke this morning of her terrifying ordeal with the painting
Zoe bought the portrait, which features a young girl in a red dress staring into the distance, from the Hastings Advice Representation Center (HARC) shop last month.
Zoe revealed that she thought there was something on the back of the painting.
She also predicted that the artwork had not been opened for years because of all the dust around the frame.
In fact, the painting scared her so much that she refused to travel to the ITV studios with it, and it had to arrive separately.
Zoë explained how she came to own the painting, adding: ‘A man came by and said nothing, he just left it there with some old frames.
“So they couldn’t talk to the original owner and nobody knows where it came from.
And then another lady noticed how creepy it looked, and then she came back and bought it.
“Then she brought it back a few words later and commented that it ‘ruined her life,’ and that’s when I bought it.”
After Zoë bought the painting for £20, she took it home, but some members of her family were not impressed with the artwork.
She said their family dog Cilla, a Patterdale terrier, “immediately growled” at the painting and “didn’t want to go near it.”
Horrified, Zoë said she had kept it in her friend’s garden for the past few days.
However, Zoe’s mother Jayne told her to bring the painting inside as she didn’t want “she to get cold.”
Zoe says her mother gets “very defensive” about the painting, and when she came downstairs one morning, she saw Jayne “stroking the painting’s cheeks.”
Even hosts Andi Peters and Rochelle Humes found the painting creepy when they discussed it with Zoe
Zoë says that although there is a signature in the artist’s corner, she cannot find any information about the painting
After she bought the portrait, Jayne’s health began to deteriorate: she experienced hot flashes, became shaky, and had to wear four sweaters to keep warm.
The Hastings Advice Representation Center (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-Sea has been the subject of a media frenzy
However, strange events have also happened to Zoe – and she envisioned a mysterious dark figure on a dog walk.
After being chased by an unknown “black figure,” Zoe said she returned the painting to the thrift store the next day.
However, she said the man didn’t want it there and so placed it in the back of the store.
Intrigued to see if anyone had been brave enough to buy the “twice returned” painting, Zoe returned to the charity shop, but once there she felt compelled to take it home again.
Zoë says that although there is a signature in the artist’s corner, she cannot find any information about the painting.
When asked about future plans for the painting, Zoë said, “I just want someone who knows about it or can clean it.
“Because I don’t want anyone burning it for fun or anything, and then I’ll stay at my mom’s flat with whatever energy is left.”
Speaking to Andi Peters, Zoe said, “I think you should open the back, there’s something behind it and I don’t want to open it at my house.”
The staff of This Morning decided to open the mysterious painting to see if anything suspicious was lurking behind the glass.
Although there was nothing special behind the artwork, there was an imprint of the painting on the protective glass.
When the glass was held up to the light, it appeared as if it contained a black silhouette of the young girl.
Tilly, opening the painting, said “it wouldn’t open,” adding that she had to use some force.