Under no circumstances should you bring into your home a reproduction of the painting "Crying Boy" by the Italian artist Bruno Amadio, best known under the pseudonym Giovanni Bragolin. Unless you can insure your home for a tidy sum against fire, hang this mystical copy there and move to another place. There is a high probability that the building will burn down, like many other houses, where, unfortunately, reproductions of this mysterious canvas turned out to be.
Far from random fires
The painting depicting a grim red-haired boy with tears on his cheeks is surrounded by a real aura of mysticism. There are many documented evidences that any reproduction of this canvas is “fire hazardous” and causes fires wherever it is hung. At the same time, the "Crying Boy" itself for some reason does not burn down, often remaining the only surviving object in the ashes. The original painting, which has not survived to this day, is believed to have such a strong curse that even reproductions cause fires and claim human lives.
It all started, probably in September 1985, when Ron and May Hulla from Rotherham contacted the editorial office of the British newspaper The Sun. The British decided to tell reporters the story that happened to them. According to the couple, her house recently burned down for an unexplained reason, but a reproduction of The Crying Boy remained on the black charred wall, almost untouched by the fire. The brother of the head of the family worked as a firefighter and not only confirmed this information, but also noticed that portraits with a red-haired child are also found intact in other burned-down houses.
The staff of the publication conducted their own investigation. It turned out that two months earlier, a printing plant had printed more than fifty thousand reproductions of the canvas, which quickly sold out to workers in northern England. The journalists found out that during this time there were more than forty fires in the houses where this picture was hung, and each time the work turned out to be whole, as if the flame did not consciously touch the portrait.
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The mystical picture itself does not burn
The article published by The Sun was sensational. After reading it, many Britons began to call the editorial office, claiming that they also acquired this painting, and they also had fires. One man said that he specially bought a reproduction and tried to burn it in the fireplace, but the portrait, after lying in the fire for an hour, did not even burn slightly. The excitement around "Crying Boy" was so great that representatives of the South Yorkshire Fire Department issued an official statement, explaining that there was allegedly no mysticism: they say, there were too many reproductions, and statistically it is not unusual that pictures with a gloomy child sometimes find themselves in houses where fires occur.
The owners of The Sun also had to make a statement. The newspapermen reported that they were tired of the calls from readers, and agreed that everyone who wanted to send them a copy of the picture. Within a week, the editorial office was inundated with thousands of portraits of The Crying Boy. The editor Calvin Mackenzie, who turned out to be a superstitious man, demanded that the paintings be destroyed as soon as possible. After some time, the newspaper published a new article, which stated that all copies of the canvas received were burned outside the city. However, many Britons did not believe this, including because the article did not include photographs of the mass burning of paintings.
Almost all fire officials turned out to be superstitious, and they began to present the picture as a joke gift. People who claimed that there was no connection between the portrait and the fires completely refused such gifts. Some said that the picture would not suit their interior, others argued that they did not like painting at all, and still others did not even name the reasons for their refusal.
Damn picture
The original portrait was painted in the fifties of the last century. According to popular legend, Giovanni Bragolino was posed by his own son. The artist, whose paternal qualities were very far from ideal, could not in any way make the offspring cry, and then he began to burn matches right in front of the boy's face. The child who suffered from the fear of fire immediately burst into tears and shouted at the parent: "Yes, so that you burn yourself!" Obviously, by doing so, the young sitter unknowingly sent a curse on his portrait.
It is noteworthy that this picture is the most famous of twenty-seven paintings by Giovanni Bragolin, depicting crying boys. The painter created a whole series called "Gypsy Children", and all these works of art show little children in tears. It is not known whether the other paintings in this series are cursed, but one thing can be said with certainty: the "Crying Boy" in question is not as simple as it might seem at first glance, and even the most notorious skeptics.