Do Estate Sale Ghosts Ever Want Their Things Back?

[RondoHatton]

Did the late Mr. Curtis Harrington (09/17/1926-05/06/2007), Director of Horror Films, want his handkerchief back? A man of exquisite tastes, I was priveleged to attend his recent estate sale, affording only 3 lovely small silk scarves I intended for pocket squares. Being a warm late September Sunday, I wore no overcoat motorcycling to the Cicada Club. At about the Melrose Ave exit of the Hollywood Freeway, despite being intentionally well tucked into the breast pocket of my Magnoli Nassau linen suit, it suddenly and dramatically whipped out across my face as if pulled on a wire like a movie ghost and flew out over my right shoulder - no going back for it and living! (It was from Mr. Harrington's memorial I found the Henry Scott Holland sermon of 1910 on "The King Of Fears" which I find comforting.)
Anyone have vaguely similar experiences where an object or possession obtained at an estate sale or the like seemed to take on a mind of it's own or return to the aether? Trading Mothers old trunk (A mistake!) years ago, the person observed "wow, that thing tried to bite you!" as twice the lid slammed down on my fingers. That was creepy; still ought to have kept it, some of the horror diminishes over the years...

 

[Fletch]

You're making me nervous about wearing my latest eBay kill, a 3pc black-and-white tick-weave suit tailored for the late Mr. G___ E___, former VP of Dymo Label in San Francisco, prominent philanthropist, and just about exactly my size.

Yes, his name was in the suit. No, it wasn't stamped on plastic sticky tape.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I once won a box of old hankies on ebay and when I washed them, black stains suddenly appeared on one of them. I shrugged it off to a chemical reaction with Woolite- or a ghost that didn't like me washing away her tears. Either is fine with me.

 

[RondoHatton]

No Worries

I would like to think they appreciate someone enjoying the things they enjoyed and approve of it. Perhaps this was a playful prank, maybe he had wanted me to wear one of the other two more colorful ones and this was how I was shown. Wear that great sounding suit in good health.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I hope not! I got enough problems without spooks harassing me too.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I hope not! I got enough problems without spooks harassing me too.

You don't like the attention? I find it flattering.

 

[ShortClara]

Ooh! I want haunted hair products/ scarves/ whatever. That way I can get the ghostie to give me styling tips!

 

[Edward]

Heh. I've never felt haunted by anything I've bought.... mind you, that might just provide a convenient excuse for the ungentlmanly state of alcohol-induced intoxication in which I ended up the first time I wore my 30s vintage tails out....

The old building I used to work in was haunted. A very definite presence, rather than an echo. not sure it was human, but whatever it was didn't like us being there and gave out really nasty vibes.

 

[scotrace]

I knew I should have gone to the Marilyn Monroe auction!

 

[ShortClara]

I knew I should have gone to the Marilyn Monroe auction!

HA!

 

[Nashoba]

I knew I should have gone to the Marilyn Monroe auction!

lol lol lol

 

[Miss Brill]

Rudolph Valentino's ring was killing people for awhile.

 

[Mid-fogey]

I rather think...

Heh. I've never felt haunted by anything I've bought.... mind you, that might just provide a convenient excuse for the ungentlmanly state of alcohol-induced intoxication in which I ended up the first time I wore my 30s vintage tails out....

The old building I used to work in was haunted. A very definite presence, rather than an echo. not sure it was human, but whatever it was didn't like us being there and gave out really nasty vibes.

...based on you avitar that they might be either concerned with haunting you, or consider you a kindrid spirit.

 

[Edward]

...based on you avitar that they might be either concerned with haunting you, or consider you a kindrid spirit.

lol

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Rudolph Valentino's ring was killing people for awhile.

There are other stories like that...I seem to recall several people who bought parts of James Dean's "death car" to use in their own cars ending up in fatal accidents.

After she died, we had my grandmother's old rocking chair, which creeped me out. I'd be up late all alone in the living room, studying or watching a movie, and it would rock a little on its own. Nobody or nothing anywhere around it, doors & windows closed, and it would slowly rock back & forth a time or two. I donated to Goodwill in Long Beach before the move to Seattle. I mentioned that story to nobody. Then several years ago, Mom and I were talking. She mentioned "I'm glad you go rid of Granny Mae's rocking chair. I never told you this before, but I used to sit there on the sofa and it would rock on it's own. Scott (my younger brother) mentioned the same thing before he died."

So I've wondered at times in the intervening 13 years since the move to Seattle who ended up with it and if it's still spontaneously rocking...

 

[HadleyH]

Rudolph Valentino's ring was killing people for awhile.

Was it, really????????? his ring? what ring? where, when?
Oh please tell us more! lol

 

[Miss Neecerie]

http://www.prairieghosts.com/hollywood4.html

says


And this isn’t the only legend. Apparently, a few years back, stories began to circulate about a cursed ring that some believe may have led to Valentino’s early death. According to the story, he bought the ring in 1920 in a San Francisco jewelry store, even though the owner told him that it had brought bad luck to everyone who had owned it previously. Valentino shrugged off the tale and bought the ring anyway.


Most Likely a staged photo that is supposed to depict the legendary "Lady in Black"

He wore the ring in his next film, “The Young Rajah”, which turned out to be the biggest flop of his career. Valentino was just getting started at that point and this film was so bad that it kept him off the screen for the next two years.

Wondering if the story of bad luck might have been true, he put the ring away and did not wear it again until his trip to New York after making “Son of the Sheik”. While wearing the ring, he suffered an acute attack of appendicitis and within two weeks was dead.

A short time later, Pola Negri was asked to choose a memento from among Valentino’s things and not knowing the strange tales behind it, chose the silver ring. Almost immediately, her health failed and an unknown ailment almost ended her career.

A year later, while still recuperating from the odd sickness, she met a man named Russ Colombo, who was almost a “double” for Rudy Valentino. When Pola Negri was introduced to him, she was so struck by the resemblance between Colombo, a struggling singer, and the later actor, that she presented him with Valentino’s ring. “From one Valentino to another,” she said.

Within a few days of receiving the ring, Colombo was killed in a mysterious shooting accident.

His cousin then gave the ring to Russ’s best friend, Joe Casino, an entertainer. Taking no chances with the ring, Casino placed it in a glass case and refused to remove it, even when a request came to donate it to a museum of Valentino relics. Eventually though, Casino began to disregard the stories behind the ring and he decided to wear it. A week later, still wearing the ring, he was run over by a truck and killed.

Joe’s brother, Del, then came into possession of the ring but he laughed at the idea of a curse and vowed that he would not be intimidated by “old wife’s tales”. For quite some time, he wore the ring and suffered no ill effects from it. He also loaned it to a Valentino collector, who also had no problems. Many speculated that the story of a “curse” may have been nothing more than a series of bad coincidences.

Then, one night, the home of Del Casino was robbed. The burglar, a man named James Willis, was seen by the police running from the scene. A policeman fired at him ( a warning shot, he later claimed) and Willis was killed. Among the stolen loot was the dreaded Valentino ring....

Around this same time, a producer named Edward Small decided to make a film about Valentino. Jack Dunn, a skater, was asked to film a test for the part and he dressed in one of Valentino’s old costumes for the part. He also wore the ring! Although only 21 years old at the time of the screen test, Dunn died ten days later from a rare blood disease. The ring was then placed out of sight and never worn by anyone.

A year after Dunn’s death, a daring bank robbery took place at a Los Angeles bank and the thieves got away with more than $200,000 in cash. In the police ambush that followed, two of the gang were caught and three onlookers were injured. The leader of the bank robber’s, Alfred Hahn, was later convicted and sent to prison for life. At his trial, Hahn stated, “If I had known what was in that bank vault, apart from the money, I’d have picked myself another bank.” What Hahn hadn’t know was that in the safe deposit vault of the bank was the Valentino ring!

The executors of Del Casino, who took over ownership of the ring after his death, continued to store it under lock and key. For many years, it remained inside of the bank vault, where over a five year period a $50,000 bank robbery, a fire and a three-week cashier strike occurred.

Can an inanimate object exert such a malign influence those who come in contact with it? Those who fell under the curse of the Valentino ring certainly believed that it could!

And perhaps it still does.... the last report of the whereabouts of the ring come from the late 1960’s. Who knows where it might have been during the last 30 years or so.... and who knows what kind of havoc it may have wreaked??

 

[HadleyH]

That's scary! I didn't know that!
Thank you for the info Miss Neecerie.

 

[CharlieH.]

Well, the spirits of the owners of my acquisitions seem to prefer soiling my good duds with black paint instead of reclaiming their property... and blowing my radio's parts.

 

[Kishtu]

The old building I used to work in was haunted. A very definite presence, rather than an echo. not sure it was human, but whatever it was didn't like us being there and gave out really nasty vibes.

I used to live in a handsome old Georgian house in York, which hated every single one of us.... I didn't like to be in that house by myself, because I always had the feeling that one of these days they'd be finding me at the bottom of the stairs.
It had a strange and unsettling habit of sudden subsidence. I have burn scars on my legs from one such incident whilst taking a hot tin out of the oven....