[WorldUrbanLegend] The Hands Resist Him
"The Hands Resist Him" is a painting created by artist Bill Stoneham in 1972. It depicts a young boy and a female doll standing in front of a glass-paneled door, against which many hands are pressed. According to Stoneham, the boy is based on a photograph of himself at age five. The door represents the dividing line between the waking world and the world of fantasy and impossibilities, while the doll is a guide that will escort the boy through it. The titular hands represent alternate lives or possibilities. The painting became the subject of an urban legend when it was posted for sale on eBay in February 2000, with a description implying that it was haunted.
The painting was first displayed at the Feingarten Gallery in Beverly Hills, California, during the early 1970s. It was included in a solo show of Stoneham's work at the gallery, which was reviewed by an art critic at the Los Angeles Times. During the show, the painting was purchased by actor John Marley, known for his role as Jack Woltz in The Godfather. After Marley’s death, the painting was found by an elderly couple at the site of an old brewery (as stated in their original eBay listing).
In February 2000, the painting appeared on the auction website eBay. According to the seller, the aforementioned couple claimed that the painting carried some form of curse. Their eBay description made various claims that the characters in the painting moved during the night and sometimes left the painting to enter the room in which it was displayed. Included in the listing were photographs said to be evidence of an incident in which the female doll character threatened the male character with a gun, causing him to attempt to leave the painting. The listing also included a disclaimer absolving the seller from all liability if the painting was purchased.
News of the listing quickly spread among internet users, who forwarded the link to friends or wrote their own pages about it. Some people claimed that simply viewing the photos of the painting made them feel ill or have unpleasant experiences. Eventually, the auction page was viewed over 30,000 times.
After an initial bid of $199, the painting ultimately received 30 bids and sold for $1,025.00. The buyer, Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, later contacted Bill Stoneham to share the unusual story of the auction on eBay and their acquisition of the painting. Stoneham reported being quite surprised by the various stories and strange interpretations of the images in the painting. According to the artist, the object presumed by the eBay sellers to be a gun is actually nothing more than a dry cell battery and a tangle of wires.
Stoneham recalls that both the owner of the gallery where the painting was first displayed and the art critic who reviewed it died within a year of coming into contact with the painting.
