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A Late Lawyer - Help Needed With The Trial

 

My parents are very into antiques, and in our living room we have a portrait of a man, I believe a lawyer from the profession-related items included in the portrait, from about 1820. There's nothing strange about the portrait's appearance, it's just a man. He's not scary looking in any way, but somehow the portrait is terrifying. Whenever we have house guests, they sleep in the living room and multiple guests have said they had to put a towel or sheet over the painting when they went to bed before having been told that we thought it was frightening. The painting faces the couch.

A few years ago, my brother was napping on the couch and he dreamt that the portrait became a skeleton and came toward him.

When I was in high school, I was doing my homework on the living room couch when I saw the portrait's eyes move.

It has a very strong energy and frequently one can feel it as soon as one enters the room.

When I was little, I had to run up the stairs because I could feel it through the wall. Still, when I go upstairs at night I try to go as fast as I can and push out its energy.

The spring of my senior year, my brother James and I were standing in front of the portrait, looking at it, and talking about why it's so scary when it's literally just a guy. Because we were both uneasy about being so close to it, we were putting on a lot of bravado and saying how really it wasn't that scary at all. The face- I kid you not- began to turn black. James saw it too. Naturally, we got out of there!

The only person who does not think the portrait is even remotely creepy (and I really do mean THE ONLY PERSON who has ever seen it in the 20 years my parents have owned it) is my father. The portrait hangs over the chair he always sits in. However, he did not always sit in this chair. Until the late 1990s, there was no chair there. Since that time there has been a change in his personality- he has become increasingly nasty. This may be just old age, but I do wonder.

My dad would kill me if I got rid of the painting, but I was wondering if anyone knows a way to detach spirits from objects? Preferably a fool-proof way, because if I screw it up the spirit will be angry and it's threatening enough in its normal state!

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, mairead, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

khid (7 posts)
 
12 years ago (2012-09-06)
yup... Very interesting. Can you please post a photo of it? It mite help some of us who wanted to do more research of it.
generalchaos (2 stories) (141 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-12-13)
Ok... I'm really really curious about this painting. Can you post a photo of it?
A few years ago there was a supposed "Haunted Painting" that went on ebay, and sold for about a thousand dollars (_The Hands Resist Him_, if you are curious).

There are ways of painting eyes to make them appear to follow you. I've been a painter for mumblemumble years and it's a fairly simple technique. There are things a painter can do with brushstrokes and shading to make things really look odd when viewed in different ways... That said, perhaps it really is haunted.

Now, about your dad... You said there has been a chair there only since the late 90s, and that your dad's personality has changed since then. You are listed as a teenager... Even if you were 25 now, you would have only been 14 in 1999. There's been a lot going on since then. The economy has tanked, maybe he's had job issues, maybe he's had to worry about putting you and/or your brother through college... It would be great to be able to solidly blame a painting (or any inanimate object) for a parent or child's change in personality, but usually it's just troubles that they aren't telling you about.
Sie (1 stories) (15 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-11-21)
I would try smudging the painting, and your father and his chair. Sometimes, a spirit that has latched onto an inanimat object will attache itself to a human as well, reasons varying from wanting to protect the object or just being iterested in said person, to that person reminding them of what they used to be i.e. If they used to be hard working and carring and your dad is hard working and carring. Also, after doing some research, try talking to the ghost/painting, being both calm and assertive. Tell them that they might be changing your father and that you fear for him and that, unless they cease, they will have to leave. Don't let this be a hollow threat, though. If it continues, call in someone to do a blessing and find a way to be rid of this spirit that plagues you.

Best of luck
HappySpirit (187 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2011-11-20)
Interesting story. I'm with nishanthk. Do some research on the painting; don't go trying to exorcise the spirit without knowing what you're dealing with. Also, have you talked to your mother about your Dad's behavior changes and her opinion about the painting?
nishanthk13 (12 posts)
+2
12 years ago (2011-11-20)
have you tried finding out who painted the potrait or who the man in the potrait is... Sometimes the spirit of a dead person would latch onto something most precious to them like an object and very rarely another living being. Just find out as much as possible about the potrait i.e., where it has been before and who's the artist and the man in the potrait cause before testing for the paranormal you must be dead sure of its origins.
lynrinth (guest)
+1
12 years ago (2011-11-20)
It sounds like maybe your father is picking up something nasty from the protrait. Couldn't you move the protrait to another room, or even another spot in the same room? I wonder... If someone could provide some kind of advice of binding the picture? Or smudging it? This one is hard. I'm sure someone will provide something. Good luck.

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