This mysterious box has a well-documented history.
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| Kevin Mannis |
This story first came to light when Kevin Mannis bought the box from an estate sale in 2001. The granddaughter of the owner of the dibbuk told him that her grandmother—a Polish Holocaust survivor—had purchased it in Spain before migrating to America.
The granddaughter warned Mannis that he should never open the box, for it was believed it was possessed by a malicious or demonic spirit known as the “dybbuk” in Yiddish folklore.
Mannis owns a furniture store and placed the box in the store’s basement and then forgot about it.
Out one afternoon doing errands he received a frantic call from his employee. This man frightened told him that he had found the store window broken and the gate locked.
Mannis feeling an intruder must have broken it, pressed for more details, he then attempted to call the police but his phone battery went dead. He quickly headed to the store.
He found his frantic employee crying in his office. He told Mannis that all the basement light fixtures were broken. He also stated there was a strong smell of cat urine even though the store had never had a cat.
This employee then quit. Mannis never discovered who the intruder was.
Not believing in what he felt was a superstition Mannis later opened the Dibbuk cabinet that had the word “Shema” written on the back.
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| Box opened. |
Inside he found the following items. Wheat pennies from 1920, locks of various colored hair, a golden goblet, dried rose buds, a candleholder and a granite statue with the Hebrew word Shalom written on it.
Mannis at this point had not made the connection between the wine box and the disturbing incidents.
He gave the Dibbuk box to his mother as a birthday present. Within minutes she had a stroke. Later, visiting his mother in the hospital, Mannis asked her how she was doing. Partially paralyzed she struggled to write “hate gift.”
Mannis still did not believe the box was connected. He next gave it to his brother, sister and then his girlfriend. They all promptly returned it to him—saying no thanks.
Mannis then decided to keep the box for himself. He began to have nightmares where an old hag beat him up. He would wake up the following mornings with bruises on his body.
He then discovered his brother and sister had also had this same nightmare. He now realized the box had something bad or evil connected to it.
He put it on eBay to sell with a full disclosure of the disturbing incidents listed. Mannis hoped someone well versed in the occult would buy the box.
But a college student, Iosif Neitzke from Missouri curious about the box bought it instead. He wrote a blog about what happened while the box was in his possession.
He experienced similar incidents to what Kevin Mannis had. All the lights in his house burnt out on numerous occasions. Whenever his friends visited they smelled the odor of cat urine. Neitske like Mannis did not own a cat.
He also experienced health problems. His peripheral vision became blurred with dark spots and his hair began to fall out. His doctor could find nothing wrong with him—that would explain his symptoms.
Neitske’s roommate knew a man interested in buying the box. Jason Haxton was a medical museum curator he also collected religious paranormal antiques. Neitske wanted to get rid of the wine cabinet so he put it up for auction. Haxton bought it.
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| Jason Haxton with Dybbuk box. |
Haxton not believing in the stories that surrounded the Dibbuk box bought it as a curiosity.
He too, regretted this decision. The museum where he worked experienced numerous electrical malfunctions. His co-workers began to come to him with complaints. They felt something eerie or evil was now in the museum. Several fell ill.
Haxton also had nightmares about the demonic hag. He developed mysterious health problems. He coughed up blood and blisters and hives broke out across his body.
While watching television with his daughter one night he spotted a large dark figure looming in one corner of the room.
Haxton contacted Mannis and the two men went to talk to the granddaughter who had sold the Dibbuk box for her grandmother. They told her it appeared the dybbuk had been summoned accidentally.
In 2007, they arranged for a group of Jewish Rabbis to help them reseal the box. A 24 Karat gold lined Acacia wood ark was used to seal the box.
Haxton then buried the box in an undisclosed location. He believes it is important not to reveal this location.
Most of the videos and pictures used online of the Dibbuk are replicas of the original. There are several videos on YouTube with interviews with both Mannis and Haxton.