Is The Anguished Man Painting Truly Cursed?

The Anguished Man is often described as one of the most haunted objects in the world, sitting alongside the likes of the Annabelle doll and the Dybbuk Box in modern paranormal folklore. A twisted, screaming face with no eyes, painted by an artist no one can name, tied to a story of blood, suicide, and decades of unexplained fear — it’s the kind of tale that spreads fast online and never quite goes away.

But how much of it is documented, how much is family legend, and how much may be an elaborate piece of internet mythology? Here is everything currently known about the painting, its history, and where it stands today.

Key Takeaways

What Is The Anguished Man?

The Anguished Man is an oil-on-canvas painting of unknown origin, depicting a distorted, eyeless humanoid figure with an open, screaming mouth, depicted in reddish-orange tones against a dark or blue background. The identity of the artist has never been established, and no verified records exist of who painted it, when, or under what circumstances.

The painting is currently owned by Sean Robinson, a man from Cumbria, in northwestern England. Robinson has stated that the painting was passed down to him by his grandmother, who died in 1999, and that either a distant relative or a family friend had given it to her earlier.

According to the story Robinson’s grandmother told him, the unnamed artist mixed his own blood into the oil paint while creating the piece, and died by suicide shortly after finishing it. His grandmother reportedly kept the painting hidden in her attic for around 25 years because she believed it carried something “evil.”

There is no independent documentation confirming the artist’s identity, the use of blood in the paint, the artist’s death, or even a firm date of creation.

Everything known about the painting’s origin comes exclusively from Robinson’s own account of what his grandmother told him. Robinson himself has acknowledged this gap, stating that if his grandmother knew the artist’s name, she never shared it with him, and that there are no surviving relatives who might know more.

The painting first reached a wide audience in June 2010, when Robinson uploaded a video to YouTube describing its history and the strange phenomena he said were connected to it. It was that video, along with several follow-ups, that turned The Anguished Man from a piece of family lore into an internet-wide paranormal legend and eventually one of the most talked-about “haunted” objects online.

The History of the Painting

Details about the painting’s physical history are limited almost entirely to what Robinson has disclosed publicly. Based on his own timeline, the painting had been stored in his grandmother’s attic for roughly 25 years before she died in 1999.

After she passed away, the painting went to a family member, and by Robinson’s account it eventually sat in a basement or cellar for close to a decade before he brought it out again around 2009 or 2010.

No family member besides Robinson reportedly wanted to keep the painting, according to his own statements. He has said that once it left the cellar and was hung in his own home, strange occurrences previously associated only with his grandmother’s house began happening in his own household as well.

Robinson moved the painting between rooms over the following years, at different points storing it in a spare bedroom, a basement, and locked storage, largely in response to the disturbances he says the household experienced.

Beyond Robinson’s personal account, no documentation exists tracing the painting to a gallery, auction house, art dealer, or any formal record before its appearance on YouTube in 2010.

Its earliest verifiable public appearance is that 2010 video, meaning that everything about its life before Robinson took possession of it rests on secondhand family testimony rather than external verification. Reproductions and imitation versions of the painting have since appeared for sale on sites like eBay, none of which Robinson has confirmed as the original piece.

The Strange and Unexplained Events Linked to the Painting

Much of what has made The Anguished Man famous is the series of alleged paranormal incidents Robinson has documented and described since 2010.

According to Robinson, his grandmother was the first to report disturbances connected to the painting, including the periodic sound of a man crying and the sighting of a dark, shadowy entity in her home during the 25 years she kept it.

After the painting came into Robinson’s possession, he and his family reported similar phenomena, including:

• The sound of crying and moaning, often described as coming from empty corners of the house.
• Sightings of a shadowy, indistinct male entity standing near the bed or elsewhere in the home.
• Sudden drops in room temperature accompanied by a thick, unexplained mist or fog.
• The painting reportedly falling over on its own despite being left leaning securely against a wall.

Robinson began filming overnight footage in the room where the painting was kept, and posted the resulting videos to YouTube starting in 2010. One widely viewed video, condensed from roughly eight hours of overnight recording, showed a door appearing to close on its own, accompanied by a loud bang and scraping sounds.

Later uploads reportedly captured a fast-moving indistinct entity passing behind the camera, and one video, filmed a year after the initial upload, showed the painting tipping over on its own around 3:25 a.m., which Robinson said was followed by fog and a sudden drop in temperature at the top of a staircase.

Robinson has also worked with a paranormal investigation group, Mysteria Paranormal, led by Ian Lawman and John Blackburn, taking the painting to locations in the United Kingdom already reputed to be haunted.

One of the most cited incidents from this collaboration took place on the night of 18 May 2013 at Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, where Robinson and the investigators reported that the room dropped sharply in temperature, a large dark entity appeared within a seance circle, and a heavy wooden bench reportedly flipped over on its own.

The painting was also featured in a 2012 episode of the Discovery Channel series “Weird or What?”, in which paranormal investigator Mike St. Clair argued that the phenomena captured in Robinson’s videos could be replicated using simple techniques, such as pulling a door shut with fishing line to simulate it closing unaided, or using an actor to run past the camera to fake a fleeting entity.

Robinson responded to the skepticism on camera, acknowledging that he understood why people doubted the footage but maintaining that he had not personally found an explanation for what he and his family experienced.

None of the reported events surrounding The Anguished Man have been verified under controlled conditions, through scientific testing, or by independent investigation beyond Robinson’s own recordings and the accounts of the paranormal investigators he invited to examine it. Every documented incident traces back to personal testimony and amateur video rather than any peer-reviewed or forensic analysis.

Skepticism and the Hoax Theory

Because every element of the painting’s backstory and hauntings comes from a single source, a segment of viewers and paranormal researchers have questioned whether the entire story was constructed for entertainment or attention rather than reflecting genuine events.

Critics have pointed out that the core details — an unidentified artist, blood mixed into paint, a suicide with no name or record attached to it, and a grandmother who is no longer alive to confirm any of it — are impossible to verify by design, since every original source of information is either deceased or unnamed.

The 2016 news that an American production company, La Brea Pictures, had acquired the rights to develop a horror film based on the painting’s story added further fuel to the skepticism, since it raised the possibility that the entire narrative had functioned, intentionally or not, as a form of viral marketing for a future film project.

As of the most recent available reporting, the film, titled “Anguished” and attached to director Tii Ricks, remains in development without a confirmed release date years after it was first announced.

Robinson has consistently rejected the suggestion that the story is fabricated, stating in interviews that he was a skeptic of the paranormal himself before experiencing the events he attributes to the painting, and that he has not found a natural explanation for what he says he witnessed.

The Anguished Man vs Other Famous Cursed Objects

Where Is The Anguished Man Painting Now?

According to Robinson’s own recent statements, The Anguished Man remains in his possession in Cumbria, England, where he has kept it in secure, out-of-the-way storage, such as a locked room, basement, or storage unit, in an effort to limit the disturbances he associates with its being on display.

Robinson has repeatedly said that he has no intention of selling the original painting, describing doing so as potentially dangerous to whoever might take possession of it next. Any painting listed for sale online that claims to be the authentic Anguished Man has been described by Robinson as a fraud or a reproduction.

Robinson has continued to post occasional updates about the painting to his YouTube channel and social media accounts over the years. However, the frequency of new footage and reported incidents has slowed a lot compared to the height of the story’s popularity in the early 2010s.

He remains attached to the in-development film adaptation of the painting’s story as an associate producer. He has spoken about the possibility of bringing the physical painting to conventions and paranormal events in the future, while cautioning that he would not recommend anyone touch it directly.

Sources

• Jones, David Annwn. Gothic Effigy: A Guide to Dark Visibilities. Manchester University Press, 2018.
• Wright, Jude. Gothic Effigy: A Guide to Dark Visibilities by David Annwn Jones. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 30, no. 3 (106), 2019, pp. 473–75. JSTOR. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
• A Brushstroke with Death: A Brief History of the Dark Artworks. Splendid Fred Magazine. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2026.