The Hands Resist Him
A Bill Stoneham painting auctioned in February 2000 on eBay by a seller who gave no name and said it was haunted.
In February 2000, per BBC Derby, a seller who gave no name listed a haunted painting on eBay. Alex Boese of the Museum of Hoaxes sums up the claims in the listing: owners suffered unsettling events, the figures in the picture moved, and some who only viewed the picture online were said to faint or panic. Boese places it ahead of later eBay oddities such as a ghost sold in a jar and a possessed Coke can.
Wikipedia records an opening bid of $199 and a final price of $1,025 after 30 bids. The buyer was a Grand Rapids, Michigan business, Perception Gallery. Its owner, Kim Smith, got in touch with the artist, Bill Stoneham, and told him about the sale. Stoneham's site says 25 years had passed since he last heard the title, yet he knew at once which work Smith meant. Smith still owns it, and the two have stayed on good terms.
Wikipedia reports that Stoneham was surprised by the stories told about the painting. Stoneham says the object the eBay sellers took for a gun is a dry cell battery with a mess of wires.
"After an initial bid of $199, the painting eventually received 30 bids and sold for $1,025.00. The buyer, Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, eventually contacted Bill Stoneham and relayed the unusual story of its auction on eBay and their acquisition of it. He reported being quite surprised by all the stories and strange interpretations of the images in the painting.[2][3][4] 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.[2]"
- The Hands Resist Him, Stoneham Studios (Bill Stoneham)
- The eBay Haunted Painting, Gavin Bevis, BBC Derby (2002)
- Hands Resist Him - The eBay Haunted Painting, Alex Boese, Museum of Hoaxes