The Hands Resist Him

In 1972, artist Bill Stoneham created a painting titled The Hands Resist Him. Nearly 30 years later, the artwork went viral on the internet, gaining notoriety as a supposedly cursed painting that allegedly caused eerie visions in those who saw it.

According to Stoneham, the painting was based on a photograph taken of him when he was five years old. At the time, his father worked in advertising and traveled frequently, so the family stayed at his grandmother’s apartment in Chicago to save money. One day, his parents snapped a photo of young Bill and a neighborhood girl standing in front of a glass door.

While turning the image into a painting, Stoneham made some haunting alterations. He blurred his own face and rendered the girl to resemble a lifeless doll. Behind the glass door, he painted ghostly hands pressing against the glass.

I don’t like it. I’ve seen the painting unsettling. That’s not something you want hanging on your wall. It doesn’t exactly give off good vibes. It doesn’t scream “fun,” let’s put it that way.

Stoneham explained that the hands in the painting represented all the possibilities in life. You're left wondering: are these hands disembodied, floating in space? Or are they still attached to unseen bodies?

he also mentioned that the hands in the painting can be seen as representing other lives. He explained that the glass door symbolizes the thin veil between waking and dreaming, and the girl—or doll—is meant to be an imagined companion or a guide through that mysterious realm.

He completed his contract in 1974 with a major gallery show, hosted by a man named Feingarten. Actor John Marley—best known for playing the movie producer who wakes up next to a horse’s head in The Godfather—actually purchased The Hands Resist Him at that show.

Ah yes, that iconic horse head scene. Let me know your favorite Godfather moment but that scene? Solid nightmare fuel.

Noted Los Angeles Times art critic Henry Seldis also gave the painting its first press mention in a write-up covering the event. Oddly enough, according to reports, Seldis (the critic), Feingarten (the gallery owner), and Marley (the actor) all died within a few years of each other, between 1978 and 1984.

Stoneham has acknowledged that their deaths were likely a coincidence—but still, he says the painting has always had a strange effect on people. As he put it: “Some of what I paint resonates in other people, opening the inner door… or basement.” Now that’s a guy who knows how to paint a picture—with words and a brush.

That said, I’m inclined to agree—it seems more like an eerie coincidence than an actual curse.

After all, John Marley—the actor—actually sold the painting before he died. For years after that, no one knew where The Hands Resist Him had gone. It eventually resurfaced, abandoned behind a California brewery that had been converted into an art space.

Stoneham himself said he has no idea how the painting ended up there, though he admits he could probably make a few guesses.

Then, in February 2000, a family listed the painting for sale on eBay. And that’s when things got seriously weird.

The original eBay listing—written entirely in all caps, which definitely added to the creepy vibe—claimed that one morning, the family’s four-and-a-half-year-old daughter told them that the children in the painting were fighting and coming into her room during the night.

According to the listing, the father decided to set up a motion-sensor camera overnight to prove to his daughter there was nothing to be afraid of. But instead of reassuring footage, the listing claimed he caught something else: the boy in the painting appeared to crawl out of the frame.

Well—that’s just full-on nightmare fuel. There are plenty of things that would freak me out in the middle of the night—someone sitting at the foot of the bed, or a hand reaching out from under it—but seeing a boy crawling out of a painting? That’s a very specific horror I didn’t know I needed to fear until now.

I genuinely don’t know why this family decided to list the painting on eBay instead of just, you know… setting it on fire and calling it a day. according to a BBC report, the eBay listing even included photos that supposedly showed the doll in the painting coming to life—and, incredibly, using a gun to force the boy to leave the painting. In the original artwork, the doll was holding a battery with exposed wires, but the listing claimed the situation escalated into something far more sinister.

A disclaimer was also included, relieving the seller of any liability for anything “paranormal” that might happen as a result of purchasing—or even just viewing—the painting.

The listing went viral, racking up over 30,000 views. Some people even claimed they experienced bizarre phenomena just from looking at the images online. According to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, one viewer reported hearing a demonic, Exorcist-style voice and feeling a sudden blast of hot air. Another person said they became violently ill after seeing the painting and had to burn white sage to spiritually cleanse their home.

The painting started with an opening bid of $199, but after 30 bids, it eventually sold for $1,025 to Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

By the time the sale closed, the myth had fully taken root. The online legend of The Hands Resist Him had spread far beyond eBay, making its way into Reddit threads, 4chan’s /x/ paranormal board, and even creepypasta wikis on Encyclopedia Dramatica.

Many still believe the painting is haunted, and some claim to have experienced their own strange reactions just from seeing it. according to The Daily Dot, Kim Smith, the owner of Perception Gallery, said that a month after acquiring the painting, no unusual activity had occurred—aside from the eerie stories she kept hearing from others.

Smith said the strange happenings only began after she received the very first email about the painting—and they haven’t stopped since. she started getting all kinds of messages: prayers and Bible verses from a self-described man of faith, advice on how to spiritually cleanse her residence from a Native American shaman in Mississippi, and reports from people claiming to feel repulsed, physically ill, or even mentally manipulated after viewing the painting. One person said they experienced a blackout.

Another described what they believed was a mind-control episode. and then there’s the now-infamous Epson printer incident: someone reported that their brand-new printer completely freaked out when they tried to print images of the painting. It allegedly shredded, smeared, and mangled page after page—so hey, maybe the artwork isn’t cursed… maybe it’s just allergic to Epson.

But seriously—some people believe that just looking at a photo of the painting online is enough to trigger something supernatural. a few years after the eBay frenzy, Stoneham was commissioned by a private collector to create two sequels to The Hands Resist Him.

The first, titled Resistance at the Threshold, was completed in 2004. The second, Threshold of Revelation, followed in 2012. In these follow-ups, the narrative evolves: the doll becomes a real girl, and the boy ages into a bearded old man.

Honestly, those are some cool ideas for sequels. I didn’t even know paintings could have sequels—like, sure, there are series and triptychs, but this feels more like a full-blown cinematic universe. The Stoneham Cinematic Universe—complete with existential horror, paranormal side quests, and mysterious doorways between dimensions.

Someone call Marvel. oh, and speaking of cinematic universes—drop a comment if you’ve seen Spider-Man: No Way Home. I need people to talk to about that movie. It’s been over a month and I’m still not over it.

Eventually, even a prequel was commissioned. Titled The Hands Invent Him, it was released in 2017—expanding the lore even further.

In The Hands Invent Him, Stoneham takes a decidedly meta turn. The painting shows a young boy—presumably a younger version of the artist—holding a paintbrush and approaching a window. On the other side of the glass, we see the silhouettes of the original doll and boy from The Hands Resist Him. It’s as if the boy is preparing to use his art to summon these figures from another realm into our world.

Honestly, Stoneham has done an incredible job evolving this series. Each new entry brings a fresh, imaginative twist, pushing the story forward in unexpected ways. If you’re watching this, Mr. Stoneham: seriously, great work—but, respectfully, keep that painting as far away from me as possible.

And if you're not thoroughly creeped out yet, don’t worry—there’s one more piece.

The final painting in the series—What Remains—was released just last year. In this one, the window is completely gone. It's been replaced by a gaping void, a portal to some disturbing elsewhere. Visible within that void are what appear to be dismembered doll legs and a human skull. Subtle? Not exactly. Effective? Absolutely.

Stoneham, now 67, still receives messages to this day about what’s now widely known as “the haunted eBay painting.” He once said, “We live in an age of science, of revelation, and hard realities.

But we are still drawn to the mysterious.” He added, “And what is more mysterious than paintings? More than any other object, a painting is a one-of-a-kind thing—created by someone using their hands. and to build on that thought: maybe it’s not just that paintings are handmade—it’s that this painting is of hands. So many hands, reaching out from endless darkness, toward our fragile little world. That’s what really gets under your skin.

It’s clear Stoneham never intended to scare anyone. But that’s the nature of art—what’s one person’s quiet meditation can easily become another’s full-blown nightmare.