The image above is painter Bruno Amdio (1911-1981) (who also uses the pen name of Giovanni Bragolin). Amadio made a series of paintings in the 1950s called “Crying Boys.” These paintings were trendy in the UK, and numerous of these paintings were made into prints and sold all over the world.

A UK tabloid newspaper in 1985 called The Sun ran a piece claiming that a couple named May and Ron Hall had a terrible housefire that ended up destroying everything in their home but the print they had of one of Amdio’s Crying Boys. The story also quoted a firefighter who fought 15 fires throughout his career. Those fires destroyed everything in people’s residents, and the only thing that was not destroyed was those paintings that had them.

That story from The Sun ceased Amdio’s popularity in his Crying Boys series. Future reports are populated about those who own the paintings. They shared similarities in house fires. One story had a pair of sisters experiencing horrible luck after they bought the image. Both had house fires, and one claimed to see the picture sway back and forth in the fire. Another woman tried to burn her copy of the painting and had no luck destroying it. The end result was a series of misfortunes that happened to her.

The Sun also ran an article to readers about sending their prints or paintings of the Crying Boy. About 2,500 paintings and prints were mailed to the sun and they ended up having a bonfire destroying more copies of the prints of the paintings:

Why are the Crying Boy series by Bruno Amdio considered haunted or cursed? No one really knows the answer to this. Although there are a lot of theories surrounding this question. Such as one of the little boys’ parents put a curse on these paintings. Another is a child who died in a house fire and had his spirit contained in one of the paintings. The more talked about theory is a crying boy mistakenly set fire to Amdio’s art studio, and anywhere the little boy went somehow, a fire would shortly follow wherever he would go.

In September or October 2010, a BBC show called Punt PI, a comedy and radio series. It is about the host, Steve Punt, discussing Britain’s greatest mysteries. In series 3, he talks about the Crying Boy series of paintings. Punt decided to dissect the legendary curse and found some of the people who experienced those house fires. Punt also bought the image and put it on fire to see what would happen. Here is a video below of the experience:

Punt concluded that the varnish used in the pictures could be a possible reason for the painting’s last power after a house fire. Which was a fire-retardent kind of vanish.

What are your thoughts on this series of paintings? Could they really be cursed? Comment your thoughts below!!!

Until next time!

Sources: Youtube. atlas Obscura, the sun