The Dybbuk Box
In 2003 a small wine cabinet went up for sale on eBay with an unsettling backstory. The seller, Kevin Mannis, wrote that it had belonged to a Holocaust survivor and held a dybbuk, a restless spirit from Jewish folklore. The listing went viral, the box passed through several owners, and the legend outgrew the object entirely.
Listed
2003, on eBay, from Portland, Oregon.
Owners
Passed through several, including museum curator Jason Haxton.
Pop culture
Inspired the 2012 film The Possession and a 2018 acquisition by Zak Bagans.
The confession
In 2021 Mannis told Input magazine he wrote the entire story himself.
"The Dybbuk Box is a story that I created. It has done exactly what I intended it to do.
"Kevin Mannis · Input magazine · 2021
What the legend claimed
Bought from an estate sale tied to a Holocaust survivor
Carved Hebrew text on the back
Bad luck, nightmares and odd smells for its owners
A verified survivor provenance
Any documented paranormal event under observation
A spirit confirmed to be inside
A dybbuk in Jewish folklore is a dislocated soul that clings to the living. The word gave the box its name and its hook.
Mannis later said the cabinet was an ordinary find, that he carved the Hebrew himself, and that the survivor story was invention.