‘Cursed’ painting returned twice to UK charity shop after complaints of ‘creepy aura’

The portrait of a little girl in Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-sea, after it was returned a second time. Image / Twitter

An eerie and “possibly cursed” portrait of a little girl has been returned twice to a charity shop after customers complained of its “creepy aura”.

The painting, featuring a child wearing a red dress with a somewhat asymmetrical and unnerving expression, was first donated to the Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-sea.

Steve, the shop’s manager, said the portrait - whose eyes “follow you around the room” - was dropped off by a middle-aged man along with some other pictures and frames.

He told The Telegraph that when he noticed the picture’s curious expression, he said: “‘Oh my God, look at her face’ and a lady said, ‘Isn’t it creepy?’ I said, ‘Yes, it does follow you around’.”

The lady, who subsequently bought it, “came in two days later and said ‘I’ve got to get rid of this picture’ and that it had an ‘aura about it’, so we put it in the window [with a sign] saying ‘possibly cursed’,” Steve said.

He explained that following its return, a second woman bought it, but then brought it back, “saying she never wanted to see the damned thing again”.

The second customer was “terrified” and “came back shaky and distressed”, he said.

The shop then put the picture in the window again, this time with a note, reading: “She’s back! Sold twice and returned twice! Are you brave enough?”

The portrait of a little girl in Hastings Advice Representation Centre (HARC) shop in St Leonards-on-sea, after it was returned a second time. Image / Twitter

‘So many views she changed her mind’

However, the second owner returned to the shop to retrieve the painting on Wednesday morning, seemingly tempted back after garnering attention online with a post about the possibly cursed object.

Several users suggested they would use the phrase “she’s back ... returned twice” on their dating app profiles.

Steve said: “The last person was terrified, she couldn’t have it, but then she saw it had so many views she changed her mind. She thinks now it’s got some sort of monetary value.

“This morning she rang me up saying, ‘I bought your picture, can I have it back?’ She’s decided she’s no longer scared and she can put up with it.

“She wanted to buy it back and she had it back for free.

“None of them [the picture’s former owners] wanted a refund. We priced it at £25 and at £20. It said ‘cursed’ and we thought it was, so it did everything it said on the tin.”

He said that even as the second woman retrieved the painting on Wednesday she momentarily suggested leaving it at the shop again.

The painting garnered lots of commentary on social media, with users speculating about its past and why it would have needed to be returned twice to the same charity shop.

Some posted images of the 2001 Nicole Kidman film The Others, a gothic horror in which unsettling children interact with ghosts. Others advised the owner to “burn it”.

It is not clear who painted the portrait, or who the mysterious artist’s original muse is.