KIRKSVILLE, MO -- Would you believe someone who told you that an old wine box is capable of being haunted and possessed?
It is the subject of a book, and a new movie is being made about this true story. The story started in Portland, Oregon, and now has ties to the Heartland.
Kevin Mannis's life changed 10 years ago in Oregon because of the old wine box. Mannis bought the box at an estate sale in Oregon. It belonged to a Jewish immigrant from Poland, who died at the age of 103. The woman's granddaughter sold the wine box to Mannis. The granddaughter was told never to open the wine box because it contained a 'Dibbuk' and a fooling spirit.
Right after Mannis bought the box he placed it in the basement of his old furniture shop and left. He received a phone call from his assistant claiming that someone was in the basement swearing and breaking things. Mannis went to the basement and every light in the basement was broken. Mannis also said that minutes after he gave the wine box to his mother as a gift, she suffered a stroke. He eventually sold the box, but the box was returned to his shop three days later.
Mannis said everyone who has been around this box has had the same dark nightmare that ends the same way. Mannis said, "the person you're with morphs into this old hag. That's the only way to put it, then beats the living crap out of you."
Jason Haxton, director of the ATSU Museum of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, now owns the wine box. Haxton has taken great care to understand, and solve the malevolent mystery he acquired seven years ago.
Haxton said that the same day he received it, he received very strong health problems. They were so intense and so sudden that he thought someone might have coated the wine box with cyanide. Haxton believes there is a source of energy that could be explained both scientifically and possibly spiritually.
The Dibbuk box is stored in a quiet dark place for now. Using a method he leared about through his research, Haxton enclosed the box in an ark made of acacia wood, and lined it with 24-karat gold.
Mannis and Haxton both admit there is something very 'alive' about the Dibbuk box, though neither of them are ready to call it haunted.
Haxton's book, The Dibbuk Box, is being made into a movie. The movie is called The Possession. It's release date is set for Labor Day weekend 2012.
The Sci-Fi Channel is also working on a documentary about the Dibbuk box. In fact, Haxton just flew to Salt Lake City Friday, December 9, to be interviewed on camera for that documentary.
The Sci-Fi Channel is set to air that program around Labor Day weekend 2012 when the movie hits theaters nationwide.
(Reporter Tim Becker from KOIN-TV in Portland, Ore. wrote this story. KTVO-TV assisted by interviewing Jason Haxton for the piece.)
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