7 Horror Movies With Creepy Urban Legends

The story of a haunted box in the Possession might seem like a simple warning against buying weird crap you don't need from garage sales, but the true story that influenced its creation is far different. The real-life counterpart is a simple warning against buying weird crap you don't need from the far less romanticised eBay, which is a fair a lesson as you're ever going to get in life.

First located in Spain by a Holocaust survivor, a wine cabinet was passed down through her family and consequentially sold at an estate sale after her death, bought by writer Kevin Mannis after learning they didn't want it as it was haunted. He popularised the term 'Dybbuk Box' with his purchase and documented his encounters with the Dybbuk - aka a Jewish evil spirit intent on possession - after opening the box, giving the movie that big shiny 'true story' banner that audiences just love to buy into.

Alas, the events of The Possession aren't really akin to what the Dybbuk Box did in real life. Whilst eminently creepy, the Dybbuk Box spread a sense of discomfort and illness more than outright haunting people, collectively causing hair loss, nightmares, a stroke, hives, welts, coughing up blood, and events around the home like lights burning out throughout its history being passed around.

It's suspicious that a writer is the one to birth the legend, but in either case, it is actually real, and the box has now been resealed and safely stored in a museum. Indiana Jones would be pleased.