The Crying Boy

Mass produced print of painting by Bruno Amadio

The Crying Boy is a mass produced print of a painting by Italian painter Giovanni Bragolin (1911–1981). This was the pen name of the painter Bruno Amarillo. It was widely distributed from the 1950s onwards. There are numerous alternative versions, all portraits of tearful young boys or girls. Steve Punt, a British writer and comedian, investigated the curse in a BBC Radio 4 production called Punt PI. The conclusion reached by the programme, following testing at the Building Research Establishment, is that the prints were treated with a varnish containing fire retardant, and that the string holding the painting to the wall would be the first to deteriorate, resulting in the painting landing face down on the floor and thus being protected. David Clarke, investigative journalist, says that stories naming the child as Don Bonillo or Diablo did not emerge until 2000 in a book by Tom Slemen. They relate the child to several fires including the painter's studio. However, he says that "there is absolutely no truth whatsoever to any of that."

It was in early September 1985 that the phenomenon entered the public domain when Yorkshire fireman, Peter Hall, was quoted in a national newspaper as saying that fire brigades across the north of England had found examples of the same picture remaining untouched in fires whose causes remained unknown. Hall spoke out after his brother, Ron Hall, who did not believe the story, deliberately bought a copy of "The Crying Boy" to disprove the jinx, found his home in Swallownest, South Yorkshire, mysteriously burnt down soon afterwards. Seeing that the picture had been removed intact from the charred ruins, Ron Hall put his boot through it. Dora Brand of Mitcham, Surrey, saw her home reduced to a pyre six weeks after she bought the painting, and although it was among many others she owned, it was the only one that survived. Sandra Craske of Kilburn said that she, her sister, her mother and a friend had all suffered fires since buying copies of the picture. On 21 October 1985 the Parillo Pizza Palace, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was gutted by fire although its prominently displayed "The Crying Boy" picture remained in pristine condition. On 24 October 1985 the Godper family of Herringthorpe, South Yorkshire, lost their home to an unexplained fire. "The Crying Boy" picture displayed in their living room stayed unmarked while pictures on either side of it had been completely consumed by the flames. On 25 October 1985 in Heswall, Merseyside, a pair of the paintings hanging in the living and dining rooms of a house belonging to the Amos family were found intact after a gas explosion destroyed the building. In November 1985 one woman from Leeds who destroyed her picture of "The Crying Boy" seemed certain that its destruction was to blame for the deaths in a fire of her husband and three sons. A Mrs Woodward of Forest Hill, London destroyed her picture, believing it to be responsible for the loss of her son, daughter, husband and mother in separate fire related incidents. On 12 November 1985 Malcolm Vaughan of Church Down, Gloucestershire, helped to destroy a neighbor's picture. He returned home to find his own living room ablaze for reasons which firemen were unable to explain. December 1985: 67 year old William Armitage died in a mysterious fire that swept through his house in Weston Super Mare, Avon. It was discovered that a "The Crying Boy" picture was found intact lying beside the pensioner's charred body. One of the firemen who dealt with the blaze was afterwards quoted at saying: "I've never believe in the jinx up until now, but when you actually come across a picture in a gutted room and it's literally the only thing that hasn't been touched, it is most odd".