#dibbuk

Habima-Theater (hebräisch), Regie Jewgeni Wachtangow, Gastspiel in Warschau 1922. Hanna Rowina als Lea. 2. Bild - Hochzeit. (Foto: Habima)

The Dibbuk Box

In this installment of my column, we’re going to focus on an item that I’ve wanted to write about for some time: the Dibbuk Box. As luck would have it, this is another one of the “Big Four” haunted objects in Zak Bagans Haunted Museum.

This allegedly haunted object first appeared in pop culture in a 2003 eBay auction from Kevin Mannis, a professional writer and recording artist from the Pacific Northwest (Broadjam 2018). In his eBay description, Mannis claimed to have acquired the box (thought to be a wine cabinet) at a 2001 estate sale. He proceeds to spin a tale of a paranormal experiences that rivals many horror films and seemed destined for the big screen itself (which it eventually did).

So, what is a dibbuk? According to the Jewish Virtual Library, “in Jewish folklore and popular belief is an evil spirit which enters into a living person, cleaves to his soul, causes mental illness, talks through his mouth, and represents a separate and alien personality is called a dybbuk. The term appears neither in Talmudic literature nor in the Kabbalah, where this phenomenon is always called ‘evil spirit’” (JVL 2018). I also consulted my Jewish encyclopedia from 1966; “(Heb. ‘adhesion’) In kabbalistic folklore, the soul of a sinner which, after his death, transmigrates into the body of a living person” (Roth 1966).