Barricaded Box Found in Attic Sparks Wild Theories: '1000 Year Old Curse'

An unsettling discovery in a friend's attic has sparked a widespread discussion on social media as people attempt to make sense of what was found.

Author H. P. Lovecraft once famously said: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."

That fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, particularly when it comes to the human psyche. In a 2016 experiment, participants were hooked up to electrodes designed to administer a relatively harmless electric shock.

Participants were split into two groups. Half were told they would be electrocuted each time, while the other half were informed there was a 50 percent chance of them being shocked. What scientists found was that the group who faced an uncertain outcome experienced greater levels of stress than those who knew their fate.

That fear of what is not known might go some way to explaining the attention being garnered by a photo shared to Reddit by a user posting under the handle katazomi.

It depicts a lone window, in a dusty old attic and a mysterious cardboard box, weighed down by several large books and, perhaps most unsettling of all, surrounded by a chicken wire cage. Check it out here.

"When my friend moved into his house, he found this cardboard box weighed down and surrounded by chicken wire in his attic," the accompanying caption reads.

The question for many online is an obvious one: what's inside the box?

It's one that has thrown up plenty of wild theories, while the post itself has garnered over 27,000 upvotes at time of writing from users eager to find out more.

Masen_the_Weeb said: "I'm 99% sure there's probably a haunted ventriloquist doll in there with a magic note card attached to it." TwoFigsandatwig commented: "That is a ghost trap. You know, to trap ghosts."

Wingnut0 wrote: "Time to move. That's how all horror movies start!!!" DSlap24 was convinced it might be a "leprechaun." RedditorBetaOmega urged them to open it, albeit with the caveat that "if it unleashes something evil that's on you though."

"Its probably a spider," ectobabble wrote with TheoSlurry declaring it a "BOX OF BEEEEES." Elsewhere, Salixaa wrote: "This looks like a setup for some sort of pet. The wire to keep it from getting out and the weights to keep the box in place, so the pet doesn't push it over. Might also be why it's next to the window."

Bmor97 thought that whatever was inside it was "probably best to leave it alone." Dragoonultima, meanwhile, offered a sensible theory as to what it might be. "While this looks terrifying, it looks like the cage is around the window. I'm wondering if it was put there to deal with bats or something trying to get in," they said.

Responding to the discussion, katazomi told followers they had decided not to open the box as they were genuinely fearful of what might be inside.

"Erring on the side of caution in the chance we're releasing some 1000 year old curse or something," they wrote.

"We've tried peer pressuring my friend to check it for months but he hasn't budged,: they said. It may be dumb but as someone who's also kinda superstitious I get it. It's his house so I have (and want) to respect his wishes to just keep this box untouched. When he moves out after school and stuff, we'll try convincing him again, but that won't be for a while.

They added: "I'm sorry that this is frustrating, but I did find this thing to be super scary when my friend first told us about it so I thought other people may find it interesting/scary/etc too.":

Newsweek reached out to u/katazomi for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.