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Note: For obvious reasons including client privacy I have not included original photos of the actual mirror.

Years ago, I worked as part of team who specialized in haunted objects. Most of the cases were brought to quick resolution or just as quickly debunked as hoaxes – yes people really do try to perpetrate hoax! One case that always stood out was that of a mirror that seemed to have a handprint and what looked like part of a face in the glass. It was purchased at an antique auction which was showing many items from various estate sales.

The person who bought the mirror did so at the advice of her decorator who thought the frame was rather perfect for a room in her client’s house. The client however was not comfortable with the ‘ruined looking glass’ so the decorator took the mirror to have the glass replaced. The backing of the mirror was also badly damaged and rotting so that was to be replaced as well. It was reported that much care was given to the job as the frame was very old and fragile. The old glass and the backing were relegated to the trash.

A week later the decorator picked up the refurbished mirror and enthusiastically brought it to the client’s house and had it hung over a fireplace mantle where it made a stately focal point for the newly decorated room. This room was used by the client every day mainly as a quiet respite for reading. Her reading chair sat opposite the fireplace so she had full view of that wall and the windows on each side of the fireplace.

After about a week, the client began to notice that a foggy spot was beginning to form in the glass right around the same place where the initial damage had once been. It seemed that every day it grew a bit larger and more pronounced and was beginning to take a form that looked much like the original oddity that initiated the glass being replaced. The client of course immediately notified the decorator who immediately took the mirror back to the restorer.

The restorer was quite baffled as he had stripped the mirror ‘clean’ and replaced everything with new glass and backing. Upon a rather forensic examination on his part he could find no reason for the glass or backing to be defective. He had even replaced the old fasteners. The wood frame was sound even though it was old and he could find no bleeding in the finish. He went ahead and replaced both the glass and the backing. The mirror was rehung.

Another week went by with seemingly no incidence when the same thing began to happen again. This time the client was quite upset. Obviously someone was not doing their job or perhaps the ‘products’ used for replacement were defective. The decorator opted to try another restoration firm.

So the glass, backing and fasteners were once again replaced even though the new restorer who worked on the mirror was baffled by it all and refused to give a guarantee feeling that the old piece was probably haunted and perhaps the owner should try a ‘different approach.’

The mirror was rehung but this time the decorator had called our organization to give them a heads up just in case something ‘else’ would be necessary. Our team was way ahead in this case and did a background check on the auction and its suppliers. Nothing by the way of background could be found on the origin of the mirror except that the mansion that housed it had long been abandoned and had actually burnt down to the ground a few days after it had been cleaned out.

A revisit to the original restorer’s shop did reveal one interesting thing. The original glass and backing which had been thrown into the dumpster out in back for trash pickup never totally made it into the dumpster – or at least the glass didn’t. It was found on the ground behind the dumpster. Our team took the glass wrapping it in a black cloth back to our lab where we waited. Our tests could find no reason for the anomaly so we were suspicious it had other-worldly origin.

Of course the new glass in the mirror also started to fog up. This time we were called in to address it. We ran the usual investigation of the house and the room and did pick up some activity around the mirror. The owner demanded something be done so it was done. As she was Catholic we had priest come in and basically exorcise the new mirror glass and the old mirror glass.

The problem ceased and oddly enough both pieces of glass remain clear and enigma free to this day. I'll leave the rest to you.