Fiction personally. The idea of a Dybbuk box did not emerge until the 2000s when the first Ebay listing came out. I would normally just write it of as just a way to make money online but @DarkestKnight does make a good point on how it could practically be created by a magician.
Going off that, Dybbuks traditionally were wandering spirits of the dead, fueled by malice. However, ten of them would likely not be enough to plunge the world into hell, but would likely cause some major grief to the individual who released them.
From my experience in the Middle East (Iraq, Kuwait), it’s a melting pot of some ideas. Some of their traditions cross cultures, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s some mix of off-brand Judaism with some indigenous workings thrown in. Maybe similar to Santeria with it’s mix of folk and Catholic mixing.
The lady escaped the concentration camp right? Could’ve been something seriously nasty followed her and they bound it to the box to rid her of it…
I mean really you can bind a spirit to anything. EA has his skull and others use statues of various deities, these just happen to be boxes. And the methods of going about the bindings are different from what we do. But bottom line its still binding a spirit to an object.
An interesting side note to anyone interested: Baal Kadmon talks a little bit about Dybbuks in his book “Ghosts, Devils and Demons in the Hebrew Tradition: Romancing the Sitra Achra”. it is not a lot, but does give some context
I guess I was in general dismissal of the idea because a number of the haunted stories are overhyped for the sake of attracting wealth, whether from a box that can be sold (such as the long list of spirit/dybbuk boxes you can still buy on life) or a location for the sake of tourism (such as the Winchester House). Not the say that strange things do not exist out there in the world, but there is quite a sediment to panhandle for the nuggets of gold these days.
Now that I think about it, assuming that the original box was legit, I am actually questioning if there they are actual dybbuks in the box though. While they are dangerous, they are so for the thoughts and actions of the individual they possess. Their ultimate act is to get the victim to join them in death by their own hand through suicide. They are not known to bring in some of the other manifestations the first box was known for such as the insects or sickness of the owners. It makes me wonder if there is a different type of spirit attached to them that is being labelled as a dybbuk
I gotta be honest. When I saw this, I thought of someone binding a shadow person to some itemand selling it to someone on ebay or similar… Just started working through the Shadownomicon, so this isn’t a surprise, but I could see some poor, sensitive person getting sucked into something like that…
Right, honestly I am wondering why we have not seen an Ibbur box. They are essentially the wandering dead who possess individuals to help communities. You would think one could be willing to be binded to a box if directed more of an anchor to help those if the family that owns the box
Quick search showed it means “impregnation”, so that must refer to the binding of the spirit? Saw some other stuff about it being a strong, temporary possession. Don’t know much else. Are these something from folklore? Are they considered beneficial?
Oddly, I’m catching up on some GA at this very moment. Probably one of the better shows for production value, but I find myself going on tirades about his “knowledge”, to the point where my 14 year old laughs…
The Haunted Artifacts show is good for intrigue. More like an Antiques Roadshow for weird historic stuff.
There are quite a bunch of scams out there, even some on Ebay where you can tell that its a box from an antique store dipped in wax with a good copy on the listing. I am certain they exist, but not in the mass quantity that is out there.
