They never fuckin’ listen do they? You warn them about the curse, try to put the fear of damaging into them, and what do they do? They open the damn box anyway. Every fucking time.

Welcome to another installment in our classic horror series! In this week’s Backstage Edition, we bring you the classic conundrum: thief steals cursed item, thief is warned about cursed item, thief ignores warnings about cursed items. And then all hell breaks loose. Figuratively speaking, of course.

This one is quite interesting, however, in that it concerns a certain puzzle box. Reading this might make you wonder, could this be a precursor to Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart, made famous by the Hellraiser franchise? The Teakwood Box does, after all, predate The Hellbound Heart by over 45 years! Upon a cursory inspection of available materials, it would seem that no, Baker may not even have been aware of this story’s existence. Still, after reading this, you may be left wondering …