Dare To Enter The Devil’s Toy Box
By James Donahue
If you have traveled the roads of Louisiana you may have been tempted to succumb to some highway “clickbait” known as The Devil’s Toy Box. It is a little one-room shack along a lonely little side-road. But beware: the warning is that if you dare to stand inside for too long the Devil will allegedly play with your mind and you will never be the same again.
An urban legend has grown around this strange little rural enterprise erected by orchard growers Will and Darlene Sawyer somewhere in or around Leesburg, in northern Louisiana. This is somewhat strange because the site is a copy of similar roadside trick sites that we used to find along two-lane scenic routes throughout the nation. They go by various names; some suggest that the room “defies gravity.” They offer interesting sensations of being in an unearthly room where they use tilted floors and trick walls and mirrors to give you the sensation of standing in an abnormal place.
As the story goes, the Devil’s Play Box was part of an elaborate Halloween display. It was such a grand display that it opened every October during the Halloween season and became a big attraction for the locals, even though you had to drive down a lonely country road just to find it. The orchard’s owner added new attractions to the display each season, so the whole display started to look like a carnival side show. Even the name of the display was spooky: Farmer Grave’s Haunted Orchard.”
One year, just to spice up his display, “Farmer Grave” added the little windowless shack that he called the Devil’s Toy Box. It is a six-sided box made from large mirror panels that form a cube. The twist is that the mirrors were all turned to face inward instead of outward, giving the illusion of being out of this world. The technical name for the effect has been called “Parnadorica Parapsychology.”
After opening that season, several people who dared to enter the “box” allegedly had to be hospitalized because of things they thought had happened to them. It is told that one 52-year-old man was reduced to a crazed wide-eyed mute. Another woman suffered a heart attack after only 90 seconds inside the box. A 17-year-old boy was dragged out “kicking and screaming.” That boy allegedly committed suicide a few days later.
The town council was quick to act. The council ordered the entire display closed. They say Will Sawyer was so angered by the order he tore down most of the elaborate display but left the offending “toy box” intact. It is supposedly padlocked shut. And to find this particular haunted attraction, one must have special directions and be willing to travel a little country road to find it.
Even though there was little publicity at the time, word spread about this peculiar box, and it soon became an attraction for seekers of the paranormal. Thus this particular urban legend became the inspiration for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser film series in which the “Lament Configuration” is a creepy toy puzzle box.
Indeed, occultists say that mirrors are long believed to hold paranormal properties. Lewis Carol, in his famed Alice In Wonderland, suggested that they can be gateways into other dimensions. Indeed, contemporary research into the science behind the paranormal delves into the realm of quantum physics where the paranormal finds its home.
Thus we must wonder what happened that caused these simple townsfolk to go insane after spending a few minutes in a box of mirrors on Will Sawyer’s farm. Was it merely the power of suggestion, or did these people really come face to face with an evil force?
By James Donahue
If you have traveled the roads of Louisiana you may have been tempted to succumb to some highway “clickbait” known as The Devil’s Toy Box. It is a little one-room shack along a lonely little side-road. But beware: the warning is that if you dare to stand inside for too long the Devil will allegedly play with your mind and you will never be the same again.
An urban legend has grown around this strange little rural enterprise erected by orchard growers Will and Darlene Sawyer somewhere in or around Leesburg, in northern Louisiana. This is somewhat strange because the site is a copy of similar roadside trick sites that we used to find along two-lane scenic routes throughout the nation. They go by various names; some suggest that the room “defies gravity.” They offer interesting sensations of being in an unearthly room where they use tilted floors and trick walls and mirrors to give you the sensation of standing in an abnormal place.
As the story goes, the Devil’s Play Box was part of an elaborate Halloween display. It was such a grand display that it opened every October during the Halloween season and became a big attraction for the locals, even though you had to drive down a lonely country road just to find it. The orchard’s owner added new attractions to the display each season, so the whole display started to look like a carnival side show. Even the name of the display was spooky: Farmer Grave’s Haunted Orchard.”
One year, just to spice up his display, “Farmer Grave” added the little windowless shack that he called the Devil’s Toy Box. It is a six-sided box made from large mirror panels that form a cube. The twist is that the mirrors were all turned to face inward instead of outward, giving the illusion of being out of this world. The technical name for the effect has been called “Parnadorica Parapsychology.”
After opening that season, several people who dared to enter the “box” allegedly had to be hospitalized because of things they thought had happened to them. It is told that one 52-year-old man was reduced to a crazed wide-eyed mute. Another woman suffered a heart attack after only 90 seconds inside the box. A 17-year-old boy was dragged out “kicking and screaming.” That boy allegedly committed suicide a few days later.
The town council was quick to act. The council ordered the entire display closed. They say Will Sawyer was so angered by the order he tore down most of the elaborate display but left the offending “toy box” intact. It is supposedly padlocked shut. And to find this particular haunted attraction, one must have special directions and be willing to travel a little country road to find it.
Even though there was little publicity at the time, word spread about this peculiar box, and it soon became an attraction for seekers of the paranormal. Thus this particular urban legend became the inspiration for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser film series in which the “Lament Configuration” is a creepy toy puzzle box.
Indeed, occultists say that mirrors are long believed to hold paranormal properties. Lewis Carol, in his famed Alice In Wonderland, suggested that they can be gateways into other dimensions. Indeed, contemporary research into the science behind the paranormal delves into the realm of quantum physics where the paranormal finds its home.
Thus we must wonder what happened that caused these simple townsfolk to go insane after spending a few minutes in a box of mirrors on Will Sawyer’s farm. Was it merely the power of suggestion, or did these people really come face to face with an evil force?