On May 26, 2003,
Teajay101 of Arkansas began his auction at $99 for "Ghost In A Jar! No Joke Serious
Inquiry Only." The auction hawked a mysterious eerie glass
cylinder with cryptic painted markings. Teajay101 claimed that he "would
not be held responsible" if the "black thing" escaped the jar,
and that "all sales are final."
After numerous bids (and cancellations), the auction ended
seven days later at a whopping $50,922. As is the case with many high
profile Ebay auctions, the high bidder did not pay,
and there was no actual sale.
However, the auction ignited a
selling frenzy for "Ghost in a Jar" t-shirts, buttons, bumper
stickers, paintings and more. There were numerous Ebay
auctions that included "PMS in a Jar," "Ghost Retreat for
Ghost in a Jar," "Stand for Your Ghost in a Jar,"
"Vacation Home for Ghost in a Jar" and thousands of other
offerings.
Ebay deleted most of these related
auctions, and there were many legitimate postings that became casualties of
the broad ban on "Ghost in a Jar" merchandise, including some
auctions that happened to have "jar" or "ghost" in their
titles, but were entirely unrelated to Teajay101's auction.
Teajay101 sold memberships to a "Ghost in a Jar
Club" and also signed pictures of himself and the jar. However, he has
still has not actually sold the jar pictured in the
auction.
Despite Ebay's
effort to squash the interest surrounding this historic and bizarre auction,
it will always be remembered as the first unusual online auction to garner
national attention.
