Pillar of Souls

The Pillar of Souls was a demonic prison which first appeared at the end of the 1988 horror movie Hellbound: Hellraiser II and was a major plot device in its 1992 sequel Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.

Description
A rectangular pillar roughly ten feet tall, the Pillar of Souls was covered in sculpted images of mutilated humans writhing in torment. It also featured the face of the powerful Cenobite known as Pinhead, who appeared to be in a state of repose, but was in fact held imprisoned within the artefact.

History
After appearing at the Channard Institute at the end of Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the Pillar is taken by a mysterious man who sells the artefact to a collector of macabre art by the name of J.P. Monroe.

Unwittingly discovering the presence of the demon held within the Pillar, Monroe strikes a bargain with Pinhead: feed him enough souls, and Pinhead will grant Monroe pleasures he has never even dreamt of.

Over the next few nights, Monroe offers unsuspecting sacrifices to Pinhead, slowly increasing the demon’s power, but when he attempts to feed his ex-girlfriend Terri to the creature she knocks him unconscious. Terri then turns the tables and, seduced by the promises made to her by Pinhead, instead offers up Monroe as sustenance.

This final act is enough to give Pinhead the strength to break free, and his emergence causes the Pillar to explode in a flash of blinding light, leaving the vengeful demon free to wreak havoc upon the mortal world.