I also realized (just after submitting this...) it may have to do with there being both a wall behind the chests, three stacked chests as shown, and a ceiling above the chests. So I fiddled with that, and didn't get very far, except to note that a fourth stacked chest seemed unaffected by all except the glitch where the breaking pattern appears on both chests. this I could reproduce on any double chest I broke. It could also have to do with directions on the compass, so note that these chests are facing south, towards positive z.
Neko, I don't think this is the same issue. It's certainly similar, but the presentation of the issue to the player is different. I can freely move my mouse and look around, unlike Jonathan, but my cursor will nearly always begin slowly drifting in some random direction when I stop moving my mouse. From the sound of it, Jonathan is forced to look straight down at all times unless he overwhelms the cause by rapidly moving his mouse up, where I can stop the drift in a number of ways.