Pediophobia – the irrational fear of dolls. But is that fear really all that irrational? With their cold, dead, staring eyes and painted-on smiles, it’s understandable that some people would find them a little creepy and even psychologically terrifying. But surely, they’re just toys? They can’t hurt you…can they?
Ruby
Ruby was a doll that belonged to a young girl; according to the legends surrounding the doll, the little girl died with her in her arms. The family began to believe that the child’s spirit was inhabiting the doll and called in a psychic medium to try and help her spirit pass on, but to no avail. Ruby was passed on through the generations, hidden away in boxes and forgotten about in attics and basements. Eventually, one family member passed Ruby on to their friend, Dana Mathews, the curator of The Travelling Museum of the Paranormal and the Occult. The museum staff started noticing the unusual reactions of visitors to the doll; they would be rocking it in their arms as if to soothe it. Many weren’t consciously aware that they had been doing it, and often, people reported feeling intense sadness when around the doll.
Charley
There was an old Victorian home in New York, and in 1968, a couple of people decided to search through it. They discovered a battered old trunk full of old newspapers dating back to the 1930s. Within the papers was a doll. The only other item in the trunk was a decrepit piece of paper with the Lord’s prayer written on it. The person who found the doll named him Charley and took him home to join his family’s collection of old dolls. To begin with, Charley seemed to fit in well with the other collection until he appeared to be moving around by himself. The parents accused their five children, as you would, but every child denied touching the doll; later, their 4-year-old daughter told them Charley had spoken to her in the middle of the night. The parents continued to dismiss the children’s claims and never witnessed anything themselves, but the children were terrified of Charley and refused to go anywhere near him. The 4-year-old daughter appeared one morning covered in scratches and insisted that Charley was responsible for them. The parents decided the best thing to do was place Charley back in the trunk, put him in the attic and forget about him. Soon, things returned to normal; the children grew and left the family home, and the house was put up for sale. Charley and the trunk ended up at a garage sale, where a woman purchased him. The doll changed hands a few times over the years before ending up in the Local Artisan shop in Salem, Massachusetts. No new activity has been reported, and Charley remains there to this day.
Mandy
Mandy is a doll made in 1900 and was owned by an anonymous person. One night, the owner was awoken by a child's screams and cries, but no child was in the house. The noise was coming from the basement, where Mandy was being kept, and eventually, the owner summoned the courage to investigate. When they entered, they found nothing but an open window. Mandy could not be found, but strangely, the doll was back the following day. The owner decided to give the doll to the Quesnel and District Museum in Canada. Almost straight away, staff began experiencing problems. Lunches would go missing and be found later in random places; the same happened with books and stationery. At one point, Mandy had to be moved into a private case away from the other dolls; it was claimed she would push them over in the middle of the night. Psychics have visited Mandy over the years and tend to agree that the spirit of a young girl possesses the doll. The young girl loves attention and is mischievous but never violent towards people.
Okiku
There was a young girl in Japan called Okiku; she owned a doll, and it was her favourite possession in the world. The young girl caught yellow fever and died when she was just three years old; she was holding the doll when she passed. Okiku’s parents wanted to bury the doll with their daughter, but certain circumstances stopped this from happening, and the child was buried alone. The family decided that a fitting tribute would be to place the doll on a small shrine to their daughter. It wasn’t long after that something strange happened; the doll appeared to be growing hair. The once neat, shoulder-length bob got longer and longer, started changing colour and even felt different. The family would dream of Okiku and find the doll beside them in the morning. The closer it was to specific dates, such as Okiku’s birthday or the anniversary of her death, the more the weird activities would increase; they would hear banging and strange voices in the house, and the lights would flicker. Various shamans and spiritual leaders visited the doll and concluded that it contained the spirit of Okiku. By 1938, the family had come to the end of their tether with the hauntings and asked the priests at the Mannenji Temple to look after the doll. Since then, the priests have confirmed the family’s claims; her hair continues to grow, and when sent for analysis, was found to be human hair. The doll also invades the dreams of those who visit her. The creepiest part is that the doll’s mouth is slowly opening, and baby teeth appear to be growing inside. Fuck. That.
The German Girl Shrine
In 1914, an 18-year-old woman fell from a cliff on the island of Pulau Ubin; she was a German girl and was fleeing from British Forces. Villagers would later find her decomposing body and decided to cremate her and inter her ashes into an urn; these were placed on a shrine along with strands of her hair and a crucifix she had been wearing at her time of death. No one ever managed to find out who the girl was. People believed visiting the shrine would bring good luck, and various gifts were left, but one gift, in particular, had a mysterious background. One of the islanders, who had emigrated abroad, had the same dream three nights in a row; a Caucasian girl would lead him to a toy store and point at a Barbie doll. It was the same store and the same doll every night. After the 3rd night, the man found the exact store he had dreamt of and inside was the exact Barbie doll the girl had pointed at. He purchased it, and it made its way to the girl’s shrine. Villagers have reported seeing the ghost of a young girl, affectionately called Na Du Gu Niang, which translates to Datuk Maiden. Did the Datuk Maiden request the doll from beyond the grave?
Patty Reed’s Doll
This one, for some reason, got under my skin. In 1846, 8-year-old Patty Reed hid her doll in her clothing; her parents were heading to California, and she had been told to leave all her toys behind. They were travelling as part of a large group, the Donner Party. The weather was unseasonably harsh, and the group were struggling to travel safely and find provisions. Patty’s father, James, stabbed someone and was forced to leave the wagon train; despite knowing the difficulties they would be left in, he continued to California without his wife and family. The weather became increasingly worse; it was freezing, and there were mountains of snow to travel over still. People started to die from hunger, and in desperation, those who were still alive resorted to cannibalism. Out of 87, only 48 people made it to California; Patty and her doll survived the ordeal. The doll is now on display at Sutter’s Fort State Historical Park Museum in Sacramento, California. Although it isn’t known to be haunted, it’s rather eerie to think of the doll being held by young Patty as she devoured human flesh.
Letta Me Out
During the 1970s, Kerry Walton and his brother decided to explore a supposedly haunted abandoned house in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. While looking around, Kerry saw what he thought was the body of a young child under the flooring. After taking a closer look, he realised it was just a doll. One with a disturbing appearance, but still, just a doll. Despite the eerie grin on the doll’s face, Kerry took it home and put it in a sack before placing it in his car. On the drive home to Brisbane, Kerry and his brother nicknamed the doll ‘Letta Me Out’ after they joked it looked like the doll was moving around and struggling in the sack. Kerry’s family weren’t thrilled about sharing a home with Letta Me Out, and with good cause. Within a few days, they found scuff marks around the house; they looked like tiny shoes had caused them. Animals acted strangely around Letta Me Out, and dogs would even try to attack the doll. Other people found themselves emotional and feeling sick just by the mere presence of the doll. Kerry decided he wanted to know about Letta Me Out’s past and took the doll to experts; they discovered that the doll was likely to have been handmade in Romania over 200 years ago. The doll even had a full head of human hair. Letta Me Out was then taken to a psychic to see if there was a reason for the spooky activities surrounding him. The psychic (and many more since) claimed that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a young boy who had died from drowning; it was also believed that the doll had been crafted in the child’s likeness. Kerry still has the doll to this day and occasionally tours with Letta Me Out and allows people to meet him; Letta even has a Facebook page.
Joliet
Anna (the lady in question wishes to remain anonymous) had a great-grandmother who had received a doll as a gift while pregnant with her second child; the doll was named Joliet. It would later come to light that the ‘friend’ was jealous of the pregnant woman and had deliberately gifted her a cursed doll. Anna’s great-grandmother later gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Sadly, the child died three days later of a mysterious illness. Not long after this tragic death, Anna’s great-grandmother began hearing a baby crying at night, and she was convinced it was her deceased son. She found she couldn’t part with the doll and believed her son’s spirit was trapped inside. The doll was passed down to Anna’s grandmother, who was aware of her mother’s beliefs. In a horrifying twist of fate, she also lost her newborn son from a mysterious illness, and his cry was soon to be heard coming from the doll as well. This continued down the family line, happening to Anna’s mother and Anna herself. Despite this, Anna refuses to part with Joliet. However, many don’t believe the curse of Joliet, as only the mothers of the sons can hear their cries.
Robert
Robert is a 40” doll, created as a one-off by the Steiff company and who may have been initially painted to look like a clown or a joker. He currently resides at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. Before being given to the museum, Robert belonged to Robert Eugene Otto (known as Gene), who had been gifted the doll by his grandfather in 1904. He had what people described as ‘an unhealthy’ relationship with the doll that continued into adulthood. According to the legends, Robert will move and giggle and is very aware of what is going on. As a child, Gene would say, ‘I didn’t do it; Robert did it,’ and people would report hearing footsteps that weren’t Gene’s. Reporter Malcolm Ross said when seeing Robert for the first time, ‘It was like a metal bar running down my back at first when we walked through the door, the look on his face was like a little boy being punished.’ When someone commented on Gene being a fool, the doll’s look changed to disdain. After being put on display in the museum, cameras & electrics would malfunction, and accidents await those who disrespect Robert. Pro tip: do NOT disrespect Robert.
Annabelle
Possibly the most famous of all creepy as fuck dolls. The original Annabelle was a simple Raggedy Ann doll, which I personally believe makes it freakier than the doll used in the film. In 1970, a 28-year-old woman, Donna (or Deidre by some accounts, but I’m going to use Donna), was gifted the doll by her mother and the doll was kept in the apartment Donna shared with her friend Angie. Within weeks, they thought the doll was moving around unassisted, and they found ‘Help Me’ written on parchment paper. There had been no parchment paper anywhere in the apartment. Angie’s boyfriend would stop over, and while both Donna and Angie were out, he heard noises in one of the empty rooms. He went to investigate and found no one in the room – but the doll was lying on the floor. At seeing her, he felt a pain in his chest and discovered two claw marks running across it. The women decided to invite a medium over to see if they could shed any light on what was happening. The medium claimed that the spirit of 7-year-old Annabelle Higgins possessed the doll; the child’s body had been found years before on the same site where the apartment was built. The medium said that all the spirit wanted was to love and be loved. This tugged on Donna and Angie’s heartstrings, and they decided to allow Annabelle to stay. Later on, the pair decided to contact Father Hegan to see if he could help Annabelle’s spirit pass over. He contacted his superior, Father Cooke, who in turn contacted Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous paranormal investigators. Ed and Lorraine were very concerned that Annabelle had been invited to stay; they didn’t believe that the doll contained the spirit of a young child but that of a demonic force. Lorraine explained:’ An inhuman spirit can attach itself to a place or an object, which occurred in the Annabelle case. This spirit manipulated the doll and created the illusion of being alive to get recognition. Indeed, the spirit was not looking to stay attached to the doll but to possess a human host’. At the Warren’s request Father Cooke performed an exorcism, then they removed Annabelle from the apartment. With Annabelle strapped into the back of the car, Ed and Lorraine started to head home. On the way home, the brakes began failing and nearly caused a crash; Ed sprinkled holy water onto the doll, and the brakes started working again. Once home, they claimed Annabelle continued to move around by herself; they decided the only option was to lock the doll up. Annabelle remains locked up, but it’s wise not to take risks with her. A priest visited the Warrens museum, where Annabelle resides, and mocked the doll and the story. On the way home, he was involved in a car crash; his car was a write-off, and he was lucky to escape with his life. Another visitor wasn’t quite so lucky; after laughing at Annabelle, he travelled home on his motorbike. He lost control of the motorbike, crashed and died. His girlfriend just about survived her injuries.
Dolls have been considered scary and haunted for years, mainly thanks to stories like these and the well-used horror film trope. However, there could be more to it. The Uncanny Valley Hypothesis suggests that something with a human-ish appearance can be OK – but only up to a point. It’s the unease you feel when something looks like it should be human, but it’s not entirely realistic; something just isn’t quite right about it. Could this be the explanation? Or is there genuinely something else happening? You wait until I write an article on the Island of Dolls! As always, let me know what you think in the comments; thanks for reading, take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
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