Haunted Dolls ~ Paranormal or Just Plain Creepy?

Dolls in general give me the uber willies, but haunted dolls are the stuff of my nightmares! First let me explain my fear of dolls, then we will explore some documented dolls that are said to be haunted or possessed.

Why am I afraid of dolls? It started when I was little. I fell asleep on the couch one afternoon and had a VERY scary dream.

In my dream I was asleep on the couch, so it made it seem so real. One of my Cabbage patch dolls was hanging on the wall. I saw here start to kick like she was trying to get down and screaming. I couldn’t move. I was frozen on the couch. I couldn’t even turn my head.

She finally fell to the floor. I heard her hit. Then I heard her singing my name in a OH SO creepy way. I heard her little shoes on the hard wood floor (we didn’t have hard wood floors) coming closer and closer all the while calling my name. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t scream, I was TERRIFIED. Just as she got to me I woke up, covered in sweat and heart racing.

After that I looked at all my dolls differently. I made sure that I gave them a lot of attention. I made sure I gave them all EQUAL attention for fear that one would get jealous and kill me in my sleep.  Eventually I put them all in a box and in my closet. (With many other heavy boxes on top!) As a teenager I just got rid of them. I was no longer worried they would kill me, but I couldn’t stand to have them around. Dolls are just plain creepy. Stuffed animals I love. Dolls can just stay the hell away from me, thank you very much!

Yes, I am fully aware of what a basket case I am.

Now on to the other dolls. Lets look at two famous “Haunted” Dolls. I will provide links to more information  for them at the end of this post.

Robert

Robert the doll was the best friend of artist Robert Eugene Otto, AKA Gene. The doll was made by Gene’s nanny. She gave it to Gene either as a gift or as a means of getting even with Gene’s Parent’s whom are said to have been VERY abusive towards the staff.

Gene dressed the doll in his own clothes and as he thought that they looked alike, Gene named the doll Robert, after himself. The doll never left Gene’s side.

After receiving the doll Gene became increasingly anti-social and difficult. He began getting into all sorts of trouble including sneaking out his bedroom window at night and roaming the grounds with only Robert the doll to accompany him. When ever Gene was caught doing anything wrong, he would immediately blame the doll, saying, “Robert did it?” Was this just a spoiled child being difficult or was Robert actually contributing to the child’s increasingly bad behavior? The family began to believe that Robert was the cause and locked him in the attic rooms. People passing by told stories of seeing Robert in the windows. The children walking home from school said he was making faces at them.

This continued for years. After Gene’s parents died Gene got married and they moved into the house. Gene quickly brought Robert out of the attic telling his wife that he was unhappy up their and needed a more comfortable room with a nice view. He placed the doll in a chair in one of the guest rooms to look out the window.

Gene again became difficult. This time becoming withdrawn from his wife and abusive to her. He would  spend hours in the guest room talking to Robert. Finally Gene’s wife had had enough. She banished the doll back to the attic, although it doesn’t seem that he stayed there. Gene’s wife and other visitors to the home often said the saw Robert scurrying up the stairs or darting from room to room. In any event, the attic was where the next family to live in the home found the doll.

Gene and his wife had died, the home was eventually sold to a family with a little girl. The mother found the doll and gave it to her daughter. As soon as the little girl received the doll she began having extreme nightmares. She often woke up with scratches on her face or chest. It was rumored that Robert didn’t like girls and he showed his displeasure with his new child by destroying all her other toys.

Robert was again banished to the attic. Why they didn’t get rid of the thing I don’t know. It would have been burnt if it was me! So this family eventually moved out and the house was converted into the Artist’s House historic location. The doll was found in the attic and donated to the East Martello Museum nearby.

Workers and visitors of the museum claim that Robert is still up to his old tricks.

Every year in October Robert is taken to the Historic Custom house where he is placed on display. The staff has come up with a rather odd way of keeping Robert from Roaming around at night. They place peppermints in his display. They say he loves them, and doesn’t roam when he has them in his case. The staff swears that they have found empty peppermint wrappers on the floor of his case in the mornings.

Robert can still be visited in Key West, Florida, at the Historic Custom House in October and the Martello Museum the rest of the year.

Mandy

Mandy the haunted doll is over 90 yrs old. Her history before she found her way to the Quesnel Museum is a mystery. The museum is located on the Old Cariboo Gold Rush Trail, in British Columbia. The only information I can find about her previous owner/s, is that the woman who donated the old doll to the museum complained that she was frequently woken up at night by the sound of a baby crying. She always found that it was coming from the room where the doll was kept. After the doll was donated the crying stopped.

Obviously, being 90 yrs old, the doll has been through a lot. Her face is cracked, her body ripped and her clothes threadbare and dirty. All this doesn’t help the dolls creepy factor.

Staff and visitor alike tell tales of odd things occurring with the doll. Some include the doll mysteriously facing the wrong direction in her case, others state that her facial expression changed. The staff moved her to a case of her own when they learned that she doesn’t like other dolls and would destroy them.

Since Mandy’s arrival, things around the museum have been mysteriously disappearing. Everything from office supplies and personal items to the staffs lunches from the refrigerator. The lunches are often found in drawers or cupboards. The other items are sometimes found, but often time they are never seen again.

Visitors have reported that her eyes move, like they re following them as they move about the museum. Others have said that they have seen her blink. Often times people who come to take pictures or video of Mandy find that their cameras will not work while trying to film her, but when shooting a different area exhibit the camera works perfectly.

In Conclusion

Are there such things as haunted dolls or are these doll just creepy looking? I don’t know. I personally have never seen a doll move, or talk. Does that mean there aren’t haunted dolls? Of course not. Just because I’ve never witnessed one does not mean they don’t exist.

I have no idea if these dolls are really haunted, but just the look of them is enough for me to say that I would never own them.

EEEK! I’ll never be able to sleep tonight!

Here is more information of these lovely dolls and a few other related links:

Quesnel Museum (Mandy)

Robert The Dolls Website

Video Abt Robert the Haunted Doll

YouTube Video Abt Mandy

Doll House Cam & Forum ~ Live camera feed of 4 “haunted” dolls.

P.S. Do yourself a favor and do a search on YouTube for Haunted Doll Videos. So many OBVIOUSLY fake ones, some are quite funny! You may stumble upon a real haunted doll video, who knows? By the way, I have added Robert the Haunted Doll as a friend on Facebook! LMAO

Mommy D

Hey You! Yeah YOU! Don’t forget to read
“Top 10 Historical Haunts”,
my guest post on The Top 10 Blog