With Halloween just around the corner, the annual burst of interest in the haunted is becoming more relevant. Dolls are one of the most commonly feared things, they’re like tiny lifeless human beings. This adds to the terror but, what happens when a doll gains a soul? Here are five examples of dolls who have terrified humans for decades and still send chills down certain spines.
*Some information may not be 100% accurate due to variations of the stories*
- Robert
Robert is a one of a kind handmade doll made in 1904, named after the boy who owned it. His nurse/maid gave it to him after his parents fired her when they suspected her of witchcraft. The doll was given to Robert as a gift and is said to have been cursed by the maid as a way to get revenge on the parents for firing her. The doll currently resides in the museum Old Post Office and Customhouse. He sits in a glass case and displayed every October in honor of Halloween. You can take a picture of the doll but only with his permission or you’ll be cursed.
- Joliet
For more than a century Joliet the cursed doll has been passed down from mother to daughter in one family. It always starts the same, the mother will have two children, a daughter and a son. The son will die a few days after birth, the son’s soul will then possess the doll, and late at night they will be able to hear the boy’s ghostly cries. Why would this family keep the doll and continue to pass it down from generation to generation if its curse kills their sons? The family fears if they get rid of the doll, the souls of their lost children will be lost or harmed. Truly a sad reason.
- Harold
Harold is a doll that’s haunted by several spirits and even one demon. When someone looks at even a picture of the doll they become ill, and come down with symptoms ranging from dizzy spells to back pain. People who have seen Harold in person claim that he moves on his own and even bites and grabs people hard enough to leave marks and bruises.
- Annabelle
Annabelle is the most well-known haunted doll in the whole realm of the paranormal. The adorable Raggedy Ann doll is said to be possessed by a demonic and malevolent spirit. Annabelle’s owners, two nursing students, claimed to have caught her running and moving on her own. Every day when the girls got home, they found the doll sitting in a different position and rooms and even found little notes scribbled in red crayon. Annabelle even attacked someone, scratching him and attempting to strangle him.
- Ledda
Ledda the doll is possessed by the spirit of a young boy who drowned. The father, who was stricken with grief, made the doll to harbor his young son’s soul. Sadly the boy’s spirit still hasn’t passed on, even many years after his father’s death. The doll moves on its own and changes its facial expression almost every day.