The user holds it out and asks questions, then interprets changes in how it swings as answers. The pendulum is often used to try to communicate with spirits. If we sense something there, we pull out the tools.” Said tools include electromagnetic frequency readers, dowsing rods, and a pendulum. We start with the vibe, the energy, our gut feeling. “It takes months sometimes, with a group of us all comparing notes. “Evaluations are a long process,” Blowers-McNamara says. lucop/iStock via Getty Imagesĭeclaring an item haunted is not as simple as just whacking the listing up and waiting for a buyer. Some dolls just want to be friends 'til the end.
Old scary dolls hunting people how to#
“I get a lot of mothers who have lost a child.” How to Tell If a Doll Is Haunted “I get a lot of customers who have lost someone and are trying to figure out how to communicate with them,” she tells Mental Floss in an email. Some buyers are looking for the fun of ghost-hunting, while others have more emotional motivations. But according to Kathryn Blowers-McNamara-who runs FugitiveKatCreations, which sells vintage and upcycled items but specializes in antique and haunted dolls-people seek them out for various reasons. Given how scary even non-haunted dolls can be, the idea of specifically seeking out and paying $150 for a potentially possessed toy can seem odd. (The latter was the type of allegedly demonically possessed doll the “real” Annabelle-made famous by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren-was). Demands the spirit has made, things known to have angered it, and details about both its former life and what it understands about its current existence inhabiting a doll all make for a pretty compelling read, especially alongside a disconcerting glassy stare complete with disturbing cracks.Ĭertain types of dolls are more popular than others, such as antique models, Wanda the Walking Doll, and Raggedy Ann.
Most prices hover around $150, though some haunted dolls sell for over $1000.Ī typical listing will include a lengthy, detailed backstory both about how the doll was acquired-often ending up with the seller after changing hands multiple times after spooking owner after owner-and what has supposedly been gleaned about the spirits inhabiting them. A quick online search reveals thousands for sale (along with accessories and dolls intended to be scary, but not purported to be haunted). There’s a thriving online market for haunted dolls, a relatively recent phenomenon thought to have taken off in the last decade and largely based around Etsy, eBay, and Instagram. Even before Chucky and Annabelle made them part of the Hollywood horror canon, their glassy, unseeing stares and too-symmetrical features, locked in an unshifting perma-pout, were plenty unnerving.īut not all dolls are created equal: Some are kinda creepy, some are hella creepy, and some are haunted. There’s something unsettling about dolls.