The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Gloomy is the house of woe, where tears are falling while the bell is knelling, with all the dark solemnities that show that Death is in the dwelling *

* (restored)

 

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Alice

‘Alice lives with its owner Marie Ford in Washington state. This very haunted doll is said to whisper in a ghostly voice if you press your ears close to her porcelain lips. Her eyes will follow you around the room and her expression will change if she does not like you . “This Doll has been in my family for years it was always kept in a locked doll case,” says Marie. “My grandmother said it was possessed by the spirit of her best friend Alice who died by committing suicide at the age of 13. I have captured many Haunted Doll EVP’s from her and the most common statement she makes is, “I want to be left alone to suffer”.’

 

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Annabella

‘In the 1970’s a mother strolling along the street walked into a hobby store, and purchased a large Raggedy-Anne doll as a present for her daughter’s birthday. Thus begins one of the most unusual cases of a possessed object on record. Annabelle’s antics were so bad, she is now locked inside a protective glass case in an occult museum to keep her at bay.

‘This incident is a terrifying case investigated by famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in the 1970’s. A priest had contacted Ed, and told him of two young nurses who were experiencing terrifying phenomenon in their home. While they slept, the furniture in their home was destroyed. Once they woke to the sound of a piercing, maniacal laughter, and found the doll sitting on the corpse of their pet cat, holding the cat’s eyeballs in its hands.

‘Today, AnnaBelle remains locked in a glass case, and is on display at the Warren Occult museum. The only one of it’s kind, the museum houses haunted artifacts and objects collected from over 50 years of paranormal investigations. It is still reported that while very weak, AnnaBelle still manages to trip, pull the hair, and temporarily blind visitors who walk by her case.’

 

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Pupa

‘While real haunted doll stories are not uncommon, the case of Pupa is very unique. The original owner had it from the age of 5 or 6 (1920’s) until she died in July of 2005. The doll survived World War II, and many, many close calls to it’s destruction over the years. The owner cherished it always through out her long life. The doll traveled from Italy to the United States then back to Italy and across Europe and finally to the USA once again where it is now.

‘Pupa is said to move by herself. Often she is said to push things around in the display case where the family who owns her keep her. Since the passing of the original owner in 2005 the family reports that the haunted doll has become very active and seems to want to be released from where she is kept in a glass display case. Members of the family, guests, and workers making repairs in their house have reported discovering the the glass of the case steamed white and, inscribed on the steamy glass from the inside of the case by what appears to be a small child’s fingertip, the words ‘Pupa hate’.

‘Still dressed in her blue felt suit, she has also reportedly pulled pranks aplenty on those who care for her. Often, Pupa was placed differently than when the family last saw her. More than once, the family have reported hearing a sound like someone tapping on glass as they pass Pupa’s display case. When they turn to look, they have seen Pupa’s hand pressed against the glass. One member of the family managed to catch on video the doll rising to its feet and walking within the case, but on the three occasions he tried to upload the video onto Youtube, the video was obscured with a mysterious thick white film and the words “Pupa No!” scribbled on the film in a childish handwriting.’

 

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Barbie

‘At the shrine known as Lady Na Tuk Kong Shrine in Pulau Ubin, you will find a barbie doll occupying the place on the altar usually reserved for the statue of a deity. Even some of the offerings left on the shrines altar by worshippers are different from the norm. There are creams, lotions, rouges, powders, small mirrors and combs.

‘According to Literature and History researcher Han Shanyuan, the story behind the shrine begins with a German couple and their daughter. One day in August 1914, the British army came for the German couple and their daughter. The army caught the couple but the girl managed to escape to the mountain behind her family’s plantation. Unfortunately, she fell from a cliff and died.

‘Locals then built the temple in order to pacify the girl’s spirit. According to the temple’s keeper, at first people worshipped a porcelain altar instead of the Barbie doll. The porcelain altar is believed to contain a lock of the girl’s blond hair and a crucifix that is said to be the one the girl was wearing when she died.

‘Three years ago, a local emigrant to Australia had the same weird dream for three nights. In his dream, a western girl led him to a shop. She then asked him to buy a Barbie doll and bring it to the”Lady Na Tuk Gong Shrine”. The man followed the directions given.

‘To his surprise, he found the shop and also the doll the girl described in his dream. He bought the doll and brought it back to Pulau Ubin. Today, a lot of people come to the temple to worship the Barbie doll and it is said their prayers for safety and health are answered.’

 

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The Voodoo Doll

‘A woman in Galveston, Texas bought a real haunted New Orleans Zombie Voodoo doll on ebay October of 2004, It arrived as described Bound and tied in a metal box. Believing it just to be a strange curio she decided to take it out it’s small coffin and display it. “A Real Big Mistake” she says with great fear… the haunted doll attacked her, repeatedly. Afraid for her life she put it back in it;s decorated box casket but it haunted her in her dreams. Afraid to the point of mental exhaustion she tried to destroy it by burning it first, it would not burn. Then cutting it up the Knife and scissors broke and finally burying it at a cemetery. But as she tells the dolls grave was just to shallow and it appeared lying dirty on her front door step once more. She said she even resold it on ebay and the buyer wrote her that the doll had just disappeared from her home, so she sent it back to her when she found it on her door step again. The third time the buyer told her the box arrived empty. Again the evil doll was found at her door once more. The above photo was taken in 2004, right when she had first received the doll through the mail.’

 

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Joliet

‘Anna G. Says this cursed doll has been passed down from mother to daughter in her family for four generations. And each daughter was cursed to have two children a son and a daughter and each son died at 3 days old. The family believes that each spirit of the boy children is cursed to inhabit the doll until Judgment Day. Joliet is said to be heard crying in the night with the voices of several infants at once. Often is heard a piercing scream that sends chills down the spine of any mother.

‘”It can be heard quite clearly”, says Anna. “I lost my only son at three days old from mysterious circumstance in the hospital. My Mother lost a Son the same way as did my Grandmother and Great Grandmother. As I have been told by my mother the cursed Doll was given to my Great Grand mother by a jealous friend for my Grandmother as a toy when she was pregnant with her second child a son who also died at three days old. Each of us in my family have loved the doll and cared for our lost children to this day. My only daughter will do the same one day when she is older. We have not tried to get rid of it because we know the souls of our lost sons or trapped inside and do not want them to come to any harm. It is a haunted curse that my family bears”.’

 

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Emilia

‘This over 100 year old Haunted Doll came originally from one of the royal guards to King Umberto I. Umberto I, King of Italy or Humbert I of Italy (Umberto Ranieri Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoy), (14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death. He was deeply loathed in left-wing circles, especially among anarchists, because of his hard-line conservatism and support of the Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan. He was killed by anarchist Gaetano Bresci one year after the incident. He was the only King of Italy to be assassinated. This doll was said to be given to Ulvado Bellina one of his most trusted and respected friends and personal Captain of the Royal Guard who was also assassinated. Emilia was gift to Ulvado’s daughter Marie from Humbert I.

‘The doll survived WW I and WW II only losing both her arms and scalp in the second war to a bomb on a train to Udine, Italy. Because she was a prized gift To Marie Bellina from the king no matter what condition she was in the doll was rescued from the rubble. And from that day on she was haunted by the soul of the woman who died trying to rescue her self and the doll for Marie as they fled the explosion. Emilia the Haunted Doll is said to open and close her eyes, and her sound box is still heard at times in the darkness of the night crying for it’s mama. Though her original voice box no longer works.’

 

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Robert

‘Robert, the lifelong companion of painter Robert Eugene (called Gene) Otto. Within months after the arrival of the doll in the Otto household, strange things began to occur. Objects would go missing and turn up broken, Gene took to the unhealthy habit of sneaking out of his window and wandering the grounds at night, and his parents began to suspect him of all kinds of mischief. If he was caught in the act, Gene would always hold out Robert and say, “Robert did it!” Soon the doll apparently became bolder. It no longer seemed to require Gene’s company to move about the house. In the still hours of the night, the servants would often wake to the sound of hollow, pattering footsteps. Too frightened to inspect the cause, they would usually cower in their beds until dawn. Weird humming and singing was heard to come from the nursery if Gene inadvertently left Robert there alone.

‘It was widely believed that the death of Gene Otto in 1972 would put an end to the ghostly activity of the haunted doll. It was quickly learned, however, that true evil never dies, and while the house stood empty reports of the awful doll still continued. Many people would hear the sound of singing coming from the house at night and on more than one occasion the gruesome doll is said to have frightened school children by peering out the window in the attic turret and making faces at them. The home was eventually converted into the Artist’s House historic location as it stands today, Robert was donated to The East Martello Museum not far away. It quickly became evident, however, that Robert was still up to his old tricks. Museum workers began to report strange activity after the arrival of the doll, including one volunteer who was terrorized when the doll apparently spent most of a day following her around. Eventually, the doll was encased in a plastic display case in which it remains to this day. Still, there are those who claim that even this cannot contain the evil doll.’

 

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Amanda

‘Amanda the real haunted doll now lives unhappily in Atlanta, Georgia. She has moved around quite a lot since originally being a haunted doll sold on eBay over 3 years ago. Amanda’s recent life can originally be traced back to Ebay but no further then that. Since she was sold 3 years ago she has been bought sold traded and given away more times then can be counted on two hands. The ghost that is said to possess her is very active if she does not like you. Amanda has been known to move on her own and often heard scratching on the glass class she is now housed in. If she is happy then she just sits there staring into space. But when she is ready to move on she begins to wreck havoc in the home she resides in until she is once again sent on her way.’

 

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The Devil’s Baby Doll

‘Originally purchased as a haunted curio gift from a Leather maker this haunted doll with red leather skin and intense blue hot glass eyes is said to have moved on it’s own and is often heard to make strange growling and gurgling noises and worse. The artist Rafael who made it explains that the doll was made for a close friend who had died. The devil baby even went to this persons funeral. The intention was to place it into the coffin to be cremated with the deceased but his family objected. And after that the doll started to take on a haunted life of it’s own. The artist believes that it is inhabited by his friends soul. He heard it speak to him in his friends voice, and he had witnessed it turning it’s head. Since being sold, it literally drove its two different owners insane before the doll was ultimately locked in a lead box by Rafael and sunk in a river so it would never harm any soul again.

‘This is an excerpt from the first owner Tyler Durbane’s diary, kept while he was institutionalized after this average school teacher was diagnosed with psychosis three months after purchasing the doll: ‘My doll is quite honestly deadly, my doll is absolutely mean. My doll is the mighty Devil embodied, the evil red skinned Satan hiding unseen! He was a shadow of a whisper, a ghost in the night that came to me… calling my name and begging me to hold it, rescue it…take it … make it real and very much alive. Each night it crept cat-like hidden into my deep slumbers… asking me to rescue it from it’s eternal black prison of a hell!’

 

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— Texts borrowed and/or collaged from Hauntedamericantours.com, Sharon Stajda, Angelghosts.com, wetellstories,com, and Boing Boing.
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p.s. Hey. I’m still in Glasgow but heading back to Paris tonight. So I will rejoin you tomorrow. In the meantime, check out this risen-from-the-dead post featuring a bunch of haunted dolls.

7 Comments

  1. _Black_Acrylic

    My friend Andrew has a favourite film called Black Devil Doll From Hell that’s a zero budget blaxploitation haunted doll horror effort by Chester Novell Turner and screened as part of Cannot Be Unseen, Andrew’s short lived season of celluloid curiosities at Abertay University in Dundee. Black Devil Doll From Hell apparently has something of a cult following and word is there’s even a remake on the cards, an intriguing idea.

    Oh wow last night’s PGL showcase in Glasgow was a major delight! So happy to have seen that film on a big screen and that our paths finally crossed in real actual life. Great also to have met up with a few blog familiars in attendance there. I hope you and Zac had a fun time seeing the various Glaswegian sights and that you guys didn’t get rained on too aggressively.

  2. David Ehrenstein

    The Greatest haunted Doll of them all is of course Bride of Chucky

  3. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Safe trip back from Glasgow. From everything I’ve seen and heard, it was a raging success. People really loved it. Congrats on another great reception.

    Yeah, we’re about to go to that Board of Ed hearing. LPS won’t get up. We leave in about 20 minutes. I took off the whole day for it. He better go.

    Fuck, dolls are so fucking scary.

    Did you know that I still have the teddy bear that my grandmother gave me when I was an infant. He’s in pretty damn good shape too. His name is Teddy. Because I’m so original.

    I’m going to use the rest of the day to write. I’m about to hit the home stretch here. Things are coming together. I’m happy about that. Not satisfied, of course. 😀

  4. Sypha

    I can imagine that Thomas Ligotti would get a kick out of today’s entry, as dolls are to his work what ravens are to Poe… and tentacles to Lovecraft…

    Very excited that HARLEM SMOKE got a highly negative review on Goodreads recently. Essentially a total stranger read my book, hated it, and felt the need to express this hatred online… I feel like a legitimate writer now, ha ha.

    Finished reading Ellis’ WHITE last night, then began the new one from Infinity Press, PLAN FOR THE ABDUCTION OF J.G> BALLARD. Enjoying it so far…

  5. Steve Erickson

    There’s a YouTuber who makes 40-minute videos of his excursions onto the dark web, and he always includes one clip he found there of someone trying very hard to be “shocking”/”sinister,” which often involves wearing a mask while chopping up dolls with machetes, playing with dolls while singing about Satan, etc.

    Here’s my review of Abel Ferrara’s latest film, THE PROJECTIONIST: https://read.kinoscope.org/2019/05/03/new-york-stories-abel-ferraras-the-projectionist/ and my interview with MEETING GORBACHEV co-director André Singer: http://www.studiodaily.com/2019/05/andre-singer-co-directing-meeting-gorbachev-werner-herzog/

  6. Dominik

    Hi!!

    Heh, this post is creepy as hell!

    Really nice news about the Cherbourg avant-premiere, congratulations!! And how was everything in Glasgow? (Associating from Glasgow to Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting has a new sequel called Dead Men’s Trousers which I need to get my hands on right now.)

    I couldn’t agree more with what you wrote – and I actually think gender and sexuality are similar or are in a similar position in this regard, i.e. “labels”. This is exactly the reason why I don’t feel comfortable with labeling my experiences as “transsexual”, etc. – I’m not interested in being a part of any community based solely on widely generalized ideas of shared traits. Even if it makes this phase of the process pretty lonely or isolated.

    Fuck, I’m so sorry about the rating, really.

    I hope your trip and the screening went super fine! See you soon, Dennis!!

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