Because porcelain dolls aren't creepy enough on their own...

My great-grandmother operated a chapter of the state doll-enthusiast's club. Her house was full of the things - the kind that start to look like they're breathing if you stare at them too long.

The ones that really creep me out are the "sleeping" babies. My grandmother had one that stayed on a little pillow, and I couldn't stand the thing. Now, thanks to an enthusiast book that still comes in the mail, I know they make them that will "grab your finger and hang on" like a living child.

A cold, hard as stone living child.

I think it just hit me that doll makers have created Reneesme Cullen.

Great maker...

Perks said:

My oldest was given a really creepy doll when she was tiny. I can't remember what it was called on the package, but when you pushed a button, the thing said in a horribly chipper stage whisper, "Tell me all your secrets!"

There was no way I was keeping it in my house, so my friends took turns hiding it in each other's houses until my friend, Lisa, "accidentally" ran it over with her car.

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That's a very good friend to have--good set of friends, actually. Cherish them.

Those kinds of dolls creep me out. I suppose someone thinks they're being nice, but--ewwwww.

I can't fathom the motive to this.

Kinda hard to think anything's more creepy than this.

*screams for an hour.

And as the investigation continues and the story comes out we find the dolls aren't JUST made to look like the girls that live at the homes where they were left...The hair on the dolls was....dun dun DUN....somehow taken from the girls themselves!

"My name is Talky Tina! And I'm going to kill you." (Old Twilight Zone reference, for those who remember .. . or care).

It's the porcelain apocalypse. Children being turned into porcelain horror dolls by a sinister force from the dark beyond.

Ooh, that is a good plot bunny.

My sister in law had a doll that she insisted was haunted. Mind you, she's nuts, but she really believed it. I don't know why she kept it, but she did. Even when it would mysteriously move from one part of her room to another while she wasn't home. Interestingly enough, it only did that for the time where she lived with my wife and I. And every once in awhile when we visit. But I'm sure that's a coincidence.

I'm skeptical that the dolls resembled individual children. But now the idea is out there, everyone who receives a creepy doll in the mail will convince themselves 'why yes, it does resemble a family member, despite being a mass-produced porcelain doll from somewhere in China'.

I'm still waiting to see the creepy dolls...

Albedo said:

I'm skeptical that the dolls resembled individual children. But now the idea is out there, everyone who receives a creepy doll in the mail will convince themselves 'why yes, it does resemble a family member, despite being a mass-produced porcelain doll from somewhere in China'.

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You can make dolls that do that. It's not unbelievable.

The Tommyknockers had a great creepy doll scene.

Anybody remember the "Kill James" Tickle me Elmo?

and Jamie? "Just for you."

We got my MIL one of these back in 1999 or so, so they're not anything new. All it takes is a series of photos of your "target."

The hair part is a little creepy.

http://www.mytwinn.com/

I remember Tickle Me Elmo and the aforementioned Talking Tina Twilight Zone episode.

C.bronco said:

The Tommyknockers had a great creepy doll scene.

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Did they twist?

Oh, I love the Dutch. Dem craaaazy.

Alessandra Kelley said:

I think it possible that there is a well-intentioned but socially off person behind this.

I have known too many people who seem to genuinely find dolls like these appealing to be completely convinced that this is something intended to be sinister.

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I think this ^ is spot on. Those are modern reproduction dolls. The first one might be a copy of an older head, the second one (in blue) I'm sure I've seen in modern doll magazines. The painting is looks competent (no hard-edged, lipstick red lips), the proportions on the second one are bad. (Hands should not reach down to the knees.) Probably made by a local hobbyist (I was taught to always label a doll I made - initals and date carved into the greenware, usually at the nape of the neck, where the hair or clothes will cover it. That way it can't be passed off as an original - hah!)Probably given with the best of intentions, as Alessandra says, by someone a bit clueless as to how creepy it would seem. Someone who is seeing this in the papers and is horrified by the reaction.
The 3 flat wooden dolls are another type of doll entirely, commercial stuff. Maybe it's doll club? When's International Doll Day?

cmhbob said:

We got my MIL one of these back in 1999 or so, so they're not anything new. All it takes is a series of photos of your "target."

The hair part is a little creepy.

http://www.mytwinn.com/

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In various forms, the 'doll that looks like your child' has been around for ages, from printing a picture of the child's face on a stuffed doll, to choosing from a selection of heads, adding matching hair and eyes, to commissioning an artist to make a portrait head.
I don't believe that's the real girls' hair, or actual hair at all. Those look like cheap synthetic doll wigs.

There's an update: (nothing specific or spectacular - apparently it's harmless, though) http://ktla.com/2014/07/24/porcelai...irls-placed-in-front-of-4-o-c-families-homes/

Vince524 said:

My sister in law had a doll that she insisted was haunted. Mind you, she's nuts, but she really believed it. I don't know why she kept it, but she did. Even when it would mysteriously move from one part of her room to another while she wasn't home. Interestingly enough, it only did that for the time where she lived with my wife and I. And every once in awhile when we visit. But I'm sure that's a coincidence.

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The doll's name wasn't Annabelle was it?

The only thing creepier than a porcelain doll... is a porcelain clown. Those things freak me out.

Eight families in San Clemente have been targeted in a disturbing pattern under investigation by authorities: porcelain dolls have been left at their homes resembling young girls who live there.

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Anyone interested in using this as a plot bunny should bear in mind that this was how the Other Mother in Coraline lured her victims into her web of deceit. She also used the dolls to spy on her victims. They were ragdolls rather than porcelain dolls, but they were created to resemble the victims.