Most people associate the word "doll" only with a child's toy. Some will also recall collectible porcelain dolls. But initially the dolls were used exclusively for magical and cult purposes. And only then they began to use them as toys and collectibles.
Goddesses, killers, healers …
The oldest doll found by archaeologists was made in the 24th century BC and was considered the prototype of the goddess. In 365, a certain Francisco Marx, who was simultaneously engaged in science and sorcery, wrote a treatise on the occult, from which it followed that the first to make dolls were representatives of the dynasty of soothsayers who called themselves Swamgius (which means "seers"). In all likelihood, the dolls were used by them as mediums for prophecy.
But much more often they were used in black magic. So, the French medieval chronicles mention several trials related to accusations of witchcraft, where dolls appeared. For example, in 1578 a certain Loretta Duchateau was burned at the stake, accused of causing damage to people with the help of wax dolls. In the 18th century, a man named Jack Gallagher, who was reputed to be a magician and warlock, was executed in England. He was caught red-handed sticking needles into a doll depicting his neighbor, London baker Chris Martin.
Voodoo magic is widely practiced in Haiti using puppets. They say that the late Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier specially pricked the wax image of the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor with needles, as a result of which she was constantly sick …
True, with the help of a doll, you can not only harm a person, but also cure him of an illness. For example, if a patient's arm or leg is broken, a pupa is made, which initially lacks the corresponding limb. Then the missing arm or leg is made separately and attached to the doll. True, this is far from a simple ceremony with the use of special conspiracies and spells. But if it is carried out correctly, the limb will instantly grow together.
Promotional video:
Robert's curse
Many believe that an evil spirit or even a devil can enter the doll. Such stories are very popular.
Few people know that the series of films about the sinister doll Chucky "Child's Play" is based on a true story. In 1906, the maid gave little Robert Eugene Otto from Key West (Florida, USA) a boy doll, which was named after the young owner. It so happened that the maid was fired, and she hastily put a curse on the doll.
Soon the servants began to say that the doll was "alive": it supposedly could change its facial expression and independently move around the house, as well as talk! Still the doll seemed to giggle viciously … And little Robert began to wake up at night from nightmares tormenting him. Sometimes furniture fell in his room, and the boy always said that it was a doll.
Robert grew up and became a famous artist. He died in 1974, and the doll bearing the owner's name was placed in the Fort East Martello Museum. According to legend, anyone who dares to photograph her will be cursed, unless the doll nods his head in approval before shooting.
Demon named Annabelle
In 2013, James Wang's The Conjuring movie was released. According to the plot, a rag doll Annabelle, who finds herself in the dwelling of two young girls, turns their life into a nightmare. The picture is also based on real events that took place in the early 70s of the last century.
It all started when a girl named Donna, who was graduating from nursing courses, received a doll named Annie, purchased from a hand-made store, as a birthday present from her mother. Donna at this time rented an apartment with her friend Angie.
Donna "settled" Annie on her bed. Every evening, returning home, the girls found that the limbs of the doll change their position: for example, the arms were folded on their knees, and the legs were crossed. Once, instead of a bed, the toy was on an armchair by the front door. Another time - on the couch … Even in the apartment, notes began to appear in a crooked childish handwriting of various content. Sometimes sweets brought by unknown persons were discovered.
After the girls saw traces of blood on Annie's clothes and hands, they decided to turn to specialists in the field of the paranormal. The woman-medium held a seance and told them that the spirit of a seven-year-old girl named Annabel Higgins dwells in the house. She was found dead in a vacant lot that once stood on the site of this house. It was the spirit of Annabelle who possessed the doll.
Since then, the doll has been named Annabelle. The girls left her at home, but were soon forced to regret it: the doll began to terrorize their friend named Lowe, who strongly advised them to get rid of the toy. One day, the doll attacked Low and began to strangle him. On another occasion, bleeding scratches appeared under his shirt, as if from invisible claws …
Finally, Donna and Angie turned to practicing demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed stated that no Annabelle Higgins ever existed, she was pretending to be some kind of dangerous otherworldly entity, a demon.
After the exorcism ritual, the Warrens took Annabelle home and placed her in a special room for magical artifacts. Today, the doll is still there - it sits in a glass case with a sign that says "Do not open."
Bobblehead from the chest
About 10 years ago, a resident of Moscow - let's call him Nikolai Petrovich - bought a house in the Moscow region. For a while, the man was surprised at his luck - he managed to buy real estate practically for a song, and even in a good place! But soon Nikolai Petrovich and his wife began to feel somehow uncomfortable. The head of the family's heart began to fail. Trouble started at work. And the wife complained that some strange sounds were coming from the attic. The house was consecrated - it didn't help.
In the end, the owners decided to sell the house. Before the sale, Nikolai Petrovich began to disassemble the old rubbish in the attic and in one of the chests he found a baby doll dressed in the fashion of the middle of the last century. The glass eyes of the baby doll looked ominously at the man. Nikolai Petrovich felt a suffocation, fell to the floor … When he threw the doll away from him, it immediately became easier. At night, the man dreamed that a terrible baby doll was pulling doll hands to him, calling to him.
The next morning, going up to the attic, Nikolai Petrovich saw that the bobblehead, thrown on the floor yesterday, was dangling on a rope suspended from the ceiling, which someone had tied around his neck. But the owners did not do this, and no one else entered the house!
Subsequently, Nikolai Petrovich and his wife learned that their house once belonged to the director of a local factory. He raped the housekeeper, and she became pregnant. During childbirth, the woman died, giving birth to a mentally retarded girl. Her father and his wife kept her with them, but they kept her locked up in the attic, and her only toy was a bobblehead doll. When the girl was seven years old, she hanged herself on a beam. A year later, the director and his wife died in an accident, and a year later their son died of an incurable disease. The doll remained in the chest.
According to the psychic, to whom Nikolai Petrovich turned, the soul of the dead girl moved into the baby doll, and she brought misfortune to everyone. The psychic advised to immediately burn the toy. After that, everything in Nikolai Petrovich's life began to improve. True, he and his wife sold the house.
YouTube shepherdess
Recently Jennifer Johnson from the American city of Cleveland in Ohio, who is fond of collecting various "paranormal" items, acquired a doll depicting a shepherdess. The doll has green eyes, a hat on its head, and holds a staff in her hand. For some reason, the toy makes a depressing impression on people. The man who sold it to Jennifer said that the soul of 13-year-old Anne, who died of tuberculosis somewhere at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, entered the doll. The spirit allegedly wrote his story on a piece of paper while the owner was not at home.
Unfortunately, the matter was not limited to the letter. The doll itself turned its head, walked around the apartment, and sometimes the owner heard her laughing in an empty room.
Jennifer decided to check if there really was something unusual about Ann. To do this, she installed a camera in her house that broadcasts the doll's image on YouTube around the clock. Next to Ann is a clock and an electromagnetic detector. Some users claim that they saw how the doll turns its head, and the detector arrow begins to move at this time. Somehow the broadcast was suddenly interrupted, and soon Jennifer announced that she had found the camera disconnected from the outlet …
Dina KUNTSEVA