Haunted Objects

I think this one's going to be a short one for now, but in time this particular topic will be revisited. You'll see why in a second.

Over the past week I've been in the process of clearing some stuff out of my storage unit. Six or seven months ago someone was able to access my unit and left behind a massive rock collection and a huge pile of old Nerf guns. After discussing it with the property manager back when it happened, since nothing was missing, a determination was made that we'd wait and give them time to come get the stuff before I got rid of it. Finally, enough time had passed and I could divest myself of these unwanted acquisitions.

As it turns out, there was some cool stuff to be found amongst it all. As a practicing pagan (and lover of all things esoteric), I was very excited to find a pair of very distinctly shaped hagstones. If you aren't familiar with the term, they're stones with holes worn naturally through them. These hagstones are particularly large with wide, well-worn holes so they're very eye-catching.

Anyways, I didn't want to keep the vast majority of the stuff this trespasser had left behind (I simply didn't have room for it all) so I called around and eventually found an friend who was interested in the rock collection. Following an impromptu late night drop-off, he and his wife said they actually had something for me, as well.

I was presented with what they claimed was a haunted doll. Me being me, I was pretty excited at the prospect.

The doll in question. A big part of it being so off-putting to them (beyond dolls just being creepy to some people) is the lack of a very well-defined face, I think. All it really has are eyes (and they’re worried, no less). More and better photos will follow. This was taken as the doll was laid in my trunk that night.

According to them, the doll was a gift from their older neighbor. They have a few kids, so she thought they might appreciate it. The kids, in a word, didn’t. They were pretty apprehensive about it, actually. Their parents were, too. Not wanting, at the time, to just get rid of the gift, they set it on a shelf in their bedroom. According to them, they didn’t really like the vibes of the doll. It just felt… off. It had an overwhelming, and very hard to ignore, presence. My friend has always been an avid collector of strange things — according to him, his blood-letting bowls didn’t feel as bad to be around as this doll did.

While on a video call one day, he said the doll could be seen to fully straighten itself up behind him, as if it were trying to sit up more fully on the shelf they’d left it on. This was the final straw for them. When I came by that night, I had apparently presented an opportunity to them. Knowing my predilections and interests, here was an option to free themselves respectfully. They’d considered burning or destroying the doll but it just didn’t seem right to them — at least if I had it it would be gone and in the hands of someone who would take care of it no matter what it seemed to be or have attached to it.

I haven’t had the doll for long (just two or three days at this point). I want to say that, when they handed me the doll, I felt something within it. I’d like to say that I noticed some spark of something strange within it. To me, at this point, it just feels like a doll. That’s not to say that I don’t believe them. I just also know, mostly through reading the work of others in the field, that haunted objects don’t always present themselves fully for everyone. Beyond that, current research suggests haunted objects may not be haunted in the way that most people believe them to be. Perhaps, instead of having some spirit or entity attached to them, it’s us haunting these objects with our expectations and beliefs.

Here at GHPR we’ve been presented with an opportunity, then. This doll will be examined over the next few months. Any strange happenings or developments will be noted in the blog as they occur. We’ll explore the topic, take more photos, and probably even take it on an investigation or two.

If it wasn’t haunted already, surely it will be.

Stay weird!

-Scott

p.s.: Apparently this is something I do now? If you’ve got something haunted, send me a message through the contact form and we’ll work something out.