The Dollmaker’s Last Commission

In 1891, a French toymaker named Étienne Duval was commissioned by an aristocrat to create a doll “as lifelike as his late daughter.” Duval, obsessed with precision, studied anatomy, expressions, and even human hair. The doll was exquisite—too exquisite. The family marveled until they noticed it moved slightly when no one watched. Duval, consumed by guilt, returned to destroy it, only to find his workshop empty except for a note: “She preferred me to you.” Weeks later, police discovered the doll in a child’s bedroom—holding the girl’s locket, and smiling faintly.