Haunted eBay Dolls

eBay – books, perfume, dolls from hell? So many instances and stories of haunted items being sold on the auction site, but the veracity of most is impossible to prove. One popular item that seems to consistently both titillate and horrify people are haunted dolls.

Amanda the Doll is one such eBay purchase. We probably won’t ever know for sure if she was just hyped up to be creepy for the sale or if any of the anecdotes of her purported haunted activity actually happened, but she sure looks the part.

Designed by Heinrich Handwerk in 1884, the doll deserves respect for her age alone. She was sold on eBay in August 2003. This was the first of several sales because she crept freaking people the eff out.

IF she liked you, she’d stare off into space and daydream – kinda like me. But if she found something not to like about where she was living, she would move from room to room and bring all sorts of horrible luck to the people with whom she shared the home. Talk about a bad roommate.

She was placed under auction over and over, with former owners just saying that strange things were happening. I could only find one owner who shared her own experience. She started thinking about Amana obsessively and would talk to the doll and tell her secrets. She started having bad nightmares and once woke up feeling as if her feet were frozen. When she turned on the light, she discovered that they were blue and covered in scratches. This concerned her enough to call emergency services, but her feet returned to normal not long after. Paranormal investigator Reggie Jacobs claims that she’s not the sort of plaything you’d allow to be alone with your children.

She currently resides in Atlanta with Jacobs and is said to be unhappy in her current situation – trapped in a glass case. People purport to hear scratching sounds coming from within. She does not like being confined.

Bebe the Haunted Doll seems sort of unassuming, with her big blue eyes and fierce lashes – unless you’re creeped out by haunted dolls. I am. She’s crazy.

Paranormal investigator Janice Poole has a collection of over 25 creepy dolls and claims that Bebe is the most haunted of them all. She said that bringing Bebe into the mix created a sort of…feeling. Not good or bad, just different. She could immediately tell that there was a difference in the vibe. She claims there was an incident where she fainted and had a nightmare (of course) while checking out a noise in the attic. Among other scary things, she saw a little dead girl holding Bebe in her little zombie arms. When Janice came to, she felt the sensation of someone running by and when she looked up, there was Bebe.

She wants to bring her dolls on the road to conventions and claims “Bebe will steal the show and she will show the world what a haunted doll really is.”

Ummm - No, thanks.

Harold is purported to be the first haunted doll sold on eBay ever, by a guy trying to earn a quick buck by making up a story. The first auction fell through, but he ended up relisting it. It worked, mostly, because look at it – it’s the creepiest freaking doll in creepy doll history. It was sold to a family friend, Kathy, who was hoping to “flip” the doll and make a profit for herself.

Despite the confession by the guy who sold Harold that it was a load of crap, subsequent owners have reported that the doll, most likely created in the 1930’s, is prone to moving by itself and claims that people have received threatening glances from the doll, feeling like Harold wants them dead. It is said that the doll is more cursed than haunted.

I’m inclined to believe it.

The current owner has written a book about his experiences with Harold. If you go to the website for Harold, there are countless stories and experiences outlined. I’m a bit skeptical since everything has been based on making money, but it’s an interesting and creepy read.

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There are currently countless listings for creepy or haunted dolls all over the internet, on eBay and other sites. Though I'm fascinated by them, I'm really not sure that I would be able to actually have one in my house.

I imagine coming out of a deep sleep to hear the sound of tiny feet pit-pattering on the floor coming closer and closer to my bed and feeling the teeniest tug on the covers...