Aficionados of the campy 1968 sci-fi movie “Barbarella” – including The Chief – remember the scene where the title character is ambushed by a gallery of biting dolls. The “Chucky” movie series only solidified that dolls can be creepier than clowns. Coulrophobes might disagree, but people with serious mental anomalies can’t always be trusted. Including The Chief. And I’m one of the most disturbed people I’ve ever met!
The good folks in Olmsted County, Minnesota can surely identify. Since 2019, History Center of Olmsted County has staged a ‘Creepy Doll Contest’ that helps troubled souls encapsulate their worst nightmares. Looking at the critters from this year’s collection makes us wonder what sick fool thought dolls would be great as children’s toys.
But then again…maybe they weren’t so foolish.
Chief Writing Wolf 
I have not felt quite so…. creeped out in a fairly good while.
I know! I had to say a prayer and light some sage before I started writing that post.
🤣😂🤣
I wasn’t sure whether to “like” the post. The dolls are definitely creepy, particularly the one with the lit up eyes and the first ?cornstalk doll.
I will likely have strange dreams tonight! The Olmsted county (Nordic name noted) must have some weirded-out puritanical folks to come up with this contest.
P.S. you have changed your gravatar?!
Indeed, some dolls can be frightening. A friend of mine is something of a coulrophobe. He never found the movie “The Exorcist” frightening, but loathed “It”.
Just south of México City, there’s a place called “Isla de las Muñecas” (Island of the Dead Dolls). https://isladelasmunecas.com/
I almost don’t know what to make of something that macabre!
That is one island I won’t be visiting.
I’d agree, but I’m just too curious about the macabre and strange to stay away if I had the opportunity. Odd because I wouldn’t dare to visit East Texas, which is much closer to me! LOL!
Now that is funny. Is that the renegade aka bogan part of Texas?
You could say that. Even though I live in Northeast Texas, it seems most everything even further east – to the Arkansas and Louisiana state lines – is more rural and…shall I say…uncivilized. For most of the 20th century, the region had a reputation for bearing a number of “sundown towns” where non-Whites dared not visit after sundown. Throughout the 1980s and 90s that same area developed a reputation for anti-queer hate crimes. Even today it remains a hotbed of religious and political extremism.
Sundown towns sounds oppressive and frightening. It conjures up images of lynch mobs and so much hate and non acceptance. I wonder if the areas were colonised by particular hard line sects in colonial days?
The first European settlers anywhere in Texas were Spaniards. But I think the bulk of the current population is of Anglo-Irish or Nordic European extraction whose ancestors began arriving in large numbers somewhere around the start of the 19th century. Many of them also brought in Black slaves to work on their farms and plantations. East Texas is the far western edge of what’s known as the “Deep South”, which comprises the entire southeastern U.S. I’m sure there are some nice places and nice people out that way, but nothing is there that I care to see or visit.
I was just reading about the area on Wiki. It didn’t give a glowing report telling me that if I was a child and moved there, the chances of me becoming a violent criminal would be quite high. Something about it being the last place historically to succumb to law and as such criminals flocked to the area in past years.
Thus, you got a glimpse of what I know pretty much firsthand. I’m sure East Texas is a place even the most adventurous Australian wouldn’t want to visit.
I’ll cross that destination off my list. Although if truth be told, I would feel a bit of trepidation travelling solo in the US, but I feel safe doing so in Scandinavia.
I may be exaggerating about East Texas, but I understand your anxiety about traveling to the U.S. Our hostile political divisions and plethora of gun violence would make us look unattractive to foreigners. I tell people from outside of Texas that my Indian ancestors arrived in this land millennia ago and my Spanish ancestors entered in the 1580s. Thus, I’m not going anywhere!
As in any nation, the government gives it a bad name, while the average people – with their myriad spectacular cultural traditions – are actually more open-minded and accepting.
I am sure you are correct, of course. Of all the Americans I know well, none of them are frequently wielding guns around. Quite the contrary, really. Just like the generalisation that all Australians are open, friendly and hang out at the beach, surfing. I do not surf! But one side of my family has been here since the turn of the 19th century – seven generations of non-surfers! Ha ha! So yes, I wouldn’t want to go solo travelling around East Texas and the gun laws do worry me, but I am sure that if I travelled elsewhere to visit friends, I would only find friendly, open American folks that I could chat easily with. Just like yourself!
Yes, Amanda. You would be welcome!
Aw. Thank you! That is very kind!