Haunted Antique Porcelain Dolls

March 6, 2008

During my lifetime I have had several personal encounters with the paranormal, or supernatural as some people prefer to say. I shared this experience with several members of my family when I was about 12 revolved around a set of antique dolls. Although I was not the one who actually encountered the ghost I was there while it was going on.

My grandmother found a set of antique dolls somewhere and she bought them and brought them to her house. The bodies of the dolls were made of porcelain and their dresses and hats were a combination of silk and feathers.

She put the dolls into a large walk-in closet at the top of the stairs. My older sister lived with our grandparents, her bedroom was just next to the walk-in closet. Right away she started having nightmares. She also told us that she heard an old woman humming and a creaking noise like a rocking chair while she was trying to go to sleep. She prayed and tried to ignore it until she finally fell asleep, but when she did she had nightmares.

Naturally, the adults did not believe her. They said that she had only imagined it and it was natural for a child to have nightmares sometimes. She continued to hear the old woman and to have nightmares. We were all starting to get worried about her and, of course, my other sisters and I believed her. It seems that adults are often closed minded to the possibility of such things.

I should say that none of us made any kind of connection between the dolls and what my sister was experiencing. I remember seeing my grandmother bring the dolls in, but I never paid much attention or thought much about them. It was only later that a connection was discovered.

My grandmother attended a Pentecostal church. She had some people from the church get together during a service to pray for my older sister to try to stop her nightmares.

After the prayer one of the ministers came up to my grandmother and asked her if she had brought anything different into the house. He said that he felt like there was a spirit that was causing the problems. Naturally, she thought of the antique dolls and decided to remove them from her house.

To this day I do not know what she did with the dolls, but I do know that as soon as they were gone my sister stopped hearing the old woman and having the bad dreams.

Written by David Slone, Copyright 2008

Comments

45 Responses to “Haunted Antique Porcelain Dolls”

  1. cheyenne on March 7th, 2008 6:18 pm

    hello any body going to comment on that? besides me! it was scary!

  2. vonnie on March 7th, 2008 11:47 pm

    I had something like that happen to me when I was about 9yrs old with an old doll my Gram bought me. Only my doll would move from one spot to another. My parents never believed me, my brother did. I threw the doll away and everything was back to normal.

  3. Doris on March 9th, 2008 3:13 pm

    I have heard several stories of haunted dolls. I have had my dolls move when I was a kid. I do have a collection of porcelain dolls, and while they have never done anything, there were times when I lived in an apartment that I just could not look at them at night. Now that I have a house, my dolls are in different rooms than where I sleep.

  4. Briggs on March 11th, 2008 1:53 am

    I don’t know what it is about dolls, particularly antique and porcelain dolls, but they creep me right out.

  5. simone on March 11th, 2008 6:38 am

    Ugh…I think all dolls are creepy. Not sure why these things seem to be easy for spirits to attach themselves to, but it’s possibly because they are sort of like the golem of ancient lore. Dolls are a macabre representation of life….and are to easily used by any sort of spirit.

  6. yupi on March 11th, 2008 10:39 am

    Hmm… I think this is true but why would dolls have evil spirits in them, I don’t get it! But anyways I still believe it ?

  7. May on March 11th, 2008 12:05 pm

    a nice and freaky story but i liked it. I once had an antique doll and i had nightmares too! but i never had dreams about an old lady. Thanks for posting this =)

  8. aliza 17 on March 11th, 2008 2:17 pm

    wen i was little my dad bought me this huge teddy bear…anyway at night it would move and look at me…i was scared and told my sister, who i shared a room with, she told my parents…and after a while they believed me and threw it out! thank god! it still creeps me out thinking of it…

  9. allie on March 11th, 2008 3:43 pm

    omg! my aunt has tons of porcelain dolls… when i moved in with my grandma i took all of them and dumped them in my grandpas room! nice story…

    barbie is creepy too!

  10. HP on March 12th, 2008 1:21 am

    another not true story, sorry I find it too lame.

  11. The Caretaker on March 12th, 2008 1:25 am

    HP you are entitled to your opinion, but this story is absolutely true. I am the one who wrote it and I was there.

    Sorry you thought it was lame, but it is the truth.

  12. am, moo, and chrissy! on March 12th, 2008 3:52 am

    we were just hanging out and we decided to tell ghost stories.. when we ran out we decided to get on this website! and this is the first one we came to! great story and we agree that antique porcelain dolls creep all 3 of us out terribly!!!

  13. Jason on March 13th, 2008 4:43 pm

    Well with this story it sounds fake. BUT I can’t say anything because out of all of the experinces that I’ve had this has never happened to me. But i believe you if you say that it is true.

  14. The Caretaker on March 13th, 2008 9:53 pm

    Hi Jason. If it were not true maybe I could have made it sound more interesting or believable, but I have written it exactly how it happened.

  15. sharon on March 14th, 2008 3:45 am

    hey people totally creeped me out. i own a porcelain doll!!

  16. Nilda on March 18th, 2008 4:47 pm

    Now, having read this story about antique dolls I have my own story to tell. I have 3 of these antique Burmese marionettes I had bought in an antique shop a few years back and were hanging just above my bed. All 3 dolls were dressed as court jesters. Well, about a month ago, I had a terrible nightmare - I dreamt I was right in my bedroom sleeping when I felt 2 small hands trying to strangle me. I tried to shake them off vehemently until I woke up. Suddenly, I saw a light reflected on the wall next to my bed and in the light shadows were running from one end to the other end.. Once they reached the other end the light vanished.. I can only surmise they were evil spirits unleashed thru these dolls. I am not at all supertitious; I have always dismissed these things as rubbish but this isn’t the only nightmare I’ve had. I have thrown these dolls away and hopefully this should end the nightmares and I can look forward to a peaceful night.

  17. bj on March 18th, 2008 10:23 pm

    i had that once but i used a tongan plant to chase the spirit away.

  18. liz on March 18th, 2008 10:36 pm

    i hate porcelain dolls sooo much. they scare me. i remember my sister used to have these two creepy porcelain dolls, one with pig tails and the other with curly hair and a stupid hat, and at night time i always felt like they were staring at me (they were right across from my bed on our entertainment center).

    one day me and my cousin were playing Spit and tossing cards back and forth across the room, and we noticed the dolls standing side by side behind me, but then we went right back to the game, because it was heated, haha. we finished the game, and just as i was getting ready to go downstairs to dump my cup out and put it in the sink, i noticed the dolls again, but this time they were FACING eachother. it freaked me and my cousin out real bad. we ran really fast down the stairs and in the process i spilled my water all over the floor. no one took what we said seriously, in fact my mom was just angry because i’d gotten the floor wet. i didn’t arrange the dolls so that they would face eachother and im pretty sure my cousin didn’t either. that was around 8 years ago and he says that it still gives him the creeps thinking about it. same with me :| i hate the sight of porcelain dolls now.

  19. aliza 17 on March 19th, 2008 1:51 pm

    umm… bj? what the heck is a tongan? and this story is a bit cheesy… even though those dolls freak me out!!!

  20. The Caretaker on March 19th, 2008 6:24 pm

    Aliza, evidently the tongan he mentioned is some sort of plant. I searched Google, but couldnt find anything about the plant. It seems that Tonga is a Pacific Island.

    Too bad you thought th estory was cheesy :D sometimes the truth isnt as exciting as fiction - this story is 100% true

  21. aliza 17 on March 19th, 2008 7:28 pm

    yeah… i tried to go to ask.com and see what togan means but it said it was like a race or something… how wierd… and i do believe u… i just think the story wasnt scary. and i also think HP shouldnt say anything at all… if it isnt something nice.

  22. der on March 23rd, 2008 11:12 pm

    well i beleve it. i had a doll and i would wake up in the middle of the night and it wold just stare at every move i make.

  23. Jenxxx on March 24th, 2008 8:53 pm

    Woah! Creepy story! I have read so many doll stories lately, what’s up with me all of the sudden? Yes, I believe dolls can be possessed by spirits or demons. Thanks for sharing!

    p.s: Even though I never had a doll experience, I’m still afraid of them!!

  24. nva on March 25th, 2008 2:50 pm

    Ahem. I think you use the word ‘naturally’ a bit too often. I mean you used it twice in an eight paragraphed story. You could have substituted it with the phrase, ‘of course’ or ,’as usual’

    That’s all I have to say.

  25. MELANIE on March 28th, 2008 1:03 pm

    i do think your story is true. I had a doll that was dressed up as clown that my mom brought home to me. i hated that doll so much. i am totally into scary things and movies i still to this day have not found a movie that really scares me. but i got the doll around the time when it came out on tape. and i would face the doll to the wall every nite when i went to bed. and in the moring it would be facing my bed. i broke it and throw it away. still to this day i hate clowns with a passion no one can be that happy all time no one.

  26. VANESSA on April 5th, 2008 10:26 pm

    Are you seriously going to believe this, I mean they could be true at times but then other times they’re just making stuff up to get you scared. idk cause I have a doll collection and none of them even came alive

  27. Emma on April 6th, 2008 10:51 pm

    I believe it. I had a doll once that sat on my dresser new to my bed. One night I kept hearing this scraping noise, but I had my back to the doll and it never occured to me that the doll could be moving.

    Well in the morning, there were these deep scratches on the dresser from the doll stand and the doll was at least 6 inches away from where I kept it. I’m not saying that something else didn’t move the doll…but dolls still scare me because of that.

  28. billy on April 7th, 2008 3:03 pm

    this is funny stuff i watch the paranormal

  29. Brittney on April 9th, 2008 12:16 pm

    yo da same mess happened to me when I was about 7…i was living in chester in Va and I had a miniture doll…I know it seems crazy but everytime I would sit it somewhere like on the dresser at night it would would be beside me on my bed. I would ask my mom did she move it but she said no… i just brushed it off. But it kept happening everywhere i went it would follow me that creeped me out until one day i threw it away. but it came back in the weirdest way in my dreams

  30. batoul on April 9th, 2008 10:33 pm

    you know what i beleive you i didnt quite see this but my best friend emily had a pair of porcelein dolls and she told me this story once that her, her sister cathrine and her sisters frend emily were having a sleep over at my freinds house. emily and they were all doing the Ouija board sitting in circle and then they stopped and the frend emily that slept ovr said to the dolls throw something at me if youre alive and out of nowhere a stone hit her head and then they said do something to to the window if youre real then the window cracked and i even saw the crack and then my bestfreind emily said turn around and face us and she did. She ran downstairs and didnt sleep in that bedroom for a very long time

    ive even witnessed nasty things in that house. once i called emily when she was upstairs, i said pass me the knife please and she goes hold on babe im coming. when emily came down i said why didnt you get me the knife. she said what knife? i said the knife from upstairs you said yes hold on babe she goes bat are you going mad? i said emily you just said to me hold on man, im not dumb and also the same thing happened to her. she called her sister from upstairs to get her the charger and her sister said yes hold on let me come down. when emily saw her sister she goes wheres my charger catherine said you didnt tell me to get it emily said yes i did i swear to god and you said yes hold on lemme come down. that house was freaky and since theyve moved out her biger sister moved in and nothing happens now

  31. breeprin on April 11th, 2008 6:23 pm

    wow! I totally believe that this is true! weird things happen 2 mi all the time @ mi house. I know that there is ghost of some sort who likes 2 com and visit mi from time 2 time. its not a bad ghost either but just the thought scares mi. when I was bout 7yrs old mi and mi bff were in my room just talking and then out of nowhere mi easy bake stuff just started turning on! and those are run by batteries(cant remember how 2 spell it!) it freaked us out cuz they were in my closet on the top shelf! I was trying so hard not 2 cry cuz I was scared so I got up and went 2 turn the switch but it hadn’t moved! I freaked then my TV kept going on and off and I was still acting brave (tho I was VERY scared inside!!!) and I pulled the plug it turned on then off! then it stopped. mi and bff ran out 2 the kitchen and told mi mom she said we were lying! but we weren’t! I talked 2 mi mom later and she told mi there used 2 be a little boy who lived there but he died of cancer! I think the ghost was just trying 2 tell us that he was there! not 2 scare us cuz ever since he doesn’t do anything 2 crazy! also mi moms parents died and I know 4 a fact they come 2 visit mi! mi neighbors friend also lives in a hunted house. @ first it was a good sprit! then mi neighbor, nikki, stayed the night there and she had a dream. there was guy in her dream and he said that he would protect them. they were coming. thro salt around the doors everything will be ok! they didn’t thro the salt then a month later they heard harsh footsteps on the carpet, running water from the bathroom but when they checked nuthin! then they started 2 hear her baby cry and they would go 2 check on the baby but he would be sound asleep. I know that there is a evil sprit living there and they are just trying to make nikki’s friend go mad but sooner or later there gonna try and hurt her! thanks 2 the good sprit nothing way out of proportion has happen! you dont have 2 believe these stores but they actually happened! so I dont care!

  32. annabelle on April 14th, 2008 7:57 pm

    This is why I am terrified of dolls.They are to easy targets for spirits to take over.I dont own any and I never will.I see enough spirits now I dont need to have them in a doll at my house too.Creepy.

  33. shelby on April 17th, 2008 8:33 pm

    well, i own 4 porcelein dolls well i have a twin sister and she has 2 and i have 2 but 2 of them r very old and the other ones i got for christmas last year and i had them on my dresser and i would wake up and there mouths were moving and my twin said that she would see ther mouths move too.

  34. Jorge on April 18th, 2008 6:32 pm

    I believe you. I am very supersticial, and (although you can ridicule me for this) I believe in things such as shapeshifting and ghosts. I’m freaked out now because my sister has LITERALLY about fifty dolls. Not exactly porcelain but they are dolls.

  35. Rafail on April 20th, 2008 5:47 pm

    i agree the old porcelain dolls must be in museums cause they are so creepy they always watching YOU !!

  36. bri on April 23rd, 2008 8:47 pm

    that was freakin scary i had some dolls like that i could see them move bt i thought it was all in my mind!!!!!!1

  37. willz on April 26th, 2008 9:17 pm

    I think that was a really interesting story. I think that in life people can develop emotional bonds with an object, such as a doll, and when they die they still have an attachment to that object. From your story I believe that your older sister may have been sensitive to the ‘old lady’ that was haunting the doll.

  38. Viki on May 7th, 2008 11:51 am

    I hate porcelian dolls, they always seem to look at you in the night. I used to own a small one and had no problems with it, but when I was about 5 (in my old house), I had a sketch of a Winnie the Pooh scene, framed and hanging on my wall, and at night, i’d look at it, and the characters would be running around the scene and moving about. I told my parents and they didn’t believe me, but I moved the picture to the top of my wardrobe and didn’t look at it ever again. My Dad later told me that the house was haunted…..

  39. gigi on May 7th, 2008 4:29 pm

    this is so weird i knoe its true cuz my cussin haz one and one night i went to sleep over but when i did i felt some1 looking at me and i saw dat the doll started to stare at me so i prayed that it was my imagination but after i heard giggling.i tought it was my cusin butshe was in the bathroom. i started to sweat of nervousness and felt a huge pressure on me but of too much praying i fell asleep.The next day my cusin was sleeping in the floor.I asked her why and she said cuz you were sleeping wit my doll last night when i came to bed….I turned around and there it was with a huge freaky smile next to me.

  40. WoOp wOoP on May 8th, 2008 11:32 pm

    i totally belive ur story i had sumfing freaky happen to me to butt it was mt teddy bear so dis iz how it goes me and my mate were home alone and sitting on my bed talking and i had this dog teddy i chucked it on the ground so i could lie down on my bed after a couple ogf mintues my mate was like hay i thought you chucked that teddy off da bed i turned around and there it was right behind me on my bed looking strait at me i almost shat my self i still have the teddy and it creeps me out!!!!!

  41. Tiffani on May 13th, 2008 4:33 pm

    My Grandfather collects these things. He has ROOMS full of them. I actually added my own horrific experience to the ghost stories page…Go check it out

  42. Linda on May 15th, 2008 4:06 pm

    Wow! A very neat story indeed. I have believed in Ghosts for a long time. Even more so when attending two recent Funerals. Since I have felt the presence of two of my Friends there at their Funerals. One I actually saw the spirit orb at one, and the other I felt that the pew we were sitting in church had someone kicking it in back of us. — The weird thing is that people that were sitting in back of us were not close to us to make them kick the pew. — So who could have kicked the pew?

    I do believe that Dolls are haunted — that is if they are old enough, and have been in Haunted houses recently — they will for sure be haunted. I would only Buy the Dolls — IF you choose to buy a Haunted doll — Just buy the dolls that have GOOD Spirits– I wouldn’t suggest buying anything else but that kind of Spirit Doll.

    And on Ebay they have Haunted — Pictures, Dogs, YES DOGS! Well I have also experienced — Cold spots, warm spots, sweet smells of roses, and of course the smell as if something was dead in the room. I guess that is what those Haunted things smell like.

    While at the mall — Funny thing is that the Light flashed off and only a couple of Lights were ON! Scary but True.

    The Elevator door opened by its self and not by someone pressing the button.
    And there was a sound of a shreek in our car going up to the mall. Now what was that?

    I haven’t been to haunted place at night and I don’t know what I would do if I did go there at night. Has anyone done that?

    Anyway Have a great day all. Enjoy.

  43. dreama on May 16th, 2008 12:38 am

    i have dolls of my own and i think this is a make beleive story yall dont fall for it its all fake

  44. Natalie on May 17th, 2008 1:08 pm

    yeah, i used to have a large china doll dressed in white , and it always freaked me out. I swear it was haunted, because i had it on the chest of drawers on the otherside of the room, but sometimes i would wakeup in the morning and it would be standing up on the floor. Yes, STANDING. And I would sometimes hear noises and creaking now and again in the night.

  45. Viki on May 20th, 2008 8:15 am

    My friend told me that if you leave Barbie dolls out during the night and go to sleep, in the morning they turn their heads and will be looking at you when you wake up. This apparentley happened to her, but that’s happened to me now that I think. I now shut all my dolls away in a cupboard, and if I ever find my porcelian doll, i’m hiding it!

Got something to say?





     
GHOST HUNTING Learn how to be an effective paranormal investigator.
Free ghost story newsletter Free Newsletter
Get updates and ghost stuff in your inbox.