It's time to get dolled up.
Creepy dolls have been the focus of tons of books, horror movies, and haunted houses over the years. Even if you don't suffer from outright pediophobia – the debilitating fear of dolls – you've probably come across a doll or two that was at least a bit unnerving.
The thing is, dolls aren't meant to be creepy (at least, not usually). In fact, they're meant to be the opposite: fun, cute children's toys. So why are creepy dolls so scary?
Well, it's partly due to conditioning. Evil dolls are a hallmark of horror, and even if you're not into scary movies, you might still associate dolls with creepiness just from osmosis. Movies like The Conjuring, Child's Play, and Saw have cemented creepy dolls as a major part of the horror canon.
However, conditioning isn't the only thing that makes dolls scary. Some dolls also fall under the Uncanny Valley effect, where something that looks almost-but-not-quite human ends up being very creepy or disturbing. Especially when they're realistic-looking dolls, our brains have difficulty deciding whether to categorize dolls as humans or objects. It recognizes a face – something that should be human – but the doll isn't alive, and as a result we feel unnerved. The Uncanny Valley effect also applies to puppets, wax figures, automatons, and robots.
Interestingly, the Uncanny Valley effect isn't as present with children; those below the age of nine are less creeped out by dolls and other humanoid figures. This, as well as the long term conditioning, explains why many people who enjoyed playing with dolls as kids are creeped out by them as adults.
So, a large part of the reason we find dolls creepy is conditioning from films. That conditioning had to start somewhere – and that somewhere is the 1929 film The Great Gabbo, which tells the story of a man who can only express himself through ventriloquism.
Of course, a ventriloquist dummy is a little different than your traditional creepy doll. The first example of a more standard creepy doll onscreen is a 1963 Twilight Zone episode aptly named The Living Doll. The doll in this episode isn't necessarily the villain of the story, however; she's just trying to protect a little girl from her abusive stepfather.
Today, we have plenty of examples of iconic creepy dolls. Here's a fun quiz to find out which of those creepy dolls matches your personality.
What doll did you get? What dolls in movies or shows creep you out the most? Comment down below!
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