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It Knew How to Scare You
About the Doll
A lot of ghost stories are associated with dolls. You have to admit, ghosts and dolls are a creepy mix and make for good story telling. I had a very strange and scary incident with the clown doll pictured above. The background of this doll, as far as I know, is that it was given to my brother Tom (when he was a child) by one of my relatives when he was in the hospital. I don't know if it was new when he got it, but now it looks as if it had seen better days. Anyhow, it's a doll of the famous hobo clown Emmett Kelly. Clowns are scary in their own right... or at least I think so. My brother Tom outgrew it, but the doll was always here and there in the house. When my brother moved out, I kept the doll because it was kind of creepy and looked somewhat real. I'm drawn to strange items and do not want to part with this one in particular. The eyes look real and are made of some kind of glass or plastic. The skin is some type of rubber, which feels like real skin and looks as if it had dirtied with age. His clothes are a worn and tattered hobo vest and blue pants. Click here to see pictures of him.
A Scary Night Indeed
After years of seeing and hearing things in my old house, I was always alert. I used to sleep in the highest part of the house (in the front room) across from the room where most of the activity took place. Because of being across from one of the most active parts of the house, I used to put a board under my doorknob so it wouldn't open at night (since the door opened inwards). Before going to sleep, on a school night, I sat on my bunk bed (the bottom) and started to draw on my drawing pad. I had an eerie feeling as if someone had just stepped into my room. I looked around corner to corner as I always have when getting this feeling, but didn't notice anything moving or hear any odd sounds.
Looking across the room, I stared at the old Emmett Kelly clown doll, which was sitting in a little, red wooden, child's rocking chair. As I stared at the sad, scary glass eyes, I thought to myself "That has to be the scariest doll I've seen". I thought that it would make a great prop in a horror movie, or if it appeared at certain sites after a murder or catastrophe. After staring at the clown and letting my mind conjure up a lot of unnerving thoughts, I stood up and grabbed my Levi jacket off the top bunk, then slowly walked across the room to the doll. I placed the jacket on top of him so I wouldn't see his face or body (sorry, no Poltergeist story here). I headed back to my bottom bunk and pulled the covers up over my head so I could fall asleep. Before dozing off, I had a funny thought. I thought that if the clown was real that he would be pretty ticked off that I covered him up.
When my alarm clock woke me up in the morning, I rolled out of bed and walked over to my dresser to get a change of clothes. As I went over towards the door, I noticed something startling. My Levi jacket was on the floor and the little red rocking chair was empty!! I peered over at the door to see that the board was still under the doorknob, which meant that no one was in my room. The passage behind the drawers wasn't open either. Being in a panic, and barely believing what was happening, I did the unthinkable......... I looked under the bed. As I leaned down and started to lift the covers up off the floor, I began to feel incredibly nervous and weak. I didn't believe that dolls could move on their own, and still felt that way. Once I got up the guts, I looked under the bed to see the doll wasn't there. Being utterly puzzled, I stood to my feet. Once my eyes were level with the top bunk, I staggered back a few feet scared as heck. The clown was on the top bunk, face up!!!!
I stared at the clown for what had to be about five minutes. I couldn't believe this had happened and tried to come up with a logical reason. The only thing I could think of was the ghost. It may have seen me study the doll and might have noticed how it deeply disturbed me. Possibly seeing this, it may have thought it would be funny to use it to scare me. It defied all normal logic and the ghost was the only thing I could think of.
Ever since that day I have been strangely attached to that doll, but also find it to be one of the scariest items in the house.
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The House in the Early 70's | The House as it Appears Today | It Knew How to Scare You | Strange Stones | The Passage Behind the Wall | A Strange Hole in the Closet | Stories | Project Empty House | Other Sites