Positively Do Not Open
Haunted dolls are a cornerstone of folklore and popular culture. Our enduring fascination with them may stem from the fact that they occupy the uncanny valley, where their lifelike resemblance to humans both captivates and disturbs us. In this episode, I bring you the stories of Robert and Annabelle, two of the world’s most famous haunted dolls.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
Cover image: “Raggedy Ann Doll.” Photo by Prisencolinensinainciusol, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Music
Purple Planet - Ossuary
Purple Planet - Cobwebbed
Purple Planet - Constricted
Purple Planet - Darkness
Purple Planet - Sense of Loss
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Abridged ed. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1922.
Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny.” 1919. MIT.
“Katsiina Dolls.” Hopi Cultural Preservation Office. 2009.
Levine, Adam. “Tellers of Eerie Tales: ‘Ghostbusters’ Speak at Rutgers.” Gloucester County Times. October 30, 1987.
“Living Doll.” The Twilight Zone. Season 5. Episode 6. Directed by Richard C. Sarafian. Written by Jerry Sohl. November 1, 1963.
Looser, Christine E. and Thalia Wheatley. “The Tipping Point of Animacy: How, When, and Where We Perceive Life in a Face.” Psychological Science 21, no. 12 (2010): 1854-1862.
MacDorman, Karl F., Robert D. Green, Chin-Chang Ho, and Clinton T. Koch. “Too Real for Comfort? Uncanny Responses to Computer Generated Faces.” Computers in Human Behavior 25, no. 3 (2009): 695-710.
Mori, M. “The Uncanny Valley [from the Field].” IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 19, no. 2 (1970/2012): 98-100.
Pate, Alan S. Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 2005.
Ratajczyk, Dawid, Marcin Jukiewicz, and Pawel Lupkowski. “Evaluation of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis Based on Declared Emotional Response and Psychophysiological Reaction.” Bio-Algorithms and Med-Systems 15, no. 2 (2019).
Robert the Doll. https://robertthedoll.org.
Tinwell, Angela, Deborah Abdel Nabi, and John P. Charlton. “Perception of Psychopathy and the Uncanny Valley in Virtual Characters.” Computers in Human Behavior 29, no. 4 (2013): 1617-1625.
