There have been movies that have had scenes of dolls coming to life and talking, and there have been entire films dedicated to them.  Either way, the intention is almost always to freak people out.  And it works, at least it is memorable.  As a child that scene in ‘Poltergeist‘ when the toy clown doll came to life and tried to kill the little boy scared the crap out of me.  I think it still does, that is such a lethal combination of creepiness: clowns and killer dolls.

Nobody will ever forget “Chucky” from the ‘Child’s Play‘ films, or even the evil minions from the ‘Puppet Master’ series of films.  But why do they scare people when everyone agrees that they aren’t real?  I’m no psychiatrist but I think I have an explanation for you.

The underlying cause of fear is that when we are young our innocent minds are full of wonder and optimism in the the world around us.  Most of us are nurtured to explore our imaginations and find joy & happiness in our exploration of this great big world that is so new to us.  Having imaginary friends made up of stuffed animals, action figures and dolls is commonplace for children to expand their social skills and there is nothing but innocence in our hearts.  As we get older, the world is realized to be a much more sinister place than we ever imagined, we start to hear noises in the dark that scare us and we begin a fear of the unknown.  What better target for us to lose faith in than our beloved friends, the little plastic people that have brought us so much joy and happiness in our times of exploration.  Our comfort becomes our nightmares when the lights go out.

A little girl’s doll collection in the daylight appears normal (well, still creepy to some) but when you take the comfort of the sun away and add in the ambient blue moonlight there is a noted change.  Shadows appear, facial expressions seem to change.  Those little glass eyes seem to follow you wherever you go, glossy and lifeless facial expressions smile back at you even when there is nothing happy about the situation.  It is sinister, it is creepy, your dolls are now watching you fall asleep waiting for their moment to strike back in revenge for all those tea parties that you made them suffer through.  And they hate tea parties.  They hate YOU.

You may try and hide them in your closet, but everyone knows that monsters live in the closet at night so you don’t dare go over there.  You may try to throw a blanket over them, covering up those lifeless stares so you can go to sleep in peace.  But the blanket may stir and move, and that would be even scarier.  So what do you do?   How can you possibly know that your doll isn’t going to come alive and kill you in your sleep?  The movies have showed you that it can happen, so why do you still have those dolls in your room?

However you choose to survive is your own path, your fate for survival depends on your ability to make quick, rational decisions to help you survive.  I am interested in hearing your stories, how did you manage to avoid attack up to this point in your life from killer dolls?  Did “G.I. Joe” stand guard for you?  Did “Teddy Ruxpin” take the night guard shift?  Did your “Care Bears” really care about you, or were they the masters of deception you always thought they were?

Share your survival stories on our Facebook page, or drop me a line in Twitter to start the discussion.
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