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Two years ago, while preparing to teach my fall Folklore of the Supernatural class, I looked up "haunted dolls" on eBay. A folklorist friend of mine had warned me never to order a haunted doll, even at a good price. "I'd never have one of those things in my house!" my friend had told me. Like the central character of the Grimms' tale "The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is," I could not resist the temptation to order a haunted doll. What harm could possibly come from this simple transaction?
Right away, I discovered an eBay ad placed by a Utah woman who had obtained three haunted dolls from an old house in Indiana. Her ad explained that the dolls had stolen family members' prked possessions, slammed doors, turned televisions on and off, and made rocking chairs rock by themselves. At night, she said, the dolls' owners heard eerie footsteps on the stairs. She seemed eager to sell the dolls quickly.
The dolls in the attached photo looked pretty and pleasant, with smiling faces, old-fashioned dresses, and white shoes. Two had dark hair; the third had red hair. I...