Thursday, March 12, 2009

Things That Go Bump in the Night

In honor of the return of Supernatural from break (Yay!), and tomorrow being the second Friday the 13th this year, I've decided to do a post on two things that frightened me as a child.

1. Raggedy Ann and Andy


My grandmother made these dolls for me, and we still have them. They sit at a little kids table that my grandfather made, in our living room.

When I was little, they were my size. I could, and did, wear their clothes.

Now, I watched a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have as a kid. I liked watching things that weren't allowed, because it made me feel sneaky and clever and grown up. *achem*

I can't tell you what show it was, but it was something along the lines of Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. Something black and white and creepy. The *only* episode I remember is this one. There was a little kid, I can't even remember if it was a girl or a boy, though I think it was a girl, and she got a Raggedy Ann doll. And the doll was possessed, or alive somehow, and kept trying to kill the kid. You would watch it come to life, when no one was looking, and move around, chase after the kid, but then the kid would turn around and it would be flopped on the ground, unmoving, like it was just a doll. I don't remember what happened in the story, but I do remember the end of the show, with a Raggedy Ann doll in a 'museum' like setting, under glass, surrounded by other possessed items.

I was suddenly terrified that my Raggedy dolls were going to come to life and attack me! But I couldn't leave them out of my room, because they belonged in my room, and I couldn't explain that I was afraid, because I would have had to tell them why, and that would have gotten me into trouble. So, during the day, when I was at school, they sat in their place on my toy bench. But when I got home, I stuffed them into the toy bench and piled stuff on top so they couldn't get out. And they still creep me out, to this day. I've long since explained my aversion to them to my mother, and she thinks its funny, now. But, even knowing that they're not going to attack me, I have trouble walking by them in the dark.

2. Movie Monster Books

In elementary school, the library had a series of books that were the classic movie monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Blob, etc. They were the stories of the movies, with black and white pictures, I think. The books were thin, with bright orange covers, and a large black and white picutre of the monster of the book on the cover.

I loved these books, during the day.

At night, my imagination started running, and I was afraid that the monster was real, and was going to use the picture on the cover of the book as some sort of door, come to life, jump out of the picture, and get me.

So, my ingenious plan was: I took the books and propped them up in my window, with the picutre facing outside. That way, *if* the monster came to life, it would jump out of the window! And then I'd be safe because the monster would be outside of the house. :)

4 comments:

  1. I get a little nervous about those dolls too Amber. In fact, I used to wonder if they hated me and their manufacturer for being made into "rag" dolls. It was so much easier to but out the barbie dream house-LOL.

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  2. The book solution is BRILLIANT, I am impressed.

    I am afraid of dolls, as are most people I know. It's spooky seeing a tiny human figure.

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  3. Lisa,

    It's not just those dolls, though they give me *specific* willies. :) I'm not a big fan of people-shaped dolls. I refuse to have any in my room.

    Or pictures, really. I have one icon on my wall, and the Infant of Prague and a small Virgin Mary statues, but other than that...no. Still sort of concerned, in the lizard part of my brain, that they're *watching* me. :)

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  4. Sanil,

    *bows* Thank you, thank you.

    Of course, I could have just not checked the books out anymore, but during the day, they weren't scary. It was only at night that they became a problem. :)

    Dolls are creepy...I mean, if *I* was a ghost or a demon or whatnot, I'd possess a little human shaped doll before a stuffed animal.

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