Haunted Toys

One particular investigation from my early years in the mid 1980s was of a small house in Woodland, California. The owners of the home, I'll call them Mr. and Mrs. Smith, had a four year old girl. The little girl claimed that some of her dolls walked all by themselves when the lights went out. She never actually saw them walk, but the location of the dolls changed from evening to morning. Mr. and Mrs. Smith felt the girl was moving them herself, but wanted me to investigate to confirm or deny this. It was an intriguing idea. The intent of most ghosts is to harm and alter life for the worst, yet here we have ghosts at play. Are ghosts capable of playing? Or was there a darker intent, one which required the guile and intellect of an investigator to discover?

I never saw the dolls move, but I did record the locations of the dolls once she fell asleep. I laid awake on her floor for several nights. And while I never saw or heard the dolls move, their location had changed as much as six feet by dawn. Because they did not believe their daughter, it was difficult to make them believe my report. I saw clearly what the ghosts were doing. Pitting a child against her parents was a ruthless tactic, one that promised to shape and mold the young child's mind as she grew older, evolving into a mean, cynical woman who could trust no one.

I was able to help the parents see this, and soon things went back to normal for them. The dolls stopped moving and I had new data for the Starlight Letters.


J.S.