Your Nightmares Have Come To Life: Minnesota Museum Hosts Creepy Doll Competition

If you thought the movie “Annabelle” was scary, try stepping into the History Center of Olmsted County in Rochester, Minnesota.

The museum hosted a creepy doll competition this month and in the spirit of it, is sharing pictures and videos of the hair-raising children’s toys on their various social media channels. Viewers took part in the competition by voting on which doll is the creepiest. On Monday, the center announced its 2019 winner on Facebook.

Curator Dan Nowakowski told Minnesota Public Radio that what makes the dolls in this haunted exhibit scary is their eyes. “We have some dolls that have moveable eyelids. And when you lift them up, they snap,” Nowakowski said. “You can hear the click from the eyes moving up.”

One doll in Nowakowski’s possession was made around 1880. This doll has actual human hair as he said it was common for dolls to be given human hair during that time.

Many of the dolls in the collection have come from several different sources and according to Nowakowski, haven’t been preserved well, until now. The mistreatment of these dolls is actually what makes them even more spine-chilling.

"Over time, paint cracks and peels if you don't manage it properly. Also then you have the kids playing with the dolls for a number of years, they get damaged. So we have some dolls that unfortunately have lost limbs,” he said. “But it goes with the story of the doll - that the doll was played with."

All of the creepy dolls from this competition will be on display in the History Center now through Dec. 1.