Celebrity psychic buys ‘creepy’ doll in capital
◆ Toy went viral while sitting in Edinburgh charity shop window, writes Daniel Jae Webb
A‘creepy’ doll that terrified locals in a charity shop window has been bought – by a celebrity psychic.
The vintage toy was on sale at St Columba's Hospice shop in Morningside, Edinburgh. The doll went viral when a photograph was shared on social media, and shop staff were forced to add an “I’m not creepy” sign next to it in the window.
But ‘The Unexplained: Caught on Camera’ star Deborah Davies has purchased the doll to add to her growing collection.
She took a trip to Scotland to buy ‘Annabelle’ for £200, with the toy set to stay at her home in Cheshire.
Davies, who was in season two of The Real Housewives of Cheshire, told the BBC the doll would be “under 24-hour surveillance”.
She said her collection of about 70 other dolls live in her office. Some of the toys in the psychic’s collection cost as much as £10,000 each.
“As Edinburgh is one of the most haunted places in the UK with a wealth of history and this doll was causing people to not be able to sleep at night etc, I felt there may well be a soul attached to it,” Davies told Sky News.
“Especially as it was in Morningside, which is well documented to be haunted.
“I personally feel that the soul attached to this doll lost a child that looked very much the same as this doll.
“I feel it’s an old earthbound soul from that area.”
Charity shop boss Simone Varga said a former volunteer donated the item when she moved away from Edinburgh.
“When I opened the box I saw its creepy long legs and real shoes and then saw its eyes had pupils and its nails had the white bits on it,” she said. Ms Varga added: “I thought it looked very human.
“Then I saw on the back of its neck that it was an Ashton-drake Galleries doll, which are very expensive, so I priced it and put it in the window.”
Ms Varga originally priced the doll at £180, but reduced it when people labelled it ‘creepy’ online.
She said: “When everyone on social media started saying it was creepy, menacing and freaking out about it, I thought it’s not going to sell so I put the price down and put a sign on it saying ‘I’m not creepy’.”
The charity shop manager said as time went on, she started wondering whether the doll would come to life. She said the interest in the toy had been “absolutely mental”.
“It’s been terrible, my mind started running away,” she said.
“I kept thinking the shop door bell would ring and the doll would be standing there, so I kept looking over my shoulder.”
Some customers of the charity shop have said they believed the toy was a real child on entering the store.
Ewa Well, 41, from Ratho, made the mistake when she entered the shop with her mother Alice Drabarczyk.
“I had to have a peek closer because I thought it was real,” Ms Well told the BBC.