Creepy ‘Doll House’ draws crowds
Woodlands resident Ana Bosch doesn’t like dolls, but it’s hard to tell when looking at her house each October.
Every Halloween season, Bosch decorates several hundred dolls in grotesque makeup in her front yard, hanging them from trees and putting them in eerie poses at her Alden Bridge home. Bosch has been singlehandedly crafting the unique displays since 2018, and a growing number of fans eagerly await a new doll house exhibit each year.
Five Halloweens ago, Bosch found herself tired of the family’s more typical Halloween decorations and decided to look for more on Facebook Marketplace. She soon found two porcelain dolls for sale.
“I thought, ‘Oh my god, those dolls are horrible. They freak me out,’” Bosch said.
So Bosch bought the dolls and began scouring Houston for more. Before she knew it, she’d prepared 80 dolls for her first display.
Finding a creative outlet
Bosch now has more than 200 dolls, some of which were just dropped off in her yard, that she uses to create a new theme each year.
“My husband said, ‘This is crazy, you have to stop.’ I told him, ‘I’m too far in now,’” Bosch said.
Bosch is originally from Uruguay and moved to The Woodlands from Spain with her husband and two children 10 years ago. A former ICU nurse who can’t work in U.S. hospitals due to having a different nursing license, Bosch occupies her time with her family and projects — remodeling her home, creating art and fostering traumatized dogs.
Bosch began fostering dogs when she was six. Now, she serves as a last-chance home for dogs who have been abused, severely injured or put up for euthanasia due to aggression. She said she helps the dogs heal and build trust in humans before she finds them a permanent home.
“My favorites are fighting pit bulls. I love to see the change,” Bosch said. “I cannot work in a hospital, so I have my own hospital at home…in my neighborhood, they call me ‘The Doll Woman’ and The Dog Woman.’”
Decorating The Doll House became another one of her allconsuming projects. Come Halloween season, she can often be seen painting dolls’ faces and putting them in precarious positions around her yard, neighbor Janice Cazamias said.
“She’s just got this creativity and she thrives on it,” Cazamias said. “I’ve never seen anybody work that hard for no pay. It’s beautifully staged. If less is more, for her, more is more.”
‘Doll House’ an instant hit
The Doll House, as it’s now known, has become an instant hit for residents both within the tight-knit neighborhood and beyond. Even within Alden Bridge — the village perhaps most known for its holiday decorations — the display stands out for its scariness and attention to detail.
“It’s the antithesis of who she is…she’s a funny happy human being, but yet you see that side of her,” Cazamias said. “You think you see a doll 100 times and you look again and there’s a worm coming out of it. It can be disgusting, but it’s great. She’s great. That’s Halloween.”
Bosch’s home won Alden Bridge’s Halloween decoration contest in The Doll House’s first year. Bosch said she doesn’t do it for the notoriety but for the joy that she brings to the community.
“It’s for the kids,” Bosch said. “I was punching out the (dolls’) eyes, perming the hair, doing make up and the kids in my neighborhood, even babies that are two or three years old, they love it.”
Each year follows a different theme, like “Evil Nursery,” “Evil Dance Studio” or “Evil Twins.” This year, the theme is “Evil Lemonade Stand.” Visitors can enjoy “bloody” lemonade and “poisoned” cookies from living dolls — Bosch’s children dressed in costume — every Friday and Saturday before taking a turn down the Doll Trail she debuted this year.
Bosch said she welcomes new visitors just about every day through Halloween, sometimes well into the night. Visitors should just be careful to watch where they step — now that Bosch’s children are older, they often hide in the bushes to scare residents, which Bosch said makes for entertaining Ring camera footage.
“It’s for the benefit of the neighborhood and all of the kids…people are driving in here to go and walk through it,” Cazamias said. “The generosity of spirit that it takes to put something like this on for your neighborhood and for its children, it really is commendable.”