UNSETTLING TOYS
Need to find a new home for a creepy doll? Help is at hand...
FT has periodically featured haunted dolls and other items (see, for example, FT326:1011), but Brian Jillson and Sara Derrickson have turned the problem into a business. Their Portland, Oregon, company Unsettling Toys provides a service that will remove and rehome any haunted, possessed, or just fundamentally unsettling toys that people might want to get rid of. Their website says:
“We appreciate that not every toy is suited for every family. A doll who changes rooms, or a fluffy bear who stares may be a delight to some, and a horror for others. We take pride in matching unsettling toys with people who appreciate their ‘quirks’.” They also offer substitution services saying: “In some cases, a child or pet may be attached to an unsettling toy that needs to be removed from the home. For this situation, we offer substitution services. When we pick up the unsettling toy, we will provide a comforting and fluffy substitution toy to help the child or pet with the change.” With every removal, they also promise to return and retrieve the creepy toy again if it “ends up coming back on its own volition.” okwhatever.org, 30 Oct 2019; boingboing.net, 6 Sept 2021; unsettlingtoys.com.