Pediophobia: The Fear of Dolls

[sorrowscall]

Accurately named, Pediophobia is the unreasonable fear of dolls. Haunted dolls, porcelein dolls, barbie dolls, you name it. I personally have a fear of the porcelain ones. I didn't have this fear until I found out the origin behind why porcelain dolls were made in the first place. Apparently, they are meant to capture evil souls! Well, the fear grew from there with real world stories about spooky cloth dolls like Robert or Annabelle. Even just mentioning those two names gives me the chills! Does anybody else here have an unreasonable fear of dolls?

 

[HappyKoi]

Clown dolls creep me out. It's like two scary things in one. I never played with dolls much as a kid- I preferred toy animals. That Twilight Zone episode with the doll still gives me chills!

 

[sorrowscall]

Clown dolls creep me out. It's like two scary things in one. I never played with dolls much as a kid- I preferred toy animals. That Twilight Zone episode with the doll still gives me chills!

You mean the one where the porcelain doll tries to knock off a paranoid husband in need of anger management or one of the two that use the same ventriloquist dummy?

 

[Alex]

When I saw the trailer for the film 'Annabelle' that was freaky and there is no way would watch it. As a child I would play with dolls, but some do look slightly scary and it's not that I believe they can be haunted, but there is a difference between old fashioned dolls and a Barbie.


My old landlady had a collection of freaky dolls and my friends when I moved in said she was known as the woman with dolls. They said it in a weird way, and I always said I never wanted to see them when she offered to show me. Maybe as antiques they would be interesting, but hey, i was in Salem, the witch city so somehow it seemed better to to say no to a viewing. I wasn't afraid, but I had no desire to see them and yes, the house did have active spirits.

 

[kgord]

There have been some scary movie and TV shows about dolls from Chucky to Bride of Chucky, going way back to the Twilight Zone with Talking Tina the murderous doll who had it in for Telly Savalas. I think dolls and clowns have been scary to kids and some adults for a long time. I can see where dolls would be scary to some. Let's not forget voodoo dolls in this category. They also are scary to those who see them I think.

 

[kelden]

Is quite a common phobia. It falls into a similar branch of phobias as fearing robots, shadows and animatronic creatures, because any of those things fit all the criterias to trigger a person's uncanny valley.


Dolls are creepy, especially older, cracked and broken ones, but whereas someone may shudder when looking at these pictures, those with the phobia will have a much larger, negative, reaction. Here's a disturbing example of uncanny valley and poor marketing choices (don't watch if you have pediophobia, you've been warned):

 

[Panic57]

Have to admit, I was expecting the ad to turn into a horror movie. What was with that face? My sister used to collect the porcelien and dedicated to a wall of them just propped up on their supports on the shelfs. I think she had about thirty-four dolls if I remember correctly. I personally could never play with my mom or sister's Barbies because they would creep me out, I could never place exactly why. I had horses that I played with instead or stuffed animals. I think part of the reason they can be so creepy is that the old ones would use human hair and I think that connection to use makes us think they could have part of our soul or come alive or something. Plus, there are multiple cases of possessed dolls around the world that you have to be respectful otherwise it will curse you. I couldn't make it through Toy Story because it creeped me out, Sid's Sister's dolls were creepy. I had issue with playing my toys after watching the movie. Don't even get me horror movies like Chucky, the trailers gave me nightmares forever.

 

[listener1987]

kelden and Panic57 - maybe posting triggering material in this thread isn't the best idea. Can you please edit your posts and remove the videos?


Panic57 if you have a fear of possessed dolls you can talk about it here, but please don't spread fear by telling everyone that some dolls are possessed. Can you remove that part of your post as well?


Thank you both!


EDIT: Spoke to kelden and removed his post so he can repost without the video.

 

[kelden]

Pediophobia is a relatively common phobia among others kind of anxiety disorders because it triggers the uncanny valley just like humanoid robots/androids and other stuff with human shapes do (anthropomorphic figures, statues etc.). If you don't know what uncanny valley is, it is the name of a phenomenon generally related to computer-generated figure or humanoid robot bearing a near-identical resemblance to a human being arouses a sense of unease or revulsion in a normal person viewing it.


Also, add the fact that dolls are a common resource used to inspire horror fiction genre and pop culture. Thereby is not difficult to grasp how these objects can be also subject of irrational fear in the unfortunate event they are associated with trauma. Actually, there's zero evidence that proves the existence of "hideous curses" or "haunted hexes" within a toy doll, those are just stories from people with a lively imagination that should have put effort into writing a horror novel instead of spreading hoaxes.

 

[explorerX7]

I can imagine how dolls like that of Chucky and his bride would give many persons the jitters but most people would not have a continuous fear of them . There is also the danger of hitherto unknown information having an effect either way on the reciepiant. This revelation about the porcelain dolls has really had a devastating effect on you. It's unfortunate that you have been afflicted this way but I am hoping that you may be able to find some intervention that would help you to overcome this fear.

 

[lexinonomous]

I am not afraid of every single doll I see, but porcelain dolls do a number on me. I am not a fan of porcelain dolls with glass eyes. One of my grandmother's favorite things to collect was porcelain dolls. She even went as far as to getting dolls made, inspired by the looks of her grandchildren. When I was a child, the "doll version" of myself was terrifying to me. I have memories of walking into her room and just waiting for it to pounce on me.


Jester dolls are really creepy to me. They are too happy for being such spooky looking creatures. The worst is when they are displayed in glass casing. For some reason that just makes them entirely worse.

 

[Panic57]

kelden and Panic57 - maybe posting triggering material in this thread isn't the best idea. Can you please edit your posts and remove the videos?
Panic57 if you have a fear of possessed dolls you can talk about it here, but please don't spread fear by telling everyone that some dolls are possessed. Can you remove that part of your post as well?


Thank you both!


EDIT: Spoke to kelden and removed his post so he can repost without the video.

I can't find my original post, so I can't correct it. I am sorry if I accidentally triggered anyone that wasn't my intention. Someone had mentioned voodoo dolls and I thought that part of the fear of dolls came from them being possessed. Or at least that's why I'm personally afraid of dolls. I could never understand how my sister could sleep with wall of thirty-four dolls overlooking her bed. Sorry again for posting the video, I'll be more mindful in the future.

 

[listener1987]

kelden and Panic57 - maybe posting triggering material in this thread isn't the best idea. Can you please edit your posts and remove the videos?
Panic57 if you have a fear of possessed dolls you can talk about it here, but please don't spread fear by telling everyone that some dolls are possessed. Can you remove that part of your post as well?


Thank you both!


EDIT: Spoke to kelden and removed his post so he can repost without the video.

I can't find my original post, so I can't correct it. I am sorry if I accidentally triggered anyone that wasn't my intention. Someone had mentioned voodoo dolls and I thought that part of the fear of dolls came from them being possessed. Or at least that's why I'm personally afraid of dolls. I could never understand how my sister could sleep with wall of thirty-four dolls overlooking her bed. Sorry again for posting the video, I'll be more mindful in the future.

Sorry, I ended up just deleting your post =/ Oh I absolutely know it wasn't your intention! Same with kelden - neither of you meant anything by it and you're totally fine!

 

[Laneorexorcist]

Really? I didn't knew that fact! It's so creepy... Another reason to be creeped out by porcelain dolls. When I was a little kid I used to love playing with regular dolls such as the Barbie ones, but I have to admit that they was something creepy about them... I actually used to turn them back to feel like I wasn't being stared by them. But the only ones that I really can't stand are the porcelain ones... They look so dead and empty!

 

[HiThere]

Me, personally, don't find anything disturbing in dolls, at least barbies and that kind of dolls. But dolls that are broken, old and, y'know, creepy in general, nope. You can say goodbye to me if you show me something like that. Also dolls with big glass eyes, nope again, and that's just mainly because it looks like it's watching me. I also realized that I managed to creep myself out somehow while writing this and I'm home alone. So goodbye, cruel world. All of my dolls (that I still have somewhere around the house) are brobably gonna kill me. (xD)   (But seriously, I'm literally in my bed just not wanting to get up 'til somebody gets home.) Also, sorry if there were any mistakes in my writing, English is not my native language.

 

[TheKnight]

I had a dream of a killer doll when I was younger actually. I was outside of my apartment buildings next to a pool at night. The doll jumped out of the bushes and just stared at me. I was frozen with fear. I kept staring at it until it started sprinting towards me. I woke up before it got to me and for years, I had a fear of dolls. 


I started to lose my fear when I watched the doll movies like Chucky and analyzed them more and realized how ridiculous it was. ''Who wouldn't be able to fight off a doll and why don't people just burn it alive?'' It was laughable and every time I started to fear the thought of a doll at night, I just think about those silly movies. 

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

I know that dolls can be very spooky for some especially if they have Pediophobia and there are plenty of people who have this and I know some of them personally. On the contrary, I love dolls! Particularly porcelain dolls (that was before though). When I was a kid, my godmother gave me a very beautiful porcelain doll. I spent my time just staring at it's beauty that sometimes I feel that it is staring back at me, which didn't scare me as I was a kid back then.

However, while growing up and being aware of freaky stuffs, my love of porcelain dolls began to fade. Well I still like them though, I mean they are beautiful and all but I can't keep them in my room wherein they face me when I sleep. I will be needing to just display them in the living room or in any place in the house where there are usually many people that can see it, since I'm afraid that it might move suddenly.

 

[TheKnight]

I know that dolls can be very spooky for some especially if they have Pediophobia and there are plenty of people who have this and I know some of them personally. On the contrary, I love dolls! Particularly porcelain dolls (that was before though). When I was a kid, my godmother gave me a very beautiful porcelain doll. I spent my time just staring at it's beauty that sometimes I feel that it is staring back at me, which didn't scare me as I was a kid back then.

However, while growing up and being aware of freaky stuffs, my love of porcelain dolls began to fade. Well I still like them though, I mean they are beautiful and all but I can't keep them in my room wherein they face me when I sleep. I will be needing to just display them in the living room or in any place in the house where there are usually many people that can see it, since I'm afraid that it might move suddenly.

I think we learn to fear stuff more when we grow up because we think about things a bit more than we did as children. Years of watching horror movies have engraved the thought of killer dolls into our minds. As we grow up, we start to experience the effect of the uncanny valley. Unless of course, we have nightmares of killer dolls as a child.

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

I think we learn to fear stuff more when we grow up because we think about things a bit more than we did as children. Years of watching horror movies have engraved the thought of killer dolls into our minds. As we grow up, we start to experience the effect of the uncanny valley. Unless of course, we have nightmares of killer dolls as a child.

Yes you are right. As a child, I do love dolls, a lot. Like I can see myself as them because they look adorable and beautiful. Since I was a little girl back then, I'm not yet aware about horror stuffs particularly dolls that can be creepy and scary. I just started to get scared (not that scared though) of dolls when I learned about Chuckie and some Victorian dolls that are cursed and could kill. That's all because we got aware and a lot of things fed us, especially the not so good ones that's why we developed fear.

 

[TheKnight]

Yes you are right. As a child, I do love dolls, a lot. Like I can see myself as them because they look adorable and beautiful. Since I was a little girl back then, I'm not yet aware about horror stuffs particularly dolls that can be creepy and scary. I just started to get scared (not that scared though) of dolls when I learned about Chuckie and some Victorian dolls that are cursed and could kill. That's all because we got aware and a lot of things fed us, especially the not so good ones that's why we developed fear.

I find that my fear of dolls can be overcome by watching the same scary movie that caused fear in the first place a few times. I study the situations and study the doll a bit more. In the end, I come up with the conclusion that the people that get outmatched by a doll are idiotic and that the doll just looks stupid. After a while, i just become annoyed by the actor's stupidity and the fear subsides.