Haunted Dolls: The Truth Behind Annabelle and the Island of the Dolls

SPEAKER_00 0:00

On this week's episode of Whispers from the Mist, Conversations from the Spiritual Byway, today we are going to take a closer look at two of the world's most famous haunted doll legends. We'll explore the story of Annabelle and then travel to the eerie island of dolls, a place that, well, if I'm being honest, I don't think I'd ever have the courage to visit. Together, we're going to separate history from legend and we're going to share our thoughts along the way. So let's continue this conversation along the spiritual byway.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Anyways, we have Michelle.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Hi, Stacy. I love that introduction.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I it just kind of blew out of my mouth because we're kind of revisiting what we talked about last week. And so I feel like, in a way, we brought some spirits with us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Well, the dolls that we're going to be talking about today do have a unique presence around each of them. And they are some well-known haunted dolls that we are going to do a little bit of a deep dive into. We're going to share their story, their origin story, what makes them so interesting. Because they're not all terrifying, but what makes them so interesting. I like that word better.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah. So what I'm excited about is you and I both kind of came up with a list of dolls, and you took three, and I took two. So I think I'm going to throw you out there because I know that there's one that you want to dive into. So I'm going to throw you under the bus and let's dive into one of your stories first.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

And I'm struggling to decide between the two, but I think I'm going to share the most well-known haunted doll story. And that is the story of Annabelle. Not what you've seen on the big screen, but the actual story behind the legend of who Annabelle is.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

You know, I I know I've heard of Annabelle, but I actually don't know if I even know her background story. So I'm kind of excited.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Okay. Well, I've written it out, so I'm going to kind of follow my outline so I don't leave out anything. But you're going to find her fascinating. I'm excited. I'm so excited because I get to meet her in like a month, very respectfully, because she does come with a warning on the outside of the glass container they keep her in. And I will be respectful of that. And I know that before even going in. So with that, I'm going to share the story of Annabelle. I'm excited. Now, unlike the movies, the real Annabelle was not a cracked porcelain doll with glowing eyes. She, in fact, is just an ordinary raggedy and doll. And for me, I get a little unsettled knowing that because raggedy and dolls were a comforting part of my own childhood.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

They were. Everybody had a raggedy and doll at some point in time. Let's be completely honest.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

And you had to wonder were they brother's sister? Were they married? How were they related? Maybe you didn't go that deep. I did.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Oh, 100%. But I typically like, I was convinced that they were married, so I would have weddings for them, but that's neither here nor there.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Okay, I love it. Well, the story I'm going to share begins in the early 1970s when a young nursing student named Donna received the Raggedy Ann doll as a gift from her mother. Donna lived with her roommate Angie in Hartford, Connecticut. And Annabelle lived there too. And at first she seemed like any other doll. She sat on a bed or in a chair. She just was quiet decoration of the apartment they lived in. However, before too long, the roommates began noticing small little things. They would leave Annabelle in one place and they'd later find her sitting somewhere else in the apartment. Or they would leave her in one position and they would come back and she would be in another position. I did hear a story that they walked in the room one time and she was standing up. She's a rag doll. That would be terrifying. And how? In how. And how does that happen? Anyhow, when she started moving around, at first the roommates just kind of laughed it off. They would say, Oh, you must have moved it and forgot about it, or maybe I moved it and forgot about it. I mean, how many times have we done that with our own spiritual experiences? So then from there, handwritten notes began appearing around the apartment. And they were written on parchment paper, but neither of the ladies owned parchment paper. And they would have simple messages on them, such as miss me or help me. Oh no, thank you. Yeah, that does not sound fun. And I think it was written in crayon. I mean, there are different versions of the story, but I did my research in many different areas, and this is a story I came up with, or the one that resonated most with me. But if it differs slightly from the lore of, it's just there's so many different versions.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

There are so and and there it's been retold so many times too that that you are going to get a different version no matter where you look, anyways. So but I I don't know, face I know I know you've got more to the story. There's more coming. And and and I'm not trying to interrupt you by any means. I'm just thinking about this inanimate object in my home, you know, that was a gift to me, and then all of a sudden finding it in different positions and parchment paper. And and parchment paper is such a very specific thing. Right. And it's not something that you would find easily either, which so like that's fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

It's incredibly fascinating. And if I think about it, do I even have parchment paper in my kitchen right now? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

I mean, I don't really think parchment paper is necessarily made.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

You can get special notebooks made of it, but it's not Oh, I was thinking of the kitchen parchment paper where like if you're cooking and the non stick, that's what I was thinking of. Oh, I didn't even think of that.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

That that is, I I do have parchment paper in my kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah. But still is that the paper? Is that the paper that she was writing on? I don't know, but it said parchment paper, so very strange. With that in mind, I'm now gonna talk about Donna's friend Lou. And Lou was her boyfriend, I believed, and he never ever trusted the doll. There are several different accounts of what happened next, but one commonly repeated version says Lou experienced a terrifying dream that involved Annabelle. And shortly afterwards, he reportedly discovered seven claw-like scratches across his chest that he could not explain. No, thank you. And he would look at Annabelle and be like, you're just a doll. You couldn't do that. So he would challenge her, and she was not a fan of that. So at this point, they realized they were dealing with something that they did not understand. So Donna and Angie sought help from a psychic medium. The psychic did believe that the doll was associated with the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins. Now, Annabelle Higgins, again, a little girl, supposedly died on the property years before the apartment complex went up. So, what do Donna and Angie do? They're nurses, and what are their hearts filled with compassion? So when they believe that this doll is just a lonely child, they agree to let the spirit stay in the doll and in their apartment.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Oh no, no. Well, I mean, I understand. I do understand.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Ugh, that's a What would you do? I mean, if you have this cute little doll, and then you hear this story about this little girl who just wants to be loved and doesn't want to be lonely, I might let it stay. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Uh, you know, and that's the thing. That's why that's such a hard, hard question, is because there's this this on the one hand, if it's not hurting anything and it wants to, you know, continue to experience the world, I would want to give it the experiences it's asking for. But on the other hand, how do you rein in a spirit that has already caused pain?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Exactly. And this has me thinking two things. One is about the lore around vampires and needing to invite them into your house. And once you do, it amplifies their power there. That kind of sounds like what happens with this doll. She got then invited into the house, and the people saw her for being one thing when she was actually another. They couldn't really see the difference. And it also reminds me of the Sally house and the legend of the little girl Sally. And when they had a psychic come in, they said it's just a little girl who died. And the mother that moved into that house started to form that attachment. But was she really just a little girl? Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Well, I am going back to something that you just said for a moment because this came up in conversation yesterday. You're talking about vampires. We're gonna have to do an episode on them at some point in time. Oh, definitely. But I was scrolling on the internet the other day and I read this question, and now you're making me want to share this. So this is a little bit of a side tangent, but this is what we do. If you own your property, you have to give a vampire permission to come in, correct? And it amplifies their their experience, right? Yes, that's my understanding. So what happens when you rent a property? Do you have to get the landlord's permission?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

I I know that's just awkward silence, but I don't know the answer. Is that you'd have to get the permission of whoever was currently living? Residing? Because they're legal tenants?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Isn't that like I read this and I was like, that's an interesting interesting little thing. Excuse me, ma'am. I'd like to come into your home. Can you get a letter from your landlord for me to be invited in?

SPEAKER_00 11:07

That is crazy. I never would have thought of that. But what do you think, listeners? Like, let us know what you think about this. Do you think a vampire would need the permission of a landlord to enter a property?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

It's an interesting little thing. Just wanted to throw that out there because we were talking about it yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Well, I'm happy you did. Yeah. But, anyways, back to Annabelle. Yeah, anyways, back to Annabelle. So they invite this doll into their home and they're settled thinking she's a little girl. And they think, okay, well, things are now gonna calm down. But of course, they don't. They amplify. Uh yeah. So they then contacted a pastor, and I believe his name was Richard Nolan, who eventually was the one that reached out to Ed and Lorraine Warren. And that's when they become involved in the story. After investigating, the Warrens reached a completely different conclusion than the psychic medium. And I recall seeing a video, and I believe Ed was just like, why would they believe him? Like sort of thing. That's what I'm recalling right now. So he was kind of like, why did they go to the psychic medium? Because she gave him really bad information. But the Warrens believed that the women were not communicating with the spirit of a child, but with an inhuman entity pretending to be a little girl in order to gain their trust. Now, Ed Warren often explained that in his view, spirits do not possess dolls. Rather, they manipulate objects and attempt to in an attempt to influence the people around them.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

That is actually a really solid theory.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah. It was he's a fascinating man. And again, in a future episode, coming very soon, we're going to talk about them a little more in depth. According to the Warrens, they then removed Annabelle from the apartment. On the drive home, they claimed that they were having unusual vehicle problems. So on the way home, he stopped and he prayed for the doll and sprinkled it with holy water. Now, as a side note, whenever I go into a haunted location or I'm getting ready to go into the haunt into a haunted location, I have car trouble. I have dinging. You have screaming. I have any obstacles. That's so interesting. Yeah, I just had to put that in there because these are the things that bring stories full circle for me and maybe help in my own belief of what's happening and seeing that pattern because it's a pattern that other people hear.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

So I had not even thought about that. That's I'm glad you I'm glad you pointed it out because you and I have talked on many occasions.

unknown 13:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Either to or from a haunted location, you have had something weird happening in the vehicle. Seatbelt button thing go off when nobody's sitting in the seat, things kind of along those lines. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah. So crazy. Yeah, interesting. I just had to point that out. So initially, Annabelle reportedly just sat in a rocking chair in the Warren's Museum, where I think it's important to share right here, the Warren's Museum is connected to their personal home. So it's just in a neighborhood. So basically, Annabelle is living in their home on a rocking chair in their basement. Over time, stories started to circulate about different visitors who would come into the house and they would mock or they would challenge Annabelle. Two of the most frequently reported accounts involve men. One was Father Bill, who reportedly questioned the doll before later being involved in a serious automobile accident, in which his new automobile was total and he ended up with a broken arm. Now, I did hear one account, and I believe it was Chris McKennell, the Warren's grandson, who shared his version of this. But this man came into the house, kind of challenged Annabelle, kind of said, You're just a little doll. And, you know, Ed Warren's like, hey, I wouldn't be talking down to it like that. And then he left the house, and as he was driving down the road, he saw a bright light. And the last thing he remembers is seeing Annabelle's face before crashing his car.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

You know, it that's such a hard, hard connection to draw directly, though, too. Because did Annabelle influence it, or did he just draw that connection because of the experience and it was not great? So it was easier to say it was Annabelle than something else. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Sorry. No, that's that's okay. That's why we're here to talk about things, to discern things. But that is the legend that he saw the face and he crashed. Luckily, he survived. However, gentlemen and his girlfriend came to the museum in which he was tapping on the glass when she was finally put in her box. So I think that happened with the father. They're like, oh, she's got some powers here. We need to put her in a safety box with like the special glass and blessings and a sign in front of it that basically says, absolutely do not open. She made Lorraine Warren so uncomfortable that Lorraine would never even look her in the eye. And Lorraine was a psychic medium. So, but the other case that happened is a gentleman and his girlfriend came, they visited the museum, he tapped on the glass, he mocked Annabelle, and when they left the museum, they crashed and both died.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Oh, wow. Yeah. Do you have the reasoning or the a little bit of the history on the why they put her behind the glass? What was happening that made them put her behind the glass?

SPEAKER_00 17:14

You know, I was thinking about that. And that's why I'm like, I think after the father coming, that's maybe when they put her in the glass. But with Ed and Lorraine Warren and the timeline of Annabelle, she only came into the picture about 20 years after they had started doing what they were doing, but very early on in them collecting haunted objects. So they probably in the beginning really didn't know how to work with haunted objects. Or that each haunted object needed special consideration. Right. And when things kept happening, whether they were directly related to Annabelle or not, they put her in the box.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

So did they not open it recently, though? Uh it's been traveling recently. Yes. And it's been also connected with other, I'm gonna say deaths at this point in time. It and maybe not directly, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Fires. It's been connected to fires. It's also been connected to, and they've proved it different. I don't have his name with me right now, but her handler, he did end up dying while he was on tour with her. He died of natural causes. They say it absolutely had nothing to do with Annabelle, but it is a death associated with her traveling. But again, I want to state natural causes not attributed to Annabelle by anyone involved in that industry. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

So I'm I'm just very curious as to not just what is so special about the box, but what really led them to choosing to put her in it if it was the incident of him of the car accident and him breaking his arm, and supposed, you know, I'm gonna say allegedly seeing her face, or was were things happening in their home that they started saying, you know, we need to not just protect ourselves, but protect innocent individuals who are coming through our museum from this entity, whatever it may be. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Interesting. I'll see if I can do a little more research. I am going to share the this place where you can get so many videos on the Warrens. It'll be in our show notes. Um, so look there for it. But Chris McKinnell, their grandson, he does a really good job keeping their legacy alive. He talks about how his grandfather trained him, and we'll get into this in the episode when we talk about the Warrens. It's very fascinating. I mean, and he he does story, like this is who they were, this is who they were as grandparents, this is what they taught me, these are their cases. And then he breaks them down. So he's got a lot of information out there. It's really cool. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

So I'll get back to the story real quick. You know, so we have the pastor with the car that crashed, we have the motorcycle incident. These stories, these stories are part of the Warren tradition surrounding Annabelle, though they have not been independently verified, just so we know. Eventually the doll was placed in the now famous wooden and glass case bearing the warning positively, do not open. Lorraine Warren reportedly treated Annabelle with great caution throughout her life, reinforcing how seriously she regarded the case. Whether you view Annabelle as folklore, a paranormal case, or simply one of the most famous ghost stories, her legend continues to raise fascinating questions about belief, discernment, compassion, and why an ordinary Raggedy Ann doll became one of the world's most recognizable paranormal artifacts. And that is the story of Annabelle.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

That is, it's really interesting. I feel like we we kind of went off on our own tangents for that. But that it's really interesting to kind of learn more about Annabelle and the start, you know, because you have this kind of I don't want to say innocent beginning, but where she's associated with this little girl, supposedly, that just, you know, wants to be loved. And two nurses, nursing students, are like, yeah, that's what we do. We love people that need love into this spiritual entity that likes to cause pain. It's really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Yeah. Well, that is the story of Annabelle. And I know we interjected some of our thoughts, but that's what we're supposed to do because that brings it all full circle. And we have these conversations for that reason, not only to help us work through out, work through things, but also. To help our listeners.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

So I guess the question is: do you think we should stick with the storyline of a single doll, or should we look at an island of dolls next?

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Why don't we look at the island of dolls next? All right. Let me pull up my story. I am fascinated and terrified by the idea of there being a place where there are just thousands of dolls.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Well, I have this kind of written it out in like a story, a story form. The island of dolls is known as Isla de las Muñecas. So I apologize if I butcher that to everybody that might speak Spanish better than me. But the island of dolls. You ready to diamond? Have you ever heard of a place so unsettling that even the locals avoid it? Hidden deep within the canals of Island of the Dolls is one of the creepiest places on earth. As you drift through the trees, hundreds, some say thousands of old dogs hang from branches, some missing eyes. Missing limbs, they're faded faces staring silently in every direction. Am I setting a stage here? Is this helping? There are. Yeah. You're like, Michelle just like turned away from the camera, just so everybody knows that. They're missing eyes, limbs, faded faces staring from every direction. The wind makes them sway just enough to make you wonder, are they moving on their own, or is it just because of the airflow?

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Are they moving on their own? Is the sound I heard an owl or the wind? Or is it talking to me? No, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yep. Um, so the legend actually begins with a man named Don Julian Santana Barrera. And again, butchering Spanish here. I apologize to everybody. According to the story, he discovered the body of a young girl who had drowned in a canal near his home. Soon afterward, he found a doll floating in the same water. Believing it belonged to the little girl and fearing her spirit still lingered, he hung the doll on a tree as a sign of respect for this little girl. And that was just kind of the beginning. Don Julian claimed he started hearing whispers in the darkness. He felt unseen eyes watching him and believed the girl's spirit wanted more dolls to keep her company. So for decades, he collected discarded dolls from trash piles, canals, and even generous visitors, because there are some newer dolls on the island. Every one of them found a home hanging from the trees. So the island slowly started to transform into this surreal forest of cracked porcelain faces and tangled hair. I just want you to take a moment and just visualize that. Oh, I have been. Visitors have reported actually hearing whispers, seeing the doll's eyes follow them, and even claiming the dolls blink or move when no one is watching. Whether it's an imagination or something stranger, is anyone's guess. Then came a twist that turned a haunting legend into an enduring mystery. In 2001, Don Hollion was found dead in the very same canal where he supposedly, well, where he is said to actually found the little girl that drowned years earlier. Some believed that it was simply a tragic accident, while others insisted the spirit he'd spent decades trying to appease had finally come to claim him. Today, the island of dolls has become a destination for ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, and curious travels from around the world. Skeptics see weathered toys and heartbreaking local legend, believers see something much different. So it's you know, the next time you see an old doll staring from a dusty shelf, you might want to think twice before looking away. Because if the stories from the island of dolls are true, sometimes the dolls are actually looking back.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Like that's gonna give me a nightmare.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Well, it it's an interesting thing, and I know I just shared it in in in of the way I was able to find it, but this gentleman, he found this doll and associated it so closely with the spirit of another little girl that he felt needed to be loved. So he spent years just trying to honor this little girl's memory. And I mean, was it a little girl? Or again, are we stepping into that spiritual entity? Like look at things where it there's more control or there's more happening underneath the surface that we don't even realize. Very similar to Annabelle. And I think that is what makes this one a little interesting.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Well, it's a lot interesting, and I know people spend a lot of money to go have an experience there. Do you know if there's like a hotel where people can stay, or is it just like a day trip? They just go in, they have their experience, they come out.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

You know, I'm actually gonna look that up this very second because I I I didn't recall even reading anything about that.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

I know I that is a tour I'm not going to go on.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

She's like, I'm telling you right now, that is not life happening here.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

No, as you were giving the description, I was seeing it in my mind's eye, and how unsettling it must be to come around the bend and see all of these dolls hanging from a tree.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

I would just picture like people hanging from trees or like so it says no, there are no hotels directly on the island. The island is remote and protected floating, it's a remote and protected floating garden and is only accessible by boat. But you can stay in quality hotels nearby and take a day trip to the island. Yeah, not this. But would you want to? Is that is that something that you would want to? I mean, I know you just said you would absolutely not go there, but I guess even in my mind, and there are pictures that you can look up online of this island that is that has all of these dolls hanging from trees. What would that feel like?

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Well, I can tell you what I'm feeling just hearing the description. Like I'm feeling held back right now. And I don't know, like, you're not going there. Like I'm hearing that, and it is almost visceral. Like, there is no way you're doing that. You're not going there and take it out of your mind. And I've gone into the Belisca Axe House, I've gone into the Sally house, I've gone into haunted locations, I'm not going there.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Well, it it it almost feels like it's not just a I'm gonna say it's not just the setup for a horror story, but it almost feels like you are setting yourself up for, you know, bringing something home that you don't necessarily want.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Bringing something home or having an experience that is just overwhelming. I imagine it, and I'm just going off of what I'm hearing inside my head, it being very noisy and very loud, even though it's silent, even though it's quiet and there's the wind that's moving the dolls. I just it, I mean, I'm physically just.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

It's almost like you uh you it's almost like you have a visceral response just thinking about it. And it's an interesting way that you just explained that too, because as soon as you said you imagine it, it's very loud, but it's actually physically quiet. That's exactly what it feels like to me being in spaces that that are haunted, is when I walk in, it's very loud, but nobody can hear it except it's it's this, I don't want to say screaming inside my head, but it's so loud that it's overwhelming.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

That is what I'm feeling right now. Like going into as an empath, going into a crowded environment where you can't move and you're feeling claustrophobic like that. Yep. Yeah. In a place that's quiet.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

I wouldn't even be able to focus. I don't even think I'd be able to look up from my pen and paper and just picturing in a boat coming around there and that coming into view. No, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Hard pass on that. Yeah. You know, I I would I would I go. I probably would. I probably would travel, take a day trip to that island if I was presented with the opportunity. Only because, you know, I I experiences, you know, we are here for experiences. But I don't even think I would want to do more than half an hour on that island. I don't know if I could do more than half an hour on that island. It would be like, okay, we're going out there and I'm turning around and coming right back. Like it there would be no, let's stay for an hour and chill and explore. It would be like, nope, I'm here, okay. Bye. Because I can almost feel how loud it actually would be.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

And I'm thinking about it, and maybe I'll take a baby step. I'm never going there, but maybe I will watch the episode of Ghost Adventures with Zach Begins, in which he did go to that island and just get a little bit of a glimpse of what it's like. We should always confront our fears and we shouldn't be fearful of anything. So maybe I'll start there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

And maybe who knows? Maybe it'll make you want to go and visit one day.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Let's not push it, but you never know. But so my original question, and I think you answered it, is it started with one doll, and then he felt bad it was alone. So he's the one that went and brought more dolls and hung them in the tree so she wouldn't be alone, or that spirit wouldn't be alone.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

So my understanding is it wasn't just him, but visitors to the island gifted dolls as well. And he did it so that she would have play playmates, because he he believed that this, the spirit of this, this young, young girl that that passed away, that drowned, was unsettled and alone. So when he found the doll, he hung it initially just to honor her and her memory, but then felt that she was lonely and needed more. And I'm just gonna say needed more, needed more companionship, needed more things. And and like what was interesting is is generous visitors that go to the island off the tons, they will still today bring dolls to hang on the trees. So there are dolls everywhere on this island.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

And I will say, going into the Sally house, in which the main draw is a little girl named Sally. Um, I have my opinions about that, which I've shared in the past. But I would love to revisit the Sally House in another episode and just see what's still coming through from there. But visitors would leave her books and animals and dolls and things like that. Lots of bears, lots of stuffed animals in that room that visitors would leave. Yeah. And even going into the Begins Museum, people left a lot of things there.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Absolutely. And you know, I I'm I'm kind of bummed. I well, actually, I'm I'm not bummed because I'm finding dolls absolutely fascinating. But I don't think we're gonna be able to cover two more in that in today's episode. So I guess we're gonna have another one coming.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

I guess so. And that'll probably be next week's episode. And I'm excited about it because there is one of the dolls that I'm going to talk about that I didn't know a lot about. And as I was researching, a personal connection came through. An experience that I actually had came through, and I could associate it with this doll. So I'm like, how weird is that? And I can't wait to jump into that story.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

That is I'm excited as well. It's gonna be an interesting one. Do we want to share what dolls we're gonna be exploring in next week's episode?

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Yes, I have two. We're gonna be talking about the Japanese doll Okiku, and I also have Robert the doll. Who do you have? I have haunted doll Peggy. Oh, I've met Peggy. I respect it.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

I was respectful and I stayed back, but I know what doll that is. Peggy's an interesting one, and there are many more, so we could probably we could easily extend into millions, uh, hundreds of episodes, but we're gonna stick, we're gonna do those three and we'll talk about them more next week. I'm actually kind of excited.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

I'm excited too, and then we'll move on to the Warrens after that. Well, I do have three listener questions. And the first question is, have you ever owned an object that just never felt right? And what made you feel that way? The second question is, do you think an object can actually hold energy or do the stories we attach to it shape how we experience it? And the third question is, if you were standing in front of Annabelle or on the island of dolls, would you treat these dolls like ordinary dolls, or would you find yourself showing them a little extra respect? I don't my answer. I know my answer to respect. R-E-S- Absolutely C T, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Not only that, but your first question, yes, I sure have found myself with an object that did not feel right to me. And I, even as an as an adult, not even as a child, and I um had to cleanse it for over a month sitting in like going through a moon phase, a full moon phase to make sure it was cleansed.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

I did have an issue with an object that was gifted to me once, and yeah, and I don't go into antique shops because what I said about the island of the dolls very viscerally, that's what an antique shop is. It's loud and it has a smell like nowhere else, and I just can't do them.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Interesting. I love antique shops, but I would never buy something that did not feel right to me, but I love exploring them.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Yeah, take in an EMF reader. That's what Chris and I did in Seattle, and it was very interesting. Some of the objects spiked it, and others it was flatline. It was very fascinating. That is really kind of cool. And they weren't the items you expected to make that EMF reader go off. They never are. No, just a warning. Okay, with that, Stacey, shall we close out this episode on Annabelle and the island of dolls? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Stay curious, everyone. Trust what you know. And we will meet you on the spiritual highway.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Thank you so much. Wherever you are, you're trying to be right now. Just know you're not alone. We're here for you, and we're all in this together.