Haunted Doll For Sale on eBay | Harold The Haunted Doll & A Terrifying True Story (Ep 371 - PART 1)

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It is believed that this doll now has a body count and is responsible for two deaths. At least two. This is the true story of a haunted doll that began as an innocent marketing tactic and turned into a waking nightmare. This is Harold, the haunted doll.

Very spooky. Hello. Hey. This is Two Girls One Ghost.

One Ghost. And this episode might haunt you. Oh, yeah, that's a good disclaimer to put up front.

You said that as you were researching it. So, a few of our listeners who have succumbed to some of these haunted episodes where we

Kitty cat, you cannot listen to this one. I'd say set some intentions and

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just be wary while listening to this episode. I will preface that by saying I think the majority of the damage that what the entity we are about to talk about has done, I think is in the past. Okay. Like I haven't read of any recent attacks. Wow, what a nice way to put it. [laughter] But before I get into it, Mhm. just leaving you with that teaser. We are your ghostesses, that's Karen. Hi. I'm Sabrina and like you need to start watching this show. Mhm. It [clears throat] is on Netflix, it's Something Bad is about to is going to happen.

Oh, people were just talking about this on our Patreon.

It's so good. It's a really good show.

It's so good. It's So the concept is this woman and her fiance are driving to like her fiance's families Mhm. retreat in like the wilderness to get married. And immediately it opens on like blood. And then it goes back in time and it's like 6 days until I do or whatever it is. But it's like a lot about

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generational trauma in a horror trope like in a horror landscape. Okay. No, I'll definitely watch it.

good. Actually, this is reminding me I might have had a paranormal experience yesterday. I don't actually know. It's so confusing to me.

it for sure is What? What is it? What happened? Okay, here's the here's the scenario. Our living room faces the road Mhm.

and the walkway up to our front door. I'm sitting on the floor playing with Noah and I see out of my peripheral vision someone in a white t-shirt walking past There's two windows to walk past. Walking past the first window and then the second window, which is to our front door. So, I'm thinking it's someone dropping off a package. I'm not looking directly at them, but I like can see enough of them and I'm starting to like push my body weight up on the couch to look and I lean over and I look out the window to see like, oh, what Did they just drop off a package? Is this solar soliciting? Like, who's there? Yeah. No one's there. I was like, that's really confusing. So, then I look on the road, I look in the driveway, there's no

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cars. So, I'm like, oh my god, someone's just creeping and walking around our yard.

Don't you have a camera? Oh, we have many. So, I pulled up the security footage so I can see everything.

Uh-huh. No one. No one's there. There was no alert that anyone had been there. No alert that anyone had even like encroached an inch onto the driveway. Yeah, so paranormal friends, what else would it be unless you're hallucinating music in your head? Yeah.

It's just weird cuz it was outside and it was like on the sidewalk. Yeah, but I feel like it was passing by. It was so strange.

They were like walking at a clip that like an Amazon delivery truck

I love that you used that phrase. Walking at a clip?

Yeah. Like I I don't Is that old? I don't think I've ever heard you say that and I really enjoyed it.

[laughter]

But they were it wasn't just like leisurely. Yeah, it was like someone coming to Yeah, drop something off. Like there was an intention. I was so confused. And then I was on FaceTime with my parents.

Like maybe it was like that's going to happen later and you kind of like glitched in time real quick.

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Maybe. Was it you in your white shirt walking out? I was I was wearing like many jackets on top of this. Yeah. It was like confusing enough that I So, we were FaceTiming my parents, grandma and grandpa at the time and I literally was like I as I was talking to them I was like, wait, where did the person go? Like they were there as they saw my confusion of like, I just Where How did they disappear that quick? That's really weird.

I don't know. Was someone creeping around? And my first thought was not paranormal, it was that someone was creeping around our yard because it it was strange. I mean, that's super normal, right?

I'm glad no one was creeping around your yard. Yeah.

And you do have video to prove that it wasn't a real person. Mhm. But yeah, that was weird. Part of me was like, is there going to be some sort of like weird thing on the cameras where like I see little ghostly Maybe.

apparition. But no, there was literally nothing and yet I saw a man with a dark brown or like black short hair and a white t-shirt walking by both of the windows. Yeah, it's not like it's one

appropriate for that that afternoon,

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too. Huh. So, it was really weird. Anyway, I don't know. Or a vampire. Just disappeared. In the middle of the day. Mhm. Good for you, vampire, if you walk in

They glisten in the sun, which is why they caught my attention.

[laughter]

Wait, we're doing a We'll have already had it by the [laughter] time this episode comes out, but we decided to do cuz Ash and I have been like hanging out to watch Summer House and Bravo stuff, but we were like I feel like we have we don't have enough events and like reasons to like get dressed up and like feel cute. So, we were talking about like doing a whimsical night and we were like, let's all let's all go. So, you, me, Ash, and Elena are like in a group chat talking about a whimsical evening we're going to have.

Well, the first the first couple texts referenced whimsy. Yes.

But then it went hard into sparkles and glitter. Yes. And I'm I'm quickly scanning the text.

Right.

So, you're like, oh, am I coming as a vampire? Well, no. So, I [laughter] said I said, how hard are we going?

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And then you guys gave some descriptions of what you were going to wear and I was like, oh, Okay, I'm glad I asked because I completely forgot the whimsy part and went straight to glitter and sparkles and had fully planned to show up dressed as Edward Cullen glistening in the sun. [laughter] I was like, oh, yeah, I can go hard on glitter.

what makes you feel whimsical, Karen? Hell yeah.

is not the vibe that everyone else is bringing. So,

idea what the vibe is going to be and I'm so I'm the most excited to see Elena's version of whimsy. That's true. Cuz I don't think I've seen her out of black. I've seen her in red. Sure, like a maroon. Yeah.

I'm excited. Maybe a really dark emerald green. Maybe you need to plan a whimsical evening after listening to this episode because it ain't whimsical.

[laughter]

It's scary. Should we should we get into

Harold the Haunted Doll

it?

Yes.

Okay. This is one of those stories that started with a business idea. A simple idea to make profit.

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An antique dealer had an antique doll in his shop and he looked at it and thought, hm, I could sell this doll in my shop for $9.99 cents or I could make a hell of a lot more on eBay if I give it a story. Mhm. So, he did. He gave this doll a haunting past and at first that's all it was. A story and a sales tactic, but it didn't take long for that fake story to turn into something very real and very dangerous. People reported headaches, confusion, unease just from looking at images of this doll and over the years the reports got worse. The hauntings intensified and even became lethal. It is believed that this doll now has a body count and is responsible for two deaths. Wow.

At least two. This is the true story of a haunted doll that began as an innocent marketing tactic and turned into a waking nightmare. This is Harold, the

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haunted doll. Immediately my mind goes, what came first? This guy's idea to create a haunted backstory or was this implanted into him so that Harold, who was already haunted, could find a home that was susceptible to its powers. Well, that's going to be like the biggest question about all of this. And I don't know that we'll get an answer. Mhm. I do want to like before I get into the episode, I want to be like up front and very clear. Like, yes, this doesn't start with true or in known a known haunted doll. they didn't think they were dealing with a haunted but what started as a hoax turned into very real hauntings, one that has been documented for years. Like I want to say upwards of like 15 years of documented hauntings. EVPs, there've been paranormal investigators, there've been psychics who've done readings. There's so much evidence. And the doll has passed between multiple owners, it's tormented people through the internet and has even been exorcised. Are you

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going to talk about the different owners? I sure am.

Okay. This is why this is going to be a two-parter because I read a 300-page book for this episode episodes and there are so many incredible stories and like usually I can be like, oh, I'll just trim the fat. There's no fat. It's hard to.

There's no fat here.

I felt that way about like except like the Smurl family possession and some of those stories where I'm just like, how do you even edit things out of this?

No, like you So, anyway, like it's going to be a two-parter. Even though it did

this episode might haunt you

start as a hoax. This is one of those episodes again that I'm going to give a warning for. It is likely, given our reputation and our history of haunting listeners, it is likely that this episode could haunt you. So, maybe don't listen while driving, don't listen I wrote specifically if you are Cat, who is our Patreon donor, or if you are dealing similar to Cat with like maybe potentially demonic entities, it's okay, skip next. Yeah. Most podcasters aren't going to say, "Hey, don't listen to this." We just We care.

you to We care about your well-being.

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But we've we've had too many episodes that we didn't know were going to be haunted.

Yeah. Haunt people. And we don't want you to be haunted in a negative way. And so now I do feel like we have a decent read when we're like going through a story on what's what might slip Mhm. out of the phone and into your waking lives. And Stanny might be working overtime this week cuz you got to protect our listeners.

Yes. Yeah. Um set some intentions. If you are like, I know I need to listen. Like if you're like me and you feel more tempted Right. After that. Press the red button. Cautionary [laughter] tale. Do not push. And if you do decide to listen, or even if you don't decide to listen, I think the biggest thing is to not mock Harold at all. Mhm. Okay.

Don't laugh at him. Don't say, "Haha, yeah, right." Just be respectful. Just to be safe. So I did write like this is one of the topics that does make us stop and ask so like what it means to be haunted and how exactly haunted objects become haunted.

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And the like couple of theories that I thought about while going into this is like remind reminiscent of the Philip experiment and like this idea of like a group putting thought into something and creating a haunting

or a tulpa, which we've kind of talked about briefly but never done like a full episode about.

I feel like listeners often will will bring up tulpas. But the idea is that something can become haunted through focused thought and intention. So like if everyone believes something is haunted, can it then become haunted?

Mhm. Or like you were saying, was this always haunted and it was like a thought implanted into

Right.

person who didn't even recognize or realize what was going on. Or this is an antique dealer. He has many many objects. Maybe an entity from another object was like, "Oh, this is my opportunity to shine." And took advantage of you know, a door opened. And they said Yes.

God, this is just reminding me of when I walked through that antique store. I

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think it was like in Rowley or something, Massachusetts. Mhm. And I took a picture cuz I felt horrible in that one corner and it had a bunch of dolls. Mhm. I took a picture and I was like, "I feel terrible here." And every single person who responded out of the like 13 dolls in the picture named this one specific doll as being the culprit.

The Yeah. So you know, sometimes you can identify it in a sea full of antiques. Mhm. But it's not always that easy. No. So we don't exactly know what we are dealing with here, but we will discuss. Either way, the doll is haunted AF. And yeah, I just wanted to be upfront because I feel like a lot of different versions and like people who talk about Harold tell you the beginning part as if it was all real from the start. Mhm. But I wanted to I didn't want to I didn't want to trick any of you guys.

[laughter]

Be honest. We've only done a couple of covered a couple of hoaxes on this podcast. And we always say when it's a hoax.

let you know upfront.

Yeah. All that being said, I am going to tell the story from the very beginning when it was first presented as this

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haunted object and no one knew it was a hoax. And I got all of my research for this episode from a book written by Harold's current owner, Anthony Quinata. It is so good. I'm like It's the I want to read it as a book club book. We could.

We could. We've never read something like that. It's always fiction.

Mhm. It doesn't have to be this one cuz I feel like I'm kind of giving everyone I'm spoiling all of the information. But there's so much more that I obviously can't include cuz it's nearly 300 pages. So if you don't get haunted by this episode and you want to know more, go read Anthony's book.

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haunted doll for sale on eBay

This story begins with a man named Greg.

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Back in 2001, Greg moved in with his brother in New York City. And he didn't have a job at the time, so he was like, "How can I make a little bit of money?" And he decided he was going to help his brother, who was an antique dealer, Mhm. and collected and sold antiques. And at this point, I think Greg's brother had decided to forego having an actual storefront cuz it's like it's expensive. It's New York. Yeah. Rent. It's not cheap. And he was like, "I can make so much more money if I just have a storage unit with all of my antiques and then list them on eBay and sell them that way." Yeah. So Greg decided to go through some of the items that his brother had collected. And this is when he found this doll. An old, beat-up composition doll. Would you like to look at it? I guess. I feel like I need to. But I will say no comments once I see it. Yeah. And I will have no thoughts. These are my intentions. My pep talk to myself in preparation of seeing Harold the haunted doll. I couldn't stop the remarks from coming through my mind, but I say nothing out loud. It's a little baby doll.

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Like it's it's a baby doll. But also just the out the outfit just reminded me of like a sumo wrestler.

[laughter]

I thinking of in a little way. It looks like a wrestling uh leotard. Yeah. I think it's almost like I wonder if it's one of those dolls where like where part of it is more It's not porcelain, but like whatever the plastic is and then like the body is kind of more It's squishy. Yeah, it looks like He looks like he's missing his clothes. It does look like that. Like that we're seeing just his base. Yeah. So this is it's pretty beat-up, right? Unsure what year this was made, but it's been through It's been through life. Mhm. And so Greg finds it. And he he's like, "Okay, my brother probably bought this for like a couple of bucks. And if they did have a store like they could probably sell it for $10, making a very very small profit." Yeah. But Greg had an idea. An idea to get a lot more money for a simple, old, scraggly doll. Listed on eBay as a haunted doll. And keep in mind, this is like 2001 to 2003-ish.

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Mhm. Oh, prime eBay days. Mhm. God, I like That [clears throat] just reminded me of all the times that my dad would be like, "I can't do something. I have to be here during the bid." And like we're bidding on STUFF ON EBAY. I'M DRUNK OFF COFFEE. SO GREG LISTS IT UP for auction on eBay with the following listing and I'm going to read it verbatim. I'm sure it's happened to all of us at least once or twice. You're walking around the flea market or antique mall looking for a treasure or two and you come upon a beat-up looking doll. You think to yourself, "Oh, that's charming." Or "The child who owned that doll must have really loved this thing." But what I thought after seeing the doll that is offered today should never ever be repeated. This doll was purchased in a small, dirt lot flea market in the quaint town of Webster, Florida. Webster is very charming. It's an industrious town about 60 miles southwest of Gainesville. And they have a weekly flea market offering treasures, bargains, and aisles of kernel corn. Anyway, I digress.

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I had arrived at the flea market fairly late in the day when most people were packing up to go home. And that is when I saw an elderly man placing this doll in a box. It looked interesting. So I approached and asked the man if I could see it. And the conversation went something like this. The man, "You don't want to see this doll." Me, "Sure I do." "What do you want for it?" Man, "Well, that is a good question because it is very old." The man looked like he was about to cry as he continued. "It was my son's. I bought it for him when he was born and he passed away a few years after. This doll has now sat in my workshed for over 60 years. I wasn't going to bring it out today, but I figured I just needed to get it out of there. Anyway, uh 20 bucks." So I gave the guy 20 bucks. I put the doll in the bag and walked away. When I was halfway down the aisle, the man came running, chasing me, out of breath. "I have to warn you about something. I can't just let you take him like this. The reason he's been in my shed is that well, the doll brought an eerie presence into our house after our son died. We

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would hear crying and singing from his bedroom. And when we went to check it out, there was nothing. Just the doll. Other things started to happen and the priest told me I should burn the doll. I tried and tried, but it wouldn't burn." And this thing like just looking at it, you can tell it's made out of very flammable materials. Yeah. This is also I could see some people being like, "Well, of course this is a creative narrative for for this eBay. But also if you've ever been antiquing, I feel like antique sellers are chatty people. You do get a lot of backstory on pieces.

Yeah. But the reason that the legs and arms and head were so worn is because this man had tried to burn it too much. Man goes, "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know." I told him, "Okay." And chuckled to myself as I walked away. That was until I got home and my life has never been the same. Two days later, my cat died. Oh my god. My girlfriend left me for the pool guy. I love that that's the stereotype in it. And I began to have chronic migraines. This is only two days after purchasing

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the doll. A week later, I began to hear children laughing and crying in my basement, and every time I went to go check, of course, nothing. After that, I put the doll in an armadillo coffin, which it has been in and in my basement.

coffin?

it's like made out of like armadillo like shell, so it's like a very secure

Oh, interesting. Yeah. So now it's been in my basement for the last year and a half, and I need to get rid of the doll. I really do believe it's cursed. Sometimes I touch it, and it seems like it has a pulse. Maybe I hate that description. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maybe I'm not. This cursed doll measures 21 in tall. His, her, its head, arms, and legs are all composition, and the eyes are closed when it's lying down. And this is a distinction that will become important. The doll's eyes are blue. Okay. That's not what some people see. And blue-eyed people are creepy. I'm jealous of blue-eyed people. I literally wore blue contacts for years.

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[laughter]

So That's so funny. Ugh. Um okay.

I feel I feel cursed in a way because not for blue, but I have a bunch of green eyes on both sides of my family. My mom's side and my dad's side. Green, green, green, green, green. Poop brown. Well, you and I both, girlfriend. Yeah. Okay, so Greg ends this listing with "Please ask any and all questions before you bid on this doll. I have not had it out of the coffin for years, so if anything else happens this week, I'll be sure to let you know." The auction is sold as is with no returns. Winner pays exact shipping and optional insurance. Ask all questions before you bid, even if you think you are sure about condition, pictures, etc. Please ask all specific questions before bidding. Thanks for looking and good luck. So that's the original listing, yeah. And apparently, which like are all of the doll's owners such great writers? Who's the first and last, at least?

Yeah, I don't know. Apparently with this listing, Greg had posted a video where the doll looks like it's moving and

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talking. I couldn't find those videos. I mean, that was back in like 2001, 2002, so it's like they're probably somewhere on the internet, but I don't know. According to the book that I read, the videos did look hokey. Like but they were kind of convincing. Like it it was a trick. Like a Dear David ask thing where you're like constantly looking for 100% feels like Dear David in the beginning, but almost immediately things start happening for people. Wow. He posts this listing, and it gets over 100,000 views, and Art Bell even talks about it on Coast to Coast. So it becomes this like worldwide, nationwide sensation that everyone, like paranormal investigators, paranormal enthusiasts, Art Bell, are so interested in Wow. and curiosity is piqued. So many rumors start circulating about this doll. Like there's one that is clearly not true, but there's one that says that the FBI got interested in this doll when Greg posted it, and they even did x-rays on the doll and found the like remains

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of a human baby inside of it. Oh, dark. It's so so dark.

So dark, but also that exact era when this was published on eBay was when like the baby blender jokes were happening, so it makes sense. And also like if that were true, the FBI wouldn't be like, "Oh, we found that. Sure, keep it up there for auction. All [laughter] good.

We'll give it right back to you. We'll see if what people bid. So this is up, and there's an auction going. I'm not sure how many days it's up, but someone wins the bid, but then like when Greg tries to reach out to them to like complete the payment and whatnot, this person ghosts them. So Greg has to put it back up for auction. And this time he has another updated description, which I'll summarize. Greg informs people that in the two weeks since he first posted Harold for sale, he has started to receive emails daily about it. That he and others have been reporting various incidents that they all attribute to Harold. And Greg himself states that since the first auction ended, his own life has taken a turn. He

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became violently ill with high fever, stomach pains, coughs. He was like so certain that this was all attributed to Harold that he decided to go back to the flea market where he first found the doll in order to like track down this man. In the story, he claimed that they found this doll like years prior. Yeah.

Yeah. He was like, "Maybe I'll find that man again." He goes to the flea market. Again, this part is like fabricated, but I do think the emails are real. But he says he goes back to the flea market, and he couldn't find that original man, but he found someone who knew him. And the man tells Greg that the original owner of this doll's name was Walter. And that Walter had recently passed away. He goes on to tell Greg that Walter's son did in fact pass away when he was just 1 to 2 years old, and his son's name was Harry. And that Harry had been born severely disfigured and passed away very soon after being born. But that was it. That's all that Greg

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could find out, and the man that's telling him this story about Walter and Harry gets really uncomfortable. Like starts to be like shifty and just like short and is like, "I don't know anymore. I'm sorry. Like I'm sorry." and like leaves. But whatever the background, Greg is now like, "I really need to get this out of my possession. I want to sell this. Like please someone someone who can help contain and research this doll. Like please like that's the type of person I'd probably sell to." And like in quotes, he wrote "This doll needs to either be locked away in a controlled environment or destroyed, although so far that seems to be impossible." He concludes this new auction posting with the final sentence "This doll has affected my business tremendously. It has made me severely depressed, and I haven't been physically able to list anything else on eBay in the past 2 weeks because of my sickness and how weak I have been." So now, Harold is officially listed for auction again. During this time, like the auction's going on, it's

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like a few days, Greg does add multiple updates. People were asking for updates on Greg's health and the hauntings, to which Greg responded that it actually had been very quiet. He wrote, "It's not like the doll is running around and trying to kill me. You would just have to live with this thing to really get it." He admits that he's afraid of the doll and had received multiple emails from people regarding the doll. Some people who have looked directly into the doll's eyes started having really strange and unsettling experiences. Someone was like looking just at the image online, and almost like a scrying mirror in the eye of Harold the doll, saw like a really scary image of themselves. Ooh. Yeah. An eBay user's kid. So this is where it starts to turn real. Mhm. So someone say I was looking at eBay and my kid's like next to me, the kid starts like screaming and crying and is like, "Oh my god, like what's happening? What's happening?" and starts complaining that the doll is laughing and winking at her. Trust your kids. Yeah. Psychics were claiming an angry male spirit was attached to the doll.

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And based on all these emails that he was getting, Greg is like, "Do not look directly into Harold's eyes." He's just giving a warning. He also received a really disturbing email from like another eBay user who was like, "I had a vision that Harold is really mad at you for trying to sell him, and I keep seeing your flesh burning."

[gasps]

What? That's so sick.

Right. Which also like hundreds of thousands of people are looking at this. Who knows if that's like a real vision someone had, but either way, that's terrifying to get.

Ew. It's It's like a death threat. Mhm. Mhm. At this point, he's getting so many emails, it's kind of freaking him out. And he was like, "I don't think you can destroy the doll, but I really want to get rid of him or get him to someone who can like control it."

Mhm. And that is how Kathy became the proud new owner of Harold the Haunted Doll. And this is the point when what

Kathy adopts Harold

began as a hoax turned into a very real haunting, because up until this point Greg's controlling narrative.

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Mhm. I don't know how much of what he wrote in any of these postings is actually factual, yeah. I do know that he did get all these emails from people, and like people were commenting saying like, "I'm having such strange experiences." But this is like how weird for him if he truly believed that he made all of this up to be like, "Yeah." Like is he just thinking that everyone's just kind of like losing it or like wanting to believe? Or is he actually having a moment where he's like, "Oh Yeah. What did I do?" Right. I don't know. And I I was I was texting you about this last night, but I couldn't find Greg's full name, so I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to like ask AI like if they can find sources with Greg's full name." And it responded Greg Newkirk was the original owner and poster of this. And I was so mad, because it Greg Newkirk

Well, not only that, but never do that. It like insulted him. Oh, oh, you said keep in mind this is about some random Yeah, yeah. Oh, I I misread it last

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night, and I thought that That's what it said. I thought that it was calling Greg random. No. But this is why you can't trust AI. Watch Greg actually have What if it was If it was him? [laughter] Well, I corrected AI. I said, "You're dumb. That's wrong." Greg would never do that. I know Greg and Greg would never. We have not heard back from Greg and Dana yet, so Although they did create haunted objects, so that's true. Maybe that's kind of where where the internet got a little confused.

Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Anyway, this is when what began as a hoax really turned into a very, very true and real haunting. And Kathy's experiences are very real and very scary. Kathy, and I do not know how to say her last name, Kruska, was a woman from Dublin. I'm not going to say her last name ever again. Um she was a woman from Dublin who had recently found interest in doll restoration. Mm. So she first found Harold listed on eBay and she like didn't really believe the whole haunted doll story. She she was like this is a

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great story but she saw it for what it actually was which was like someone trying to upsell.

Which doll restoration I feel like it's a beautiful thing for people to take objects and and make them anew but I feel like I've never seen a doll restoration workshop or space that isn't the creepiest thing I've ever seen cuz there's body parts everywhere.

I always think of Gendy. Gendy's one of our listeners. I'm thinking [laughter] of Gendy's dolls, too. And Gendy joins us on Patreon often and Gendy makes like the most amazing dolls. Yes. But when she joins us on like campfire stories and stuff it's just shelves of dolls. Some of them like don't have heads and it they're all

creepy it's that part is creepy.

[laughter]

It's because it's like it's symbolic of humans, right? And then like we were there just missing body parts in these random rooms. It's the stereotype of it.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's very what's his name from Toy Story? Sid. Sid. So she's like yeah I don't really believe in the haunted

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story but I do find it really intriguing and she also was like this doll clearly needs restoration. Like she like feels empathy for the doll. Like it looks really badly beat up and she thought okay I can use the doll to practice and learn doll restoration and I guess I'm not totally clear on this but I guess Kathy had like knew Greg like he was a friend of a friend. Okay. So she wins the auction. I don't know for how much and she was about to go to the States for her aunt's wedding and I think she was getting married in Connecticut and then like the whole family aunt the new husband Kathy and her fiance Rick were all going to go on a cruise to to Bermuda afterwards. So because of this Kathy's like hey Greg don't ship it I will pick it up I'll come meet you in New York and pick it up. And so she meets up with Greg the seller and grabs Harold the doll and Greg hands her the doll in a plastic Dwayne Reed bag. Kathy thanked him before putting the doll in her trunk where she planned to keep him until the end of her travels

32:00

before bringing him home with her to Dublin. After the pickup Kathy and her fiance Rick drive back to Connecticut to Kathy's aunt's house which I don't know her name but Kathy's aunt had like heard about Kathy's new purchase and like the story about Harold. So she's like I really want to see the doll. So they go over to Kathy's trunk. She pops up in the trunk. She opens the Dwayne Reed plastic bag and they look at Harold the doll. And they're discussing it and they're both like dismissing the haunting. Like oh no like it's definitely not haunted. I don't believe that's cursed whatever. And her aunt goes oh my gosh you know what you should do is you should bring Harold on the cruise. Like we're going to the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Like maybe if it really is haunted that's like how we'll find out.

Yeah. It's a joke. Like it's just like a haha maybe we do this. They go on with their day. The very next day Kathy receives a call from her aunt who was at work when all of a sudden her back went out and she can't walk. So she needs Kathy to come pick her up and

33:00

bring her to the doctor. They go to the doctor and the doctor's like you have a herniated disc and you just need to rest. Keep in mind this is like the week of her wedding. Brutal. The very next day her aunt's fiance his back goes out. He goes to the doctor herniated disc. The same it's like almost trying to break people's backs. Yeah doing like the closest that it can possibly do to that. Then Kathy's back went out. Same thing. That's too many. It's too many. Two you could argue I wouldn't argue but some could argue a coincidence. And but at the at the time like obviously it's easy for us to like retelling the story attribute it to Harold but at the time they're like this is just a freak weird thing. She really genuinely doesn't believe this doll is haunted. Somehow they all make it to the wedding but the groom had to do his vows in a wheelchair due to his herniated disc and like a lot of things were going wrong at the wedding. The hairdresser just didn't show up. The cake fell apart but the wedding happened. Oh my gosh. One week

34:00

after the wedding

let's pray that none of them were getting cold feet or had any like second questions or anxiety about getting married cuz wouldn't you look around and be like these are all the signs. Right. Right. [laughter] So the wedding happens then the cruise is coming up to go to Bermuda. But on the day of the cruise Kathy receives a call from her aunt and she tells Kathy that she and her husband unfortunately won't be able to go on the cruise anymore because they both have bronchitis and strep throat and Kathy's aunt has shingles. Holy Which I feel like a lot of people do get sick after their weddings cuz it's like you've been doing all this planning there's been so much going on. People there's germs. My parents went to Bermuda for their honeymoon and my dad got mono. Spent like the whole time in the hotel room. Yeah. But so Kathy and Rick still go on the cruise and they decide to bring Harold. Why I do not know but they do. Again Kathy still does not believe Harold is actually haunted and just like these are all random strange occurrences, right?

35:00

They go on the cruise and while they made it out okay and didn't have any physical accidents during the trip the second they get on the cruise Kathy's luggage is missing cuz when you go on a cruise like you kind of drop it with a porter and then they bring them to your room and it's supposed to be there when you get on your on the boat. The entirety of the trip no one can find Kathy's luggage until the day that they dock back in wherever like their starting play port was like a random group of four men were staying in a room and as they were packing up they find the suitcase. That's so weird. It's so weird.

you were going to say it was like floating right there. That [laughter] would be crazy. Which I have been on a cruise where the luggage has gone overboard. Oh that's crazy.

Yeah people are That's awful. Shop in the gift shop. Right. So this is another reason that it's like nothing crazy happened that's like an it's more of an annoyance, right?

Mhm. So they get back. Kathy finally gets all her luggage back and they go to visit the aunt before going back to Dublin. This aunt who had like a

36:00

herniated disc shingles bronchitis strep throat she's in perfect health and she's like it was so weird like the day that you guys left for the cruise I all of a sudden started feeling so much better and great yada yada all these things. Which like these are things that you don't recover in a split second from. Like these are weeks long recoveries antibiotics specialty medication. But now that Harold is back in her presence Kathy's aunt's back goes out again. Oh my god. And so this is when Kathy starts to question. I don't know if it's like her posing the question or if it's the aunt or like family members. People are like maybe it's not a hoax. Like maybe Harold is actually haunted. She's dubious. A little stitious. Mhm. Enough to think it's best that she ship Harold back to Dublin instead of bringing him on the plane with her. Mhm. Jesus. Like in one part I'm like okay yeah don't put him on a plane with a bunch of people where things could go horribly wrong. But then it's also like how many

37:00

people is he going to going to come in contact with That's true. when being shipped and will probably likely still be on a plane. Like he's not going on a cargo ship. Right. Just less people on that type of I don't know. Anyway they make it to Dublin. Harold makes it to Dublin as far as we know. I don't know how long that process was. Nothing strange. But now Kathy and Rick one night decide to have their friends John and Veronica over and I guess their friends from work and Veronica also like had like an affinity and love and passion for collecting antiques and had heard about Kathy's new purchase this doll Harold and she wanted to see him. Up until that point Kathy had been keeping Harold in a shed in their backyard. So that evening before Veronica and John show up for dinner she grabs Harold and brings him inside. That night at dinner Kathy shows Veronica the doll and Veronica like makes a comment like wow he's in bad shape and kind of laughs laughs. Keep in mind what I've what was my disclaimer? Do not mock. Do not laugh at. Do not make fun of Harold.

38:00

Yeah. Well like was she intending to make fun of him or was she more just like concerned? Like No it was like oh no like so he's really nothing maybe mishandled throughout his life. I think it was like an offhanded like wow he's in bad shape. You know? And we'll learn a lot more about the entity or entities. They're not rationally thinking. They are out to get

Demonic. people. Yeah they'll they'll find any reason to get people.

Yeah. So whatever they like talk about it what not. Kathy decides to put Harold cuz it's like getting late it's cold she doesn't want to like go back out to the shed so she puts Harold in the guest room closet and forgets about him. Just three days later Veronica's husband John calls Kathy and Rick with terrible news.

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40:00

today.

killer doll?!

Veronica had gone out to the balcony to have a cigarette and fell down the stairs, fracturing her skull in the fall, and died. Woah. Holy this is not where I thought that that was going to go. No. Oh my god, I feel sick. Right. So, this is now

And this is we are not in the the fake narrative of this story anymore. Like, this is a real death. Mhm. Oh, Jesus. Not long after this, another friend named Steven calls Kathy and Rick and is like, "Hey, I found myself without an apartment. Like, is there any chance I can stay with you just like for a short while like I'm as I figure out where I go next." Kathy and Rick are like, "Absolutely, of course. Come stay in our guest bedroom." Remember where Kathy put Harold and forgot about him?

That was literally my first thought when you said that she put him away in the guest bedroom closet. So, I was like, "Oh, just for the guest to deal with."

Mhm. She forgot that she put him in there. So, now Steven moves into the guest room. And he's there for like two to three months.

41:00

And I guess he's from Wales and he was in Wales before coming to Dublin to stay with Kathy and Rick. He had just gone to a doctor like for his yearly physical and like everything was great. He was healthy, perfect condition. He's there for three months. And all of a sudden, Steven wakes up one morning unable to swallow. Like, it's so difficult for him to swallow. He starts to lose his voice and he's like, "Oh, it's probably just like a cold, something, you know, strep or whatever it is. It will pass." This doesn't go away. If anything, it starts to get worse to the point where like he's really having a hard time like even eating cuz he can't swallow.

Yeah. So, he decides to go back to his doctor and he's diagnosed with stage four cancer of the larynx. This was three weeks after having a clean bill of health from his doctor. That is so scary. So, it is now after this news and after their friend Veronica's passing that Rick is like, which is Kathy's husband, is like, "I don't know what you believe or not, but I don't think we should have this doll in our possession anymore."

42:00

So, Kathy decides to put Harold back up for sale on eBay because even if all of these incidents are coincidences, she's not willing to risk it and they're all getting very worried. Kathy, now like she kind of changes her mindset. She's like, "I don't believe it's haunted, but it's cursed." Yeah. Which I guess is a a distinction for people. But, um Well, it's kind of like it it like changes the seriousness of it. Mhm. In a way where it's like it it's not just like someone being attached to this possession. It could it comes with malice. Okay, so Kathy decides to list Harold the doll for auction again on eBay. It's 2003 now. And Kathy uses Greg's original listing. She doesn't add any of her personal experiences to the details because she's not sure it's connected and she's not trying to like terrify people.

Mhm. Especially with the death stuff.

Harold is back on eBay

And this is when a man named Anthony Quinata, the author of the book I

43:00

mentioned, first sees Harold. And similar to how Kathy felt when she saw the auction, Anthony's like, "Oh, this this is clearly a fabricated story, but I'm interested."

Mhm. And as some context, at this time Anthony had like really gotten fascinated with this like trend of selling haunted objects on eBay. And so, he had decided to like basically do an experiment and write a book about haunted objects and how they're sold on eBay and like basically he wanted to prove that they're not haunted. Interesting. So, very niche book. It's very niche. I mean, so is the book you did write. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, um I think he had like always been interested in the paranormal and like but was a skeptic like didn't believe in it. Oh, interesting.

So, he had been like buying and purchasing a lot of things from eBay that claimed to be haunted and then working with people. He's an interesting character and we'll get a lot more into him next week, but he's like kind of reckless in his skepticism. Oh. He had

44:00

all these friends who claimed to be psychics and he was very like he's kind of like demeaning about people. He's like, "So-called psychics, like let's see what you read on this so-called haunted object." He wanted to prove that things weren't haunted. Okay. That's just some context of like

I'm glad I didn't I was about to liken him to Greg and Dana and how they go about collecting objects and just like their belief that a lot of objects aren't actually haunted, it's the people. Specific people's relationships with objects that change energy and like maybe potentially create vessels. Yeah. But, they don't do that. No, [laughter] no. And this is this is Anthony. He looks very cheery for a guy who has possessed a lot of haunted objects. Nothing quite like Harold, though. Okay, so yeah. His interest is piqued and like this is another item that he's like, "Okay, well maybe this is another item that I can do my test on."

Mhm. The way that the auction for Harold worked was like you couldn't see the current bidding price unless you were like actively bidding yourself. And because of how many views the

45:00

listing had, Anthony's kind of like, "Well, I'm curious how much people are trying to pay for this thing." So, he puts in what he thinks is a low bid, $299. That's What was it at before then? Well, he couldn't see. Oh, oh, oh. He thought he was like not going to be, you know, he thought like

Low bid, I'm like I know. $31. And that would feel still expensive.

Yeah. Well, he's the highest bidder. So, he Once he like [laughter] puts that in, it's like, "Congratulations, you're the highest bidder." But, it's still like actively going. So, then Kathy sends Anthony email because she sees he's bidding. And I think she wants to do some due diligence of like who's trying to buy this doll. So, she emails Anthony and is like, "Hey, why are you interested in this doll?" And Anthony's like, "Honestly, I'm not really. I just wanted to see how much people are willing to pay for this thing." That's kind of Dude, is Anthony rich? Like, what Where does he just willingly have a few hundred bucks just to like test What people's

46:00

money threshold? Like, can't you just ask around? Ask sellers, take a survey.

Right.

What do you sell your haunted dolls for? But, I also feel like this is like a little bit of fate.

[sighs]

So, anyway.

is pushing people to write the eBay listing, pushing people to spend a few hundred bucks to ensure that he gets to go to his next home. Yep. We'll get into that in part two where like the truth is Harold has been in control this whole time. Mhm. I'm definitely getting that from the get-go.

Right. Seems like people are unaware of what they're doing and why and their reasoning is like doesn't really make sense to me. So, Kathy and Anthony like are emailing like back and forth exchanging things. And Kathy's like, "I just want to be honest with you like I didn't believe that this was haunted or cursed either, but I've had some really weird things happen since owning Harold and now I really do believe it's cursed." And Anthony doesn't know Kathy. He has no reason to trust her, you know. He's probably like, "Oh, she's trying to

47:00

convince me to buy this doll."

Well, and also like we know his attitude towards people who claim to be inclined to the paranormal or just like have any sort of read on something And this next little show you the type of person he is. So, he's just like, "Haha, great story." He's like,

[laughter]

"Great way to sell this doll."

Cool story, bro. Yeah, totally. And then he's just like waiting for someone to outbid him. And all of a sudden this guy, this user eBay user Strange Magic does outbid him. But, ooh, who's Strange Magic?

Well, and then Strange Magic sends Anthony a message that's kind of like challenging like, "Hey, no matter what you bid, I'm going to outbid you. So, like don't even bother." Which pisses Anthony off. And keep in mind, he didn't actually want Harold, but because Strange Magic messaged him this, he's like, "Well, you know what? F you. I'm just going to keep outbidding you to get you to pay a ridiculous amount for this haunted doll." Was that actually Kathy? Is that right? [laughter] Just like trolling potential buyers to

48:00

like up the bid.

Right. Which is like such a wild thing to just like come at people that you don't know on eBay.

Like, other bidders.

Then just The internet's place.

It is. So, the bidding gets up to $700. And like Strange Magic and Anthony are like talking to each other this whole time. Anthony goes up to 720, fully expects Strange Magic to outbid him. But, next thing you know, Anthony gets a message, "Congratulations, you have won Harold the haunted doll." And Anthony's like, "Well, shit." And so, because Kathy and Anthony have been messaging back and forth, Kathy sends him an email and is like, "Hey, if you don't want him, don't worry about it. Like, I'll relist him. Like, don't you don't need to pay." And Anthony's like, "You know what? A deal's a deal. I won this. Like, I'll pay you for it." And Kathy's like, "Why don't you think about it? I'll give you like two weeks. If you don't if like at the end of the two weeks, you still want him, great. If you don't want him, I'll just relist it." And she's even like

nice of her. Yeah. And it does seem like

49:00

I know the first seller, Greg, had created this story, but even in his description, it was very much like a make sure you know what you're doing. Like, take care in this sort of decision in your life. Yep. And I do appreciate all of that extra effort. By the end of the two weeks, Anthony's like, "You know what? I I like I said, a deal is a deal. Like, I will do it." Again, fate. As you can expect, Harold doesn't make it easy for the journey to get to Anthony cuz it's like Dublin to I think he's in Denver or something like that. Apparently like the day that Kathy drops Harold off at the like post office, there was a strike. And then it like took 2 weeks to actually get to Anthony. The day it arrives, Anthony's postman, Gary, knocks on Anthony's door and says something really strange. He goes, "Anthony, I have a monster for you today." And Anthony, like I said, was like buying a bunch of things on eBay, like including like haunted mirrors and like

50:00

bigger So, he's like, "Oh, you have a big package."

package, monster package. I've got a big package for you.

Did you just hear thunder?

Yeah, it sounded like thunder. Anthony walks with Gary to the post van, postal van. Fully expecting he's going to have to help Gary with this like big box. Yeah. Instead, Gary hands Anthony a 2x2 box. 2x2? Yeah. Like 2x2, like so it's small. Yeah. And Anthony's confused. He's like, "Wait, why did you say I have a monster for you?" But he can't really ask more questions cuz Gary's got Gary's got some mail to deliver. He's He's off. So, Anthony's like, "I know what this is. It's Harold." Anthony is left

Feels like kind of a big package though for for just a doll. Like that's why.

up and in there. Yeah. 2x2 is not that big. Okay.

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Anthony meets Harold

So, Anthony brings the box inside. He places it on his dining room table and sits before it. He stares at the unopened box and replays the conversations and emails that he has exchanged with Kathy. Could any of it be true? But again, he's a skeptic, so he's not really questioning it. But because he'd been doing these tests for a book, he kind of had like a routine. He had these different tests that he would do. Before even opening the box, he grabs an EMF reader and he like puts it around the box. It does not spike at all. He has a different EMF reader that he uses, so he brings that one over. Nothing. Literally nothing at all, no movement. So then, he's like, "Typical me. I just spent $720 on like a not haunted doll." I can only imagine he spent $720. And this was what? The early-ish 2000s?

2003. Yeah, that's a lot of money. Yeah. So, he opens the box and he takes Harold out. It's still wrapped in the Dwayne

53:00

Reed plastic bag that like Kathy had originally got it from Greg Green. He stares at this doll. "This thing's haunted?" So, he's going to do more tests, but again, he has his like pattern, his routine. Like he sprinkles some holy water on the doll, just in case. Then he brings Harold to his couch and takes a bunch of pictures with it and cuz he wants to see if like anything shows up in photos. Nothing. He does an EVP session, nothing. After an hour or two of tests, he decides to put Harold away for now. He wraps Harold back in that plastic Dwayne Reed bag, but this time he puts the bottle of holy water and the crucifix in that bag as well and like tucks Harold away. But he's not done running tests because there are more tests that he's been doing in this journey. He likes to do EMF, EVPs, photos, and he also likes to see if one of his so-called psychic friends could pick up on anything. And like I was saying, he's kind of like demeaning to his so-called psychic friends and he's like, "This is also my way to test these psychic friends, so-called psychic friends, because he doesn't tell them anything

54:00

about the haunted objects and like the listings." He just like will bring the haunted objects to his friends and like see if they can do a reading on it and if it matches up with the listing. But then that's trusting a listing more than

Totally. Like I would almost rather like two psychic friends, if their accounts match, then that's true. Like who cares about what the listing said?

Right. But he's doing tests. And and I I do appreciate that. Like he's trying to leave less room for manipulation or like falsity. Okay, so he reaches out to his friend April, who I believe he met through prepping for this book and April was a psychic. And even in his book, he says, "But I didn't know whether I believed her or not." So, he calls April and he's like, "Hey, I've just recently got a a bunch more items that are so-called haunted. I would love for you to do readings of them." So, this is not just about Harold, but Harold's amongst these objects.

Harold threatens another life

They meet at a local bookstore called Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek,

55:00

Colorado, which I looked up pictures of it. It looks magical. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, he brought multiple haunted objects with him, Harold being one of them, and he did not tell April anything about the objects he was bringing with him. April told Anthony she had the ability known as psychometry, which is like when you touch an object, you can discern information about it.

Mhm. So, Anthony starts bringing out his items, like placing them on the table that they're sitting at. And as soon as he brought Harold out, April's eyes light up. And she's like, "Is that Harold?" Because at this point, this doll has like hundreds and hundreds of thousands of views on eBay. Like people knew about him.

He's a famous haunted doll already. And Anthony's like pissed. He's like, "Ugh, god damn it. Like now this is like ruined. It's Yeah, it's skewed." But he's like, "You know what? I'm just going to give it a go anyway and like see." And he, while another part of his like process, while his psychic friends do these readings, he has a recorder recording. Mhm. Again, just to like one,

56:00

document it so he can relisten to it for his book, but then also for EVPs. They both sit down at the table, the recording's going. April picks Harold up into her hands. And the first thing she says is, "You're using holy water on him?" Like kind of like in a joking manner.

Mhm. And Anthony kind of like chuckles back and just like sprinkles more holy water. Like they're kind of especially with Anthony's mindset, like it it's mocking. Yeah, it's like weird cuz they're doing things that would make you think that they are scared and trying to go about it, but like their intention behind those actions. And I also wonder if because April knows Anthony is such a skeptic, if she's like, "You're using holy water? Like I thought you don't believe in that, you know?"

might have been just about him. Yeah. April keeps holding him and looking at Harold and she comments on like, "Wow, he's in bad shape." And then she says she thinks the doll was made sometime in the 1930s. Then she says, "I'm getting something about the spirit in the doll being a child molester Oh.

57:00

or it's a child that was molested." And then she pauses, clarifying she's getting both. So, this is the first indication

sickening. that there's like two spirits or there's a spirit that's, you know, like generational trauma like repeating. Yeah. Anyway, within seconds, April starts fully shaking, trembling, crying and she like puts Harold back down, like she can no longer touch him and she looked at Anthony and she's like, "I'm so sorry. I can't do this. I cannot do this. I can't do this." Anthony's like, "What?" April looks at Anthony and says, "He just told me he's going to kill me." And Anthony kind of like rolls his eyes, like, "Oh my god. April's so dramatic." And I guess like In his book, he even says like she had a knack for the dramatics. Like he's a little bit demeaning. Does he still like not truly believe

No, he He does now. He does now. But it's so interesting how he writes this and But he's being honest, so you know, I don't blame him for that. Does he change his perspective in how he writes about people over the Like is he trying

58:00

to depict how he felt about people in that moment? Or does he still Okay. Yeah, I think. Um

[clears throat]

But he's like in the moment, he's just kind of annoyed cuz he looks at the recorder, it's like only been going for a minute and 45 seconds and he's just like, "So much for getting this reading." Like, you know, they're hardly into it. And April is still crying, so I think Anthony can also tell that she's really shaken up. And April goes on to say that she has a heart murmur and after she heard Harold or the spirit inside Harold say he was going to kill her, she felt as if something had literally stuck its hand into her chest and grabbed her heart and was squeezing it. So, they pause, like they they stop this. Anthony wraps Harold up, puts him and the other objects like in a box to go home. That night, once he got home, Anthony decided to review the recording he had made of the interaction. Anthony presses play on the recording. He hears him and April conversing. Then he hears like the exchange where April

59:00

and Anthony kind of laugh about using holy water. Immediately after this interaction, there is a angry male voice on the recording that says, "Shut up." He's so stunned by this voice, he has to rewind. Sure enough, this voice sounds like it's right in the microphone. It is loud. It is angry. "Shut up." And then he hears a agonizing scream. Oh. He replays the moment in the bookstore, like in his mind, and he's like, "Oh my gosh, that agonizing scream is like timed up perfectly with when he had sprinkled more holy water on the doll. Oh my god. They were alone in this area like of the bookstore. Like sure, other people were in the bookstore, but there was no one near them. Like the voice sounds like it is literally at the microphone. Ugh, is it not exhausting for these entities to just be so angry all the time? Like I feel like that is using up energy. I don't know. And then he doesn't even know what to think. But he keeps listening. He presses play again on the recorder.

1:00:00

When April starts talking about the spirit, the child molester or a child that was molested, this voice comes again, but this time it growls, angry. And almost instantly, as if fueled by rage, that same voice says, "I'm going to kill you, bitch." Seconds later, April starts shaking and crying and says, "I can't do this anymore. It just told me he was going to kill me." This better be the moment that he fully believes every single person. Nope. "I'm going to kill you, bitch." Anthony had not heard anyone else speaking with him and April. It was clear as day though in this recording. It was so haunting. It was the most haunting thing he had ever heard, and he's like, "It was threatening to actually kill April, so she wasn't being dramatic." And at this point, Anthony had to reconsider everything he knew. What if everything Kathy, who he had bought the doll from, said was true? What if Harold the doll was cursed or haunted? And if that were the case, Harold had already contributed to

1:01:00

multiple deaths or death sentences. And now here he is again, threatening to kill. But you'll have to wait until next

teaser of what's to come

week to find out what happens with Harold.

Oh my god. I know you said it was going to be a two-parter, but [laughter] I wasn't ready to end it now.

I know. And we've already been recording for like an hour, so.

Holy And we've already had a death. Yeah. And or and then like a death sentence, someone was Yeah. saved from cancer. And also, at this point, if you're reading the book, that's only 11% of the way through the book. Yeah. No way.

the story of Harold is far from over.

So you had to put 90% into part two? There's so many stories, so I'm not going to read every single story, obviously. But yeah, next week the story of Harold is far from over. But Anthony decides, "You know what? Yeah, I'm going to keep Harold for whatever reason." And this is crazy. Anthony's life becomes so entangled with Harold the haunted doll. He spends the next 10 years taking Harold places. He, she, it, whatever it

1:02:00

is, never should have gone. Like literally takes Harold on vacation. There's a whole series in part two where it's like, "Harold and Anthony go to go to see a psychic, play a Ouija board, go to go to the Stanley Hotel." Okay, things like that. I was literally like thinking that they were going to like the JW Marriott in Aruba. Like sitting on cocktails.

[laughter]

They kind of are.

They go see the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I mean, they basically are.

[laughter]

I was literally thinking it was a flat Stanley style, like just whatever vacation you might go on. Like I when I wrote that in part two, it like that was what I was imagining, like almost like a children's book series where like Harold and Anthony go do go do this.

[laughter]

But it's scary. Oh my god. Escalates fast. Harold takes a bite out of a medium. A child hundreds of miles away from Harold starts having accurate visions and starts to drawing them and sending them to Anthony. Ooh, I just got chills. And we will unpack what spirit or spirits

1:03:00

inhabit Harold the doll, and I'll just give you a little teaser. One spirit claims they are a demon. A demon that has danced with the devil. So yeah, that's fun. Next episode we'll also talk about how people from all over the world are impacted by Harold just by simply looking at a photo of him online. And it gets so bad that an exorcism is needed to be performed. All that and more next week. See you then. Great. Stay safe, everyone. We have seven more days. Isn't that We have seven days. And that's Oh my god. This is you had texted me and you're like, "I cannot believe we've never covered this doll." He's on all the lists. Yeah. It's shocking to me. And somehow we never covered Yeah. I think also cuz it's such a big topic.

Yeah. Yeah. This is terrifying. A bite out of a psychic. Mhm. Well, I won't force you to tell me until next week.

chapters for next week is, "Harold and Anthony go for a bite."

[laughter]

Very clever, very punny.

listener story

1:04:00

Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, you had warned me that this was going to be a scary and darker type of story. So, Did you do a lighter listener story? For both of these, part one and part two, I have found doll haunted dolls that kind of have a redemption. Oh, okay. Okay. To end on a lighter note. Because [laughter] Harold Okay, I will say Harold doesn't have a redemption story, but there are I mean, I'll just say it. Like there are multiple spirits that are stuck inside Harold, and like aside from the really horrible one, the other spirits are like you really do feel for them. Okay. Yeah. Aw. Yeah. Geez, I already feel bad for based on what you said could be happening. Yep. Okay. This is called Demonic Doll Plaguing My Dreams. Lovely. Okay.

Hey ghouls, I've been listening to the podcast for a few years now, and I've never sent any stories in despite my love of all things spooky. But I figured this could be a good one to start with. Mhm. A couple of years ago, I had this

1:05:00

dream that my mom, who's an avid thrifter and antiquer, brought home a porcelain doll. A dream? A dream. Okay. She had a face familiar to the Blythe dolls. Blythe? Blythe? Ooh, I'm just people have pronounced it before.

B L Y T H E Oh, they kind of look like Bratz dolls, but they're like more antique-y looking. Okay, yeah. Yeah, and she writes with abnormally large eyes and auburn hair. So, a little bit creepier than most dolls. My mom chose a spot for her in the living room, and we carried on. And again, we're in a dream, right? Yeah. Then we started noticing that she would be in different positions if we left the room and came back. And it started small, like an arm in a different position, her head tilted slightly. And then things escalated. She would be in a different location, standing instead of sitting. Ooh. And then she started moving right in front of us. And then she became fully alive, moving freely, and she wanted to kill us. Great. That does sound like Harold. I would wake up after she started chasing us to attack.

1:06:00

And I didn't really think anything of it. Dolls have always creeped me out, and I did a deep dive into the Annabelle case when I was way too young, so I chalked it up to being the stress-induced nightmare. Until I had the exact same dream a few weeks later. It was in a different place in the house, but the exact same plot, the exact same doll. Over the span of a year, I probably had five dreams exactly like this. I didn't really know what to make of it other than telling my mom not to bring home any dolls.

[laughter]

Okay, so the final dream I had was in a different house. She was chasing us around. We were hiding from her, and I didn't

was chasing you? Yes. Oh gosh. And I didn't wake up this time. We ended up in an attic, and from what I can remember, we sat in a circle around a sort of Tesla coil, and we were connected to it with wires on caps, kind of like an electric chair. And this is where things get fuzzy, but I remember that there was a lot of blue light and a lot of electricity, and I have no idea if we were trying to defeat this doll or if she was trying to electrocute us or what was going on. All

1:07:00

I know is that after that dream, I did not have any more dreams about that doll. It was over, or so I thought. Mhm. A few months ago, my aunt passed away, leaving behind quite a few dolls. No. One of them is a life-size porcelain doll. She doesn't look exactly like the doll from my dreams, but very close. I told my mom that she needed to get that doll out of the house ASAP. I do not play when it comes to demonic dolls. The night she brought this doll home, I had my old nightmares again. Ew. The doll came to life, just like before.

But this time I thought, "Well, maybe she's just confused because her owner passed away." So then I explained it to her. And she freaked out. I had one more dream like that, exactly the same, a few weeks later, but this time my aunt was also there. I remember being shocked that she was back, but I was able to reassure the doll that her owner was right there. And ever since that dream,

1:08:00

nothing has happened. Has it been my aunt's doll this whole time haunting my nightmares? Is there some haunted doll out there calling to me and projecting these fears onto my aunt's doll? Do I really have a deep fear of dolls coming to life?

[laughter]

I may never know. See you on the other side, Shelby. I think most people have a deep fear of haunted dolls. Yeah, yeah. [laughter] I definitely had some murderous American Girl doll dreams. Yeah. But isn't that interesting with like the I can't really explain the nightmares that happened before ever seeing the doll. But as soon as the aunt spirit came, Yeah. the doll the spirit felt reassured. I'm like, "Okay, I might be safe." Although I do wonder where she was kept, because Shelby had her mom remove that doll from their house. And also, it's just so creepy. Like the the nightmares itself are like it's not like a confused spirit. It's like a I'm going to chase you and hurt you. Yeah. So it's a questionable redemption? Yeah, I was like, "Where's the redemption?" [laughter] Well, it just it like it could have been confused and taken out its energy in a

1:09:00

weird way, and like what is time, and maybe it like always knew that Shelby was going to be somehow a part of the doll getting separated from the aunt, and like didn't want that to happen, and was like this was its way of threatening her in the past to influence the future. I don't know. It does remind me of Harold because a lot of people will start having dreams about Harold in part two, and based on simply seeing a photo of him online. Yeah. And then like the multiple spirits like have different messages. Yeah. Becky also haunted many people from just photos. Yep. Woo, that's too bad you saved all that you guys. See you next week for uh part two, which is and when Harold and his owner go to go on adventures. Get a bite. Yeah.

[laughter]

Jeez. If you have any paranormal stories about dolls, about if you get haunted from this episode, or if you just have paranormal stories in general, please email them to us at two girls one ghost podcast@gmail.com.

1:10:00

And you can also join us on Patreon for episodes one week early and ad free, plus bonus content, plus witch class and book club and there's so many things over there. It's fun. Tell everyone about the podcast. Maybe don't have them start with this episode just in case they get haunted. Unless they want to get haunted.

Yeah, true, true. Send this one to all the skeptics out there.

[laughter] [gasps]

What do you say about this? Shoutout to Jamie Ryan who edits and produces our podcast. Thanks to Sven who's protecting Yes. or maybe haunting all of you out there, who knows. Yeah. In a good way. Yeah. We love you all. And we will see you on the other side. Very spooky.