A SCOTTISH town is living in fear after the twin of an “evil doll” mysteriously disappeared from a charity shop.
The pair of vintage dolls was handed into the British Red Cross in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, with the strict instructions from the donor that they be sold together and never separated.
But one of the twins has gone missing from the shop, prompting the charity to post an unsettling photograph of the strange-looking doll left behind.
The abandoned twin is sat on a desk, dressed in a blue knitted cardigan and cream bonnet, staring balefully at the camera through a half-rolled eye.
The sinister image has traumatised locals with some even saying they will be locking up their houses in fear of a visit from the doll, which was a birth present to its former owner 60 years ago.
Teresa Fitzgerald wrote: “That looks like something out a horror film. God help the person that has the other doll. Freaky. Wonder what the other doll even looks like.”
Kelly Doogan Hughes said: “The fact the donor has asked not to separate them is a freaky too.”
Derek Gold wrote: “Must be the nice twin doll escaped and left the evil one.”
And Robert Hemingway added: “They need to get them both back and kill them with fire.”
While horrified Ian Bruce McGee also wrote: “I’m double checking my door locks tonight.”
Hilariously, referring to the terrifying doll in 1988 horror movie, Child’s Play, Stuart Kinnear asked: “Have you asked Chucky?”
The comments were made after an appeal for information on the Borders.co.uk Facebook page.
They wrote: “Missing doll appeal. The Red Cross shop in Galashiels was given a set of twin dolls.
“The dolls were handed in with instructions from the donor that they be sold together, never separated. Somehow, one of the dolls has gone AWOL.
“This would be around 22nd February. Please can the doll be returned to the shop ASAP to be reunited.”
Manager at the charity shop, Christine Swinney, today said: “One of the ladies that donated them and is part of our knitting circle group at the shop.
“She said if you want to sell them then fine, they’re 60 years old, were exactly the same, and were given to her when she was a little girl.”
She added: “I know it may sound corny and scary but her only stipulation was that they got sold together.
“They held such sentimental value and wore these little knitted cardigans, I decided not to sell them and had put them on a knitting table.
“A few weeks ago I came in and one was gone. I asked around if anyone had sold them by mistake but no one knew anything.
“We simply couldn’t find the doll anywhere. We said the doll had went AWOL because we didn’t know if someone had took it intentionally or maybe a child picked it up by mistake.
We just want the doll brought back, even if someone has taken it and wants to put it in a bag and leave it on our doorstep.”
Residents of Galashiels could be suffering from fear of dolls, a relatively common condition called pediophobia.
Individuals are usually afraid of all humanoid or “human-like-but-not-quite” objects including mannequins, marionettes, ventriloquist’s dummies, wax figures, animatrix or robotic figures.
Symptoms of pediophobia can include Rapid breathing, elevated heartbeat, dry mouth and feeling like being choked to death and also crying, screaming and trying to flee when around dolls.
