Pediophobia

I think the phobia might have nothing to do with the actual doll. Most phobias has actually nothing - or very little to do with whatever it's about.

A very simple explanation can be like this: Little Tommy is sitting at the table eating porridge and outside there's a thunderstorm. Then his dad comes home from work and he's in a very bad mood. So for no reason at all he slaps Tommy in the face.

A few days later Tommy has forgotten the insident but ever since he has hated porridge - it makes him feel sick - and he's very afraid of thunder.


Dustbunnie

 

I have a fear of anything that LOOKS alive but isn't.
China dolls freak me out.
Taxidermied animals freak me out.
Mannequins and waxworks freak me out.

I love my dolls, but I wouldn't leave them out all night. How weird is that?

 

I'm not afraid of most dolls... well not BJDS, but the Madame Alexander types - with the deer in the headlights blank I want to kill you stare - some of them creep me out. My mom had this big fabric bodied doll with long brown curly hair made of something weird when I was little, it was intended to be something to be passed down over the years. But I made her put it in the closet because it scared the 7 year old crap out of me. It had the creepiest look on it's face. I recently sold it at a garage sale, so I can sleep soundly again xD

 

I'm with you...most dolls, ventriloquist dummies in particular(they scare me to the point of tears) make me anxious and I'm a full grown adult-type woman. My bjd...I adore him, but when its time to crash for the night, in the box he goes. My rational side says its because my apartment faces east and I get tons of sun, and he doesn't need to turn butter-yellow in a matter of days...and my emotional side is anxious over him, though I am not nearly as scared of him as I worried I might be.

Taxidermied animals scare the hell out of me. I cannot be alone in the same room with them, and if I accidentally brush into them it makes my skin crawl.

 

I think for me, the only dolls that really scare me, are porcelin dolls, as the majority of porcelin I've seen were proportional to infants. They are often are very light in color and are usually asleep. In Selfie's post, people were frightened because the doll seemed like a dead infant. This is the reason for me not liking porcelin dolls. Especially since they are usually painted in such a life-like fashion, that unless you touch one, they seem like a real baby.

Edit: z3r0 - I agree with your first statement. I don't feel BJD's fall into this category because of thier joints. Stuffed animals don't do this to me either because you can tell it never was and never is going to become real. Taxidermized animals scare the heck out of me, along with china/porcelin dolls. Puppets get to me too but I can't find a reason for it.

I guess for most doll haters overall, if it looks like a person, can pose like a person, feels like a person (in a spiritual sense) but isn't a person, it's something to to fear.

 

Reactions that I've had to a senior delf boy that I used to have:

older man: Is that your baby?
older woman: Is that a pop star doll?
young woman: That is so creepy! ...Can I touch it?
young male store clerk: OMG! I thought that was a skinny baby in leather boots! O_O
another male clerk: Oh, I see... so are you a ventriloquist?

But noone has shown open fear or disgust. At least, not yet. haha. (wait till I start toting around my Vampire!kun to hang with me while I write at starbucks) haha. I will promptly report my findings here when the time comes.^^

For myself, I used to be afraid of this doll lamp that had blinking eyes... When I was about seven years old, my grandmother had given me an antique lamp that had a doll as its base. She had a black and red lace dress with veil, with red roses in her curly black hair. The parasol that she held served as a lamp shade. Thinking back, she really truly was a beautiful doll and lamp, but after I started having nightmares about her climbing off the shelve and into my bed, my mom gave her away to the salvation army. I started to be afraid of her (and pretty much just the idea of any other doll) for a few years after seeing the first two "Child's Play" films, only to start liking them again just last year with my discovery of BJDs.

 

I can see having a fear of gore dolls or horror modded dolls, but really, if someone is going to be afraid of a plain ol' doll or BJD then I hope they don't go in the Barbie section at the Wal-Mart too often.

I know people used to be creeped out by my Blythe when I was 10 because it had huge eyes and wasn't all smiley or a cute baby, but I always loved how she looked, so whatever, people are strange.

 

Huh, this has actually interested me also.

For me, I used to hate dolls (sadly, its very true). Any doll I saw I would hide behind someone or keep my distence. It was actually because when i was around 4 or 5 I saw this creepy goth doll. (It was more like horror punk actually) It was horribly cut up and scared, it looked like a chucky doll but it wasnt one. I remeber my brother told me not to get too close or it might jumo out of its box and bite me. From then on, I was scared of anything that resembled a doll.
Then, about a year ago I was introduced to BJD's and despite them being dolls, I fell inlove with them. It was as if I couldn't even stop myself, they were drawing me in.
I tend to go for the guy dolls because to me personally they hold an ellegance I just dont see in girls. Their slim face and small figure, (yes, I like the girlier ones) just seemed to make me want them.
I certainly cant really explain myself, it was just a feeling that made me want and want and took all of my attention despite my fear...I guess you could say BJDs helped me get over my fear of dolls

Sorry for my ranting, haha.

 

This is a brilliant thread, it almost belongs in "dolly debate"

Whoa, my mum said something scary: "I think they're creepy, but not scary. After all, just smash them into the wall." *makes smashing movements* Okay, now I'm scared O_o, my baby will never be left in the same room as my mother. Never.

Hmm, it makes sense that dolls and children are linked -not great sense, though- since in a way they're the same things. Small people. Small people we find difficult to understand, either because their brains are under developed, or they don't have them.

When you think about it, people with miniature, inanimate people is pretty messed up, as a concept. And bjds are so realistic, it could make people quite uncomfortable. Little children have dolls to either live through -she's a doctor!- or treat the way adults treat them, to feel more mature -baby dolls- it's probably quite hard to understand that our dolls are a cross between a work of art, to be looked at and appretiated, a story character to be developed, and a comfort toy -let's face it. Resin or not, they're cuddly.

And finding the dolls creepy could easily be a reflection on the way people see doll owners, because they don't know the reasons behind them, or do, but can't understand them. If you're narrow minded, anything new is pretty mind-blowing.

Though I still agree with the "death" reasonings.
(did any of that make sense? forgive my rambling...)

 

Personally, I can't really understand someone being afraid of dolls. I have always liked them and there is not any kind that scares me.

One of my friends is afraid of them though because she feels like they are watching her

 

This topic is fascinating! Partially because it's giving me some level of insight to a phobia I NEVER understood, and honestly found ridiculous because I'd never been given any real REASON for it (I'd also like to state, so as to try and not offend anyone, that I have some phobias that I also find ridiculous, such as a fear of grasshoppers and crickets, or any bug that jumps no reason for it...they just terrify me). The reason that I never understood is that I grew up around a LOT of dolls...my dad's mom collected them until she died, and mom's mom used to restore and sell them. So there were porcelain dolls around me all the time. I got my first when I turned eight. I still have her, and still love her dearly. So in having them always around, they never scared me. No, things like snakes maybe being in the toilet scared me (don't ask...it had to do with something on TV), monsters scared me, vampires REALLY scared me, ghosts scared me...dolls that represented things that scared me never bothered me either. I've always been right at home around dolls.

So reading all these reasons that people are, or could be, afraid of dolls is really interesting. Then there IS always the simple fact that some people are just scared of them, without any reason, like my fear of jumping (but otherwise totally harmless) bugs, or my fear of lizards and frogs or toads. They scare me, but there is literally NO cause for it. When I was REALLY little I used to help my sisters catch them...then it became that I'd only catch them with gloves on...now...I only want to see them from a distance, or behind a pane of glass. So I would assume that some people must be the same with dolls. Just afraid without anything to have caused it, no trigger, no association, just a fear that they can't shake and have no reason for, no cause to it.

 

I, honestly, used to be -terrified- of dolls.
I mean, to the point of tears.

My scary doll story (most find stupid, but at 7, I was scared to absolute death and that experience is, theoretically, the reason behind my phobia of the heartbeat.

Anyways:
Let's describe the setting.
Middle of nowhere, small room in the back of the house. Only entrance to my room is in plain view. I have a bathroom connected to my room. Only one door leads to the bathroom, which is located in my room. In the bathroom, there is ONE 1x2 ft window, set at least 5' above the ground, much beyond my uber-short reach, even if I were skinny enough to get through the window in the first place.
I had one of those Me-Dolls (the kind you send in photos of your child- l&r profile and front, and a mould is cast resembling the child to a tee. They stand around 3 feet, so she was a foot shorter than me.)
I also recently received one of those "noise maker" machines where there's a heartbeat setting.

Okay. So my friend, Eddie, and I were playing with my AmandaDoll (woah. I'm so original in naming my Me. XD) on top of the catpost. She slipped off of the top, and fell to the ground (a good 5-6' high) and scared the crap out of me. I scolded her and continually told her "Bad Amanda" as I walked her into my room. Eddie was bored, so he was fiddling with the machine, and he set it on heartbeat, since he found it soothing. I sat with Amanda in the heartbeat room, and decided my room was a horrible punishment place. (I had toys and a tv and whatnot) so I put her in my bathroom. I set her with her legs crossed and her head pointing down cos..you know, she was scolded.

Her "timeout" lasted "twenty minutes" so, in 7-year-old-time, that meant about a minute and a half.

When I went into the bathroom, she completely changed positions. (let me remind you, there is only ONE entrance, and me and Eddie were in my room the entire time, so I would have noticed if someone went in to change her position.) Her head was pointing a different direction, her legs uncrossed and her arms folded. Again, as punishment for moving (I know, I'm weird), I set her in another position--legs straight out, not bent, arms propping her up and head facing the window-- and she had to wait another minute and a half to be let out.
Again, she moved.
By now, me and Eddie were freaking out.
I have to point out that when she is moved manually, the wires in the body would squeak. No squeaking was heard from the bathroom the entire time.
We repeated this at least two more times, just to prove ourselves wrong...didn't work.

I took her out and told her "Good Amanda, I'm sorry Amanda" etc and Eddie put the heartbeat back on, since we thought that could have had something to do with it.

We tested her out again in the bathroom and she did not move. We tried two more times--same position as I set her in.

I never used the machine again, nor did I ever scold Amanda.
I never had something happen like that again.

And I've collected porcelain dolls for...ever...

Though, like I said, I'm deathly afraid of the heartbeat. As in: Fetal position, tears welling up, stopthisbeforeIstopbreathing sort of phobia.
It's weird...

Okay. Well I'm done sharing!

Now I love dolls

 

OK...way creepy! Sadly, NONE of my 'scary things that have happened' stories are REMOTELY on topic...unless and action figure counts as close enough...but I've no real fear from what happened with one...it's just a curiosity that causes me to continue to at least partially believe that 'dolls' have souls...

 

Hahaha, I know, right?
I've a few other 'scary doll' stories...including the infamous (in my town) "crying porcelain" doll my friend Danny and I witnessed one night...

I swear. Random relatives must possess my dolls when they get bored in the afterworld.

 

Hm, I have a cousin who had an incident like that. Her toy doll that plays music randomly played music and moved around even when it wasn't turned on... Freaky.

But I agree with most of the previous posts; porcelain dolls scare the living daylights out of me. They are much more proportional to a child and that just doesn't... sit right with me. But BJDs I don't feel scared of at all. Even the cousin mentioned above found my LUTS Aru girl really cute and was interested in her until she found out the price. xD

 

Actually I really love dolls. Neither porceline dolls nor those clown things ever freaked me out. I just never happened to be into dolls to much 'cause they are more like a nice decoration for your home then something with which you can be active and creative. That's exactly the point which brought me into BJD's. They are beautiful, possable and costumizable.

Therefor my best friend gets freaked out by my dolls. She says that she can't stand their eyes. They stare at you, they seem to wanna talk to you and move but they can't, so they just stare, always looking at you.

 

I used to be afraid of dolls because of such things like Child's Play and Slappy from Goosebumps...thankfully for the most part I got over that fear but some dolls really just are creepy.

 

I find clowns (human or doll) really sinister and certain eyes have made me afraid of my own dolls, lol, but I'm not scared of dolls really.

 

I had never really like the porcelin dolls, they, just seemed like they were a hollow empty shell with no life in them. As a kid, I did play with Barbies though, and those had more life than a porcelin doll. Once I discovered BJDs, it was just like, finally! Something that looks beautiful and that I can use a good excuse for sewing and taking pictures and makign stories xD

However, at my friend's birthday party, we all discovered this at that time. She had invited a friend, who had severe pedophobia. Now, granted, if I had not brought Kano out of his bag, we would have never known. but it was a good thing I brought him out so that now we know that she is deeply afraid of dolls. So, we just know around her, don't take out the doll, but if she asks, make her aware that he might be in your bag or something like that.

 

I'm absolutely petrified of China dolls and those wooden Japanese dolls that come in sets (the ones they use for festival purposes). I know why I'm scared of them, I blame it on this one episode of an anime I watched when I was five.

It had those Japanese dolls in it, but they got possessed (or so everyone thought) and started moving and talking and all that. It just crept me out so badly, I can barely stand to be in the same room as one of those dolls. Ironically though, at the end of that anime episode, it was revealed the dolls were not possessed by evil spirits, but rather they had developed souls of their own and were lonely after their previous owners passed away and they were packed up, shoved aside and forgotten for several years

Even so, hearing the dolls giggle and laugh and then having one of them pop their heads off in a really creepy way left a lasting impression on me ><!!

As for why I don't like China dolls though? I'm not really sure... I just don't like them. Oh, and same with clowns... I do not like clowns at all, with the exception of certain anime characters that deliberately dress up to look like clowns.