12 Super Haunted Cursed Dolls That Will Induce Nightmares

According to one story, all hell broke loose after a woman in Galveston, TX, decided to purchase a voodoo doll from New Orleans on eBay. Once she removed the little doll from its silver casing, she released the evil into her home. She began hearing strange tapping noises and having vivid nightmares, and would find the doll in strange places. But then the activity became physical - the woman woke up with mysterious scratches and gashes all over her body.

Each of her attempts to destroy the doll or get rid of it only led to it finding its way back to her. She decided to send the doll back to the person she had bought it from, but the package was returned to her. The box read "resident deceased."

While he isn't available on eBay anymore, the doll Samson is a tiny terror who has been described as “jealous” and “possessive” by a previous owner. His last owner believed Samson cursed her with a mysterious affliction, which caused breathlessness, neck tension, sore patches of skin, and a burst eye vessel. The doll supposedly made messes, broke other dolls, and tormented a cat.

Previous owners of Samson have reported heavy poltergeist activity in their home: lights flickering, things thrown around the house, and terrifying activity in their baby’s nursery. They found Sampson in the crib with their baby as the mobile spun wildly, water dripped from the ceiling, and the rocking horse seemed to have a mind of its own.   

Samson has undergone sessions with a medium, and the entity attached to the doll claimed to be a little boy who was kidnapped and tortured before being brutally slain over 200 years ago.

Annabelle might be the most famous cursed doll of all time. She was first brought to public attention by demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, and Hollywood latched onto her terrifying tale in The Conjuring.

The real Annabelle is an old Raggedy Ann doll, but looks can be deceiving. This doll is supposedly possessed by a demon. It was brought into the home or two young women after one of them, a nurse, received it as a birthday gift - her mother had gotten it for her from a thrift store. Soon after the doll was in their home, strange things started happening. The doll would appear in weird locations and change little things, like crossing and uncrossing its cloth legs. Not only could Annabelle move around on her own, but she could apparently write as well. The roommates would find scraps of paper with "help me" scribbled on them. Finally, they saw the doll move its arms and called a psychic for advice, who told them the doll was connected to the harmless ghost of a little girl whose name was Annabelle. The women felt bad for the spirit and invited it to stay with them. That’s when its true nature was revealed and it began to act violently.

One night, the doll attacked the fiance of one of the women, who had been sleeping on the couch, leaving scratch marks on his chest. Once the Warrens were brought into investigate, they determined that the doll was in fact under the sway of a demon and had a priest perform an exorcism. The Warrens ended up locking Annabelle up behind glass in their occult museum.

For generations, Joliet has been passed down to the girls of the same family and so has the curse that's attached to her. The doll is said to have the souls of boys from their family trapped inside of her. Each woman in the family line has had a son and a daughter, though the boys have always mysteriously passed at just 3 days old. The doll is then gifted to the surviving daughter, who may hear the laughter and crying of the deceased infants coming from the doll at night.

According to Joliet's current owner, Anna, the curse on the doll came from a bitter friend of her great grandmother’s, who offered the doll as a cruel pregnancy gift. Anna's great grandmother gave birth to a healthy son who passed in infancy from a sudden illness. It’s been claiming the male heirs of the family ever since.

As the story goes, Robert the doll was gifted to a boy named Robert Eugene Otto by his grandfather in the early 1900s. The boy - known as Gene - loved the doll, and the two became inseparable. Gene carried Robert around with him everywhere he went and spoke to him as if he were real. But then strange mishaps began happening - and all Gene would say was “Robert did it!”

In adulthood, Gene kept Robert with him - talking to him constantly and giving him a seat at the dining room table. After Gene got married, he kept Robert in the turret room of his house. Neighborhood children said they saw Robert moving around in the window from the street below.

Since 1994, long after Gene and his wife passed, Robert has lived in the Fort East Martello Museum. But his malevolent power seems to linger: visitors who have mocked the doll or taken pictures without asking him first have ended up with a string of bad luck until they apologize. People even send letters and bribes (candy and money) to try to get the doll back on their side.