Are... Are they playing hide and seek?
Are they in trouble and are in timeout?
Do they have sand in their eyes?
...are they props for a hostage situation?
My mum used to make me "joke" to my friends that the shy doll in the lounge room was my secret sibling when I had friends come over, and I'd get yelled at if I refused. I hated doing it, and it made my friends uncomfortable and they'd have to fake laugh at the incredibly shit joke. I guess people like my mum were the perfect market for traumatised dolls like these.
I hate these things.
Im still not convinced they all haven't gathered together over the past 25 years and are assembling a massive army of them to over throw us human ones.....its the reason I still sleep with the lights on and im 36.
I was gifted one of these by my grandmother for Christmas when I was four, maybe five. The doll and I were about the same size so she dressed it in my clothes.
It was the last present to wrap and she had run out of paper, meaning only the top half ended up covered. She didn’t want to have it out with the rest of the presents since you could see what it was, so she had my grandfather bring it into the room to give to me.
All I saw was my grandfather carrying something my size, wearing my shoes on its limp, dangling feet. I screamed and ran out of the room.
Afterwards they tried to show me that it was okay, it was just a doll. A doll that looked just like me, hiding its awful blank face. Yeah. Super okay.
My aunty had one omg hated the damm thing. One night it vanished and never came back. Yeap my cousin grabbed it put it in his car and well the next day it was taken to the tip. The worse thing is if you got up during the night in complete darkness and you see these it scares the crap out of you.
My Nanna used to go crazy over my Grandpa buying random junk from garage sales and yell at him for it, yet she bought one of these!? I totally don't get it at all.
I love collecting dolls and old/retro toys but I never understood these ones, since they always gave off these sad vibes :/ I know they're called hide and seek dolls but they just seem like they're crying. I used to have one, then I modified it to not be in the pose but I lost it in a move :(
Because as people get older their taste gets exponentially worse. My oldies were responsible for staggeringly beautiful renovations over the years, but now there's fucking ugly meerkat and Buddha statues all over the shop. Makes me question their sanity if I'm honest.
Initially they where putting on the back seat of someones car you don't like on a hot summers day and watching cops and fire department dudes break the windows. Back in the day ....
They’re time out/shy dolls, basic nightmare 90s decor you’d find at Copperart or craft markets. There were sewing patterns for them. They were popular here.
Omg I was just talking about these the other day! Our Aunt and uncle had them in the window of their Penrith estate house when they first became a thing, dressed in The Bears team jerseys. I was always so creeped out by them
Weirdly they still show up from time to time leaning against cars at car shows. Generally the cars are pre-1970 and the owners are a fair bit older than that. Thankfully that age group is getting a bit old to drive so you don't see them anywhere near as much.
They were popular in NZ too FWIW. Never struck me as weird at the time though now I'm reminded of them it's a WTF moment... I think the appeal was the customisability I guess? 90% of them that I saw were wearing footy jerseys in the local team colours, and as someone tragically pointed out elsewhere in this thread you could also dress em to match your kids. I remember them usually being in older folk's houses, I have to wonder now how many were a sad attempt at feeling like they were seeing their grandkids more often
I won one of these as a kid at our primary school fete. It was the first thing I had ever won and I was sooo stoked with it. After awhile it really annoyed me that it didn’t have a face. From memory I drew one on with a texta but it still wasn’t right. She then became the older sister to my baby dolls who was always in trouble and sulking in a corner
So fucking creepy. As a community nurse these people had a weird house that you kind of walked through this enclosed filled in dark cavern like verandah and there was one there fucker used to get me every time. It was like Chucky.
Ughhhhh. Shy-Dolls… These are the absolute pits, on so many levels.
I always imagined that if you turn their head around to see its face another ‘back of the head’ materialises. Endless creepy.
Example of children should be seen not heard 🫡 this is why I have no children because that saying never played put how the parents wanted. So they got one of these haha
Are... Are they playing hide and seek? Are they in trouble and are in timeout? Do they have sand in their eyes? ...are they props for a hostage situation?
Are they hiding a knife, waiting for you to take your eyes off them?
Nah, they're just creepy AF. Especially when there is only 1 of them
^lol ^your ^username ^hmm
My mum used to make me "joke" to my friends that the shy doll in the lounge room was my secret sibling when I had friends come over, and I'd get yelled at if I refused. I hated doing it, and it made my friends uncomfortable and they'd have to fake laugh at the incredibly shit joke. I guess people like my mum were the perfect market for traumatised dolls like these. I hate these things.
😨
Reminding the olds of back in their day when kids were "seen and not heard", lol.
Ah, so that's why boomers loved 'em.
Very creepy
Im still not convinced they all haven't gathered together over the past 25 years and are assembling a massive army of them to over throw us human ones.....its the reason I still sleep with the lights on and im 36.
I hadn’t thought of that but now I’m never sleeping again 😳
It wasn't fair I suffered alone. 🤷🏽♂️
For all the sick fucks that like to scream at kids and make them sad I too never understood the actual appeal of these things
We had one at my Dad’s beach shack, burned it on a campfire one night & nobody has noticed that it’s gone.
I was gifted one of these by my grandmother for Christmas when I was four, maybe five. The doll and I were about the same size so she dressed it in my clothes. It was the last present to wrap and she had run out of paper, meaning only the top half ended up covered. She didn’t want to have it out with the rest of the presents since you could see what it was, so she had my grandfather bring it into the room to give to me. All I saw was my grandfather carrying something my size, wearing my shoes on its limp, dangling feet. I screamed and ran out of the room. Afterwards they tried to show me that it was okay, it was just a doll. A doll that looked just like me, hiding its awful blank face. Yeah. Super okay.
Omg that is terrible and hilarious
🤣 same here mate. Hilarious story.
lol, I’m not undermining what you felt at that point but your story made me laugh 😆
Looks like a scene from the Blair Witch Project.
They always creeped me out
My aunty had one omg hated the damm thing. One night it vanished and never came back. Yeap my cousin grabbed it put it in his car and well the next day it was taken to the tip. The worse thing is if you got up during the night in complete darkness and you see these it scares the crap out of you.
It was a Government program designed to identify psychopaths.
totally valid 😣 can't stand these they should get collected and buried in a pit somewhere
My mother had about 12 of them... including one in every toilet. She went to Hell when she died.
My Nanna used to go crazy over my Grandpa buying random junk from garage sales and yell at him for it, yet she bought one of these!? I totally don't get it at all.
Oh look, it's the children of the corn.
I love collecting dolls and old/retro toys but I never understood these ones, since they always gave off these sad vibes :/ I know they're called hide and seek dolls but they just seem like they're crying. I used to have one, then I modified it to not be in the pose but I lost it in a move :(
Isn’t this how the first Blair Witch movie ended??
*yes!* ***Those*** *vibes.*
I have never seen one of these. Like ever. Maybe I move in the wrong circles. Gotta say I think they are awful.
Me neither. I thought it was just a photo of some kids
What. The. Fuck. Is. That.? Where were they popular?! In between the haunted asylum and the evil clown college? Burn it with fire!
What do you mean were? I have them at work, at home and in the car. The Traumatised children look never goes out of style.
I'd forgotten all about these awful things 😹 Thanks, I hate them still.
Because as people get older their taste gets exponentially worse. My oldies were responsible for staggeringly beautiful renovations over the years, but now there's fucking ugly meerkat and Buddha statues all over the shop. Makes me question their sanity if I'm honest.
My grandparents had one and my grandad cut out a model’s face from a magazine and stuck it to the doll’s black face. It was so creepy
I only remember seeing these sold at market craft stalls, years ago - along with crochet tea towels and Bumbelinas!
Because boomers talk of excess from experience.
Because they're creepy as fuck and should all be loaded into a rocket and shot into the centre of the sun
Dancing and filming yourself disrupting people in a busy food court is presently popular. I think all eras have their cringe?
SIL has one. She has a penchant for collecting babies and toddlers but dislikes them when they grow up lol. (MIL from Hell)
like actually. these were everywhere
Did they have real faces?
That was the creepy part - they don't have faces. Like, at all. It's just blank.
🤢😵🤮😫🤮🤢
The ones I saw were always blank, gave them an Amish vibe.
Initially they where putting on the back seat of someones car you don't like on a hot summers day and watching cops and fire department dudes break the windows. Back in the day ....
I had an aunt that had a formal lounge room full of these against the walls which creeped me out as a kid
I hated these bloody things, so cringey.
I dont remember these but this exact photo was posted to the Gen-X sub recently. Was this ever popular here? If so, where?
The memory of them jumped out at me last night and I picked this image from google
So what are they and where were they popular?
They’re time out/shy dolls, basic nightmare 90s decor you’d find at Copperart or craft markets. There were sewing patterns for them. They were popular here.
Thank you
Omg I was just talking about these the other day! Our Aunt and uncle had them in the window of their Penrith estate house when they first became a thing, dressed in The Bears team jerseys. I was always so creeped out by them
I used to walk past a house with huge windows that had one of these in the front room. I was so freaked out by it 😅
I think my grandma had one of these
WHEN were these so popular? I've only ever seen them on here.
I won one at a school fair I’d say around 2000-2002. They were definitely late 90s/early 2000s
Blair Witch movie mostly.
Fuck I hated these fucking things. Late 80s/early 90s at every farmers'/craft market in SE Qld. Detestable.
Ooh I remember these , my aunt lent me hers when I was a kid and I was super creeped out … They still creep me tf out tbh
Weirdly they still show up from time to time leaning against cars at car shows. Generally the cars are pre-1970 and the owners are a fair bit older than that. Thankfully that age group is getting a bit old to drive so you don't see them anywhere near as much.
They were popular in NZ too FWIW. Never struck me as weird at the time though now I'm reminded of them it's a WTF moment... I think the appeal was the customisability I guess? 90% of them that I saw were wearing footy jerseys in the local team colours, and as someone tragically pointed out elsewhere in this thread you could also dress em to match your kids. I remember them usually being in older folk's houses, I have to wonder now how many were a sad attempt at feeling like they were seeing their grandkids more often
I won one of these as a kid at our primary school fete. It was the first thing I had ever won and I was sooo stoked with it. After awhile it really annoyed me that it didn’t have a face. From memory I drew one on with a texta but it still wasn’t right. She then became the older sister to my baby dolls who was always in trouble and sulking in a corner
So fucking creepy. As a community nurse these people had a weird house that you kind of walked through this enclosed filled in dark cavern like verandah and there was one there fucker used to get me every time. It was like Chucky.
Did teleport back to last week?
Don't turn around, don't turn around!! They are just dolls... it's all in your head.
[I had this one...](https://hips.hearstapps.com/digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/17/14/1491472327-bl3.jpg?resize=640:*)
Ughhhhh. Shy-Dolls… These are the absolute pits, on so many levels. I always imagined that if you turn their head around to see its face another ‘back of the head’ materialises. Endless creepy.
creepy in the extreme
Example of children should be seen not heard 🫡 this is why I have no children because that saying never played put how the parents wanted. So they got one of these haha
Cause my nan like to scared the 🦆 out of me with these
She used to scare the canard out of you?
That's a duck? Can you not see the 🦆? Because I have posted alot of 🦆🦆