I know this appeared before as part of a long post a long time ago but I felt it deserved a WTF Monday post all its own as it still creeps me out.
I mean, WHAT?
This is wrong on so many levels.
For anybody weird enough to go find this triumvirate of terror for themselves, they can be found in an antiques shop window on Avenue Daumesnil, just south of the Bastille.
Where the old Vincennes railway used to run from the Opéra Bastille the line has been transformed into an elevated garden walkway, the Promenade Plantée, and the railway arches underneath are now a row of very posh shops, which is where the creepy babies live. There's also a wonderful coffee shop where you can sit and get over the shock of seeing them.
19 comments:
Isn't it interesting how dolls freak us out. Well some of us - others collect them. I was always drawn to a painting of dolls in the house of a friend of mine but knew I couldn't live with it. The dolls had such scary expressions. And then my friend - the artist - told me it was called 'Apres le Fete' or After the Party and they were all hungover and then I loved it and eventually bought it and it hangs over my bed...
Of course I don't see it from bed...
Love the shot.
Eek they do look creepy, especially the one on the right in shadow. Brr!
Hi, Jilly.
Yes, dolls can be creepy, but it's clowns and ventriloquist's dummies that freak me out and I notice you've got those pretty well covered in your recent posts. Brr …
A hung over doll sounds too funny.
Lynn, they'll come for you in your dreams tonight. Be afraid.
Clowns are just wrong and ventriloquists dummies should all be burned. (Bad experience with really creepy video).
These dolls are creepy but would they be so creepy if they had clothes on?
Hmmmm, yep they would be. Bad Bad haircuts. A forerunner of the dreaded chucky perhaps.
It's the way they look at you that's scary, Kate. They beckon to you. "Come … Come and join us."
It's a little like Tom Waits' "Black Rider:"
"So come on in,
It ain't no sin,
Take off your skin,
And dance around in your bones."
I dread to think what's behind that curtain.
I'm going to have nightmares now.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaa … etc.
I remember having coffee in a little cafe across from the Opera. I wonder if it's the same one you mentioned here.
The dolls are creepy. My mother had one of these when she was little, and I found it in a box when I was a kid. I accidentally dropped it and broke one of its legs, and I caught hell for it.
I love this area of Paris and have strolled both at ground level and above on the promenade. Your Mondays are quite entertaining and I totally agree with your assessment of this creepy trio. It did send a little shiver down my spine and I would not be able to look at these dolls in a bedroom. Perhaps I have seen too many scary movies?
Bises,
Genie
Robyn, this coffee shop was actually in the railway arches about a quarter mile from the Bastille.
If I'd found a doll like this hiding in a box, I'd have dropped it, too. Your mother ought not to keep such scary things hidden where her daughter can find them.
Genie, isn't the Promenade a gorgeous place for a sunny walk? I've got lots of photos of it so I might post some at some point.
These are definitely not the kind of doll any sane person would want in their bedroom.
What is it about dolls? I did still life paintings of old dolls back in the undergrad days. Everyone thought they were creepy. I just thought I could get some sense of "figure painting" without the model. I still have them! I should pull them out, photograph them and post them!
P.S. The shadows and the cages add to the weirdness here!
I'm not sure why, but I find this as sad as it is creepy.
I agree; creepy and haunting, especially the one on the right with her arms held out and that birdcage in front of her. Is that a little Christmas globe in front of them?
When my nieces were little they had numerous Barbie dolls -- and one particular male doll my sister called "Bad Hair Ken". Poor Ken had a close encounter with a pair of scissors wielded by a 6-year-old.
Neetzy, that is a scary prospect. I think it is the staring eyes in the immobile faces that spook people.
The cage made me think of Edward Gorey.
Lucio, me too, though the dolls seem happy enough in themselves. Perhaps a little too happy as they beckon us inside.
Ms.M. I have never figured out the relevance of the weird snow globe.
"Bad Hair Ken" just gave me my first snorty laugh of the day. Thank you for that.
did you really just say 'on so many levels'?
Yep, I find it a little bit sad as well as creepy.
I did. I was sitting and typing and suddenly got smacked around the head by a pointless cliché. It happens sometimes and I can only apologise.
Hahahaha. And EEEK! What was that Stephen King novel about the haunted antique shop? Needful things? I never played with these types, but instead kept it glamorously pool side with my Barbies. baha
Hee hee, Shan. I think these creepy monsters would send Barbie and Ken running for the hills (or driving there at top speed in her spiffy pink convertible).
I'd run into this shop immediately to see what else they have. Imagine what odd treasures and weird thingies await inside.
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