Nathalie Ramirez disliked the ‘horrifying’ doll named Hannah that her mother owned so much that she secretly gave it to an Edinburgh charity shop – but locals found it so creepy it got famous
A woman who tried to secretly get rid of her mum’s china doll watched her efforts totally backfire as the ‘creepy’ doll went viral when it scared locals.
Nathalie Ramirez had disliked the “horrifying” figurine named Hannah for the 12 years that her mother, 74-year-old Angela Henderson, had owned it. And so when Nathalie was helping her mother move home, she saw her perfect opportunity to get rid of it forever.
The 51-year-old donated the doll to an Edinburgh charity shop and thought that was the last she would see of it. But she was quite wrong.
Hannah the doll was spooking people passing by the shop so much that it started to garner interest on social media. Locals thought it was so horrifying they were calling it the “creepiest thing they had ever seen”. Then one day it caught the attention of celebrity psychic Deborah Davies – and she decided to buy it for £200.
Nathalie said her mother was initially “quite annoyed” when she found out what had happened, but now she can “smile through gritted teeth” about the whole story. Angela, a passionate doll collector with more than 100 figurines, got her daughter’s help to pack all of them away when she moved house to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.
And Nathalie jumped on the chance to get rid of Hannah the doll by putting it into the box destined for the St Columbia’s charity shop in Morningside, a suburb of Edinburgh while she was helping her mum to pack up her possessions – hoping Angela wouldn’t notice it had disappeared.
Nathalie told the BBC: “I always thought it was horrifying and that she would never notice if I just stuffed it in a box. St Columba’s came round to take stuff off to the shop and the doll was in the first box I gave to the guy. But I did think whoever opened it, I would give them a heart attack.”
When the doll, now named Annabelle, was put on display in the charity shop people started to become fascinated with its eerie appearance, with some people even taking to social media to comment on it. Simone Varga, manager of the charity shop, said she “wondered if the doll would come alive”. She described how locals would say it was “haunted” and that it was “freaking them out”.
Simone said: “When I opened the box I saw its creepy long legs and real shoes, and then saw its eyes had pupils and its nails had the white bits on it. I thought it looked very human.”
So freaky was the doll that it initially failed to sell, so Simone had to slash the price from £180 to £90 and display it with a sign that said “I am not creepy”. Locals continued to share their thoughts about the Ashton-Drake Galleries doll with one person saying its eyes “follow everyone that walks passed”. Another person claimed it “comes to life at night”.
Eventually the doll was sold for £200 and made it into the newspapers. It was then that Nathalie knew her secret was out and her mum would find out what she had done.
She continued: “I thought I had managed to get away with it and the next thing is it is on the front page of the paper. Mum was initially quite annoyed. But I think now she is having to smile about it, but through gritted teeth.
“She volunteered with St Columba’s for many years and the doll has raised much more for them than we would have sold it for, so I think it has worked out.”
Deborah told the BBC she will be keeping the red-haired doll on display in her home, despite being apprehensive about its unsettling appearance. The psychic also claims that the doll has a human spirit attached to it, and she plans to speak to it in the hopes of carrying out an “investigation”.
