In Toronto, there’s something rather sinister on Queen Street this weekend.
Behind the doors of Red Sandcastle Theatre, a group of misshapen, cracked dolls are waiting for you to come out and play — if you dare.
“They just seem life-like, and they like people,” said Kathryn Bahun, co-curator of the Creepy Doll Museum.
Whether people like the dolls, though, is a different story.
“I actually think they’re truly horrifying. I’m glad they stay at your house, Kathryn,” co-curator Ben Hatcher told Bahun.
Ironically, it was Hatcher who came across the original doll — and now museum mascot — Jasmine Doyle.
Hatcher found Doyle abandoned in a deep freezer in 2016 when he moved into a new home in Peterborough, Ont.
On Hatcher’s birthday, Bahun gifted him two other sinister-looking dolls.
Then the family kept growing.
“A lot of them were the dolls left behind at garage sales, or flea markets. They’re the dolls that nobody would consider bringing home at all.”
Each has a story of their own, written by an Ontario author.
Five years since the inception of Creepy Doll Museum, the co-curators are getting heaps of donations from across the country from people who can’t stand the sight of such dolls in their own homes.
The museum opened in Toronto for the very first time Friday evening.
“Last year, we went to Wellington, Ont., and Prince Edward County. We thought we wanted other people to see the dolls and the dolls wanted to see other people,” said Bahun.
Bahun says over 200 people stop by over two days to see the dolls wherever they make a pitstop every October.
That includes — for whatever reason — couples on first dates, too.
Tickets to see the collection can be purchased online. The pair say proceeds will go to making sure an exorcist is on site should any of the dolls go rogue.
“The safety of our audience is of utmost importance,” said Hatcher.
The dolls will be at the Red Sandcastle Theatre until Saturday night, before they move on to haunt other audiences in their hometown, Peterborough, on Halloween weekend.