It’s just over a week or so until Invisible Fiends: Raggy Maggie is published, which means it should start appearing in bookshops any day now.
For those of you who don’t know, Raggy Maggie is a creepy, porcelain-faced doll who belongs to an even creepier little girl called Caddie. Utterly unhinged and incredibly dangerous, Caddie is the villain of the book, torturing and maiming everyone she meets under the ever-watchful eye of her dolly.
Over the last few weeks I’ve spotted a few creepy-looking dolls on my travels. I’ve snapped some photographs of some of them on my phone, and thought I’d post them here for you to see. If you have any creepy dolls in your house, take a photo and send it to me at barry@barryhutchison.com and I’ll post the pictures here on the site.
Anyway, here are a few to get us started.

I bought this one in a toy shop today after my 11 month old daughter, Mia, took a shine to it. The photo doesn’t actually do it justice – in real life its expression is bordering on the demonic, but every time I tried to take a picture I failed to capture its true evil nature.
The label on the box just said “Bath Doll”, presumably because any right-minded person would instinctively want to drown the thing at the first possible opportunity.
Right, now on to the really creepy ones. Apologies for the quality of these pictures. My hands were shaking too much to get good ones.

This picture was taken at the Callander Toy Museum, just outside Stirling in Scotland. They’re all pretty creepy, but its these two who really went out of their way to scare the living crap out of me:

Action Man used to have moveable eyes that allowed him to look left and right. The big fella at the back there can see into your very soul! I mean… Jesus Christ, look at him! You can’t say you’d be surprised if he started moving, can you? Horrified, yes, but not in the least bit surprised.
And I can’t help but think that the girl on the left looks like a young Margaret Thatcher. If that doesn’t send a shiver down your spine, nothing will.
At the same museum, I took this photo. It’s a bit blurry because I couldn’t even bring myself to look at this lot while snapping the picture.
Brace yourself.

I mean, where do you start with this crowd? The big lass in the middle is an obvious contender for Creepiest Thing in the Room, but the taller one with the red dress and the face like a bulldog chewing a wasp looks like she hates every living creature on Earth.
And what about the sailor, with that cheeky little smirk? I can imagine him whispering “I been a vewy naughty boy” as he repeatedly plunged a knife into your neck. In fact, every doll in the picture looks capable of cold-blooded murder. It’s not a glass case they should be in, it’s a lead box. Buried deep underground. And doused in Holy Water.
So there you have it, a few of the creepy dolls I’ve come across lately. None of them are anywhere near as disturbing as Raggy Maggie, but you’ll have to read the book when it comes out to find out why.
Remember, if you have any creepy dolls in your house, take a photo and email it to me and you could see it up in a gallery on this very site, along with your name. The scariest doll might even win a prize.
Maybe.
But no promises.