Beltrami County History Center Hosts Creepy Doll Tea Party to Promote New Exhibit

Dolls have had an interesting relationship with pop culture. On one hand, they’re perfectly innocent toys for children, but on the other, they can be a source of inspiration for horror icons. If you’ve ever wondered why dolls are considered creepy, the Beltrami County History Center’s Creepy Doll Tea Party had some answers.

The tea party and presentation that followed were in promotion of an exhibit the Beltrami County Historical Society is hosting in collaboration with museum group Minnesota’s Historic Northwest called “A Century of Play,” which explores the history of toys and games.

“One of the prominent toys featured is dolls,” said Beltrami County Historical Society Executive Director Emily Thabes. “As we were pulling out a few of the dolls in our own collection, we had a few that are a little worse for wear and maybe could be on the creepy side, and I thought it might be an interesting presentation.”

One of the topics brought up during the presentation was, “Why can dolls be so creepy?”

“We don’t like things that look a lot like us that aren’t us,” explained Thabes. “The more realistic that a doll looks, the more uncanny it is, the less comfortable we are around that item.”

Of course, not all dolls are creepy – after all, they were meant to be things children could play with. But understanding why we view these toys as frightening can hopefully decrease the amount of fear someone may have towards them.

The Beltrami County History Center will be hosting a similar event this Friday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m., this time focusing on the history of spirit games such as tarot and Ouija.