Did you ever get a toy for Christmas that scared the bejeebers out of you?

[nolabear]

I did, twice.

The first one was Chatty Cathy, which I got right after the Twilight Zone's infamous "Talking Tina" episode came out. I was five or six and that sucker went to the bottom of the toybox for years.

The second was somewhat similar, the last doll I ever got (I hated dolls really; I was a stuffed animal kid fron the get-go). It was called Little Miss No Name and was inspired by those big-eyed Keene paintings and, I guess, some sixties stab at social consciousness, because it was dressed in burlap, had a tear on its cheek and a pale, half-starved look. Even though I was pretty old we were going through some rough stuff and I think that doll put me over the edge. I couldn't be in the room with the thing.

Interestingly enough I got to thinking about it a few years back and found one on ebay and bought it. It's interesting, and still pretty damn creepy if you ask me.

So Santa bring any toys that damaged the little psyche?

[kayakjohnny]

1. Yes. One called 'Bats in Your Belfry'

It was a biggish plastic scary castle and you put these plastic bats in the top.

It was a game of sorts.

And at some point, unknown to the players, a plastic spring-loaded piston would shoot all the bats in the air.

And you were suppose to catch them with some kind of catching device.

It was more of a startle effect than an actual scare.

Now that I think of it, the pointy edges on those bat wings could've put someone's eye out.

I can't even find one on ebay now.

Here...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oAQKoE_Dd18/SwBS0dR722I/AAAAAAAAAM4/ZWpvJCRKeII/s640/Bats+in+Your+Belfry+1.jpg

[HopeHoops]

2. Yeah, the talking Sarah Palin doll I got last year.

Damn did it make nice colors in the fire pit.

[siligut]

3. Little Miss No Name looks like something Tim Burton came up with

Mind if I post her pic along with Sally's from The Nightmare Before Christmas? And I got stuff all the time that was weird to me, so basically I figured it was me and not the gifts.

[nolabear]

5. Oh no, go for it! I thought Sally was way less scary.

But then I met Sally as a grown-up.

[siligut]

6. You are right

I can see why LMNN was disturbing, especially as a child.

[surrealAmerican]

7. That is one incredibly creepy doll!

Was it supposed to look like it belonged in a horror movie, or what?

[nolabear]

9. It was supposed to look like a homeless little waif. A creepy, zombie homeless little waif.

Even stranger, I rediscovered the doll a few years ago when I stumbled across a book where models were being made up to look like various dolls, and there she was, with an emaciated, pasty model right beside her.

[Kali]

10. OMG

the first one >>> :scared: :scared: :scared:

[pinboy3niner]

11. Jeez, it looks like a "Children of the Corn" doll! nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. That jack-in-the-box thing with the clown inside. I don't like clowns.

[MorningGlow]

8. I can't think of one for me, but my son freaked out

over this giant Boohbah he got when he was 1. It was almost as big as he was, and if you squeezed its hand it would dance. He sort of liked the Boohbahs (and the Teletubbies) on TV, from a distance apparently, although that lasted a very short period of time, for which I am grateful. Come to think of it, this thing might have helped end the fascination.

[Flaxbee]

12. OH MY GOD, I would have gone around the bend if I'd gotten

Chatty Cathy. The Living Doll episode of the Twilight Zone terrified me for years. You poor thing.

I didn't like dolls or clowns, either. But I don't remember anything that creeped me out too much.

[nolabear]

13. Yup. I still don't like dolls. Their eyes open in the middle of the night, you know.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!