Dozens of shiny porcelain faces greet visitors at the Mattapoisett Museum this week.
“So these are the scary dolls,” said the museum’s president Kyle CeCicco-Carey, who curated the "Creepy Dolls” exhibit alongside the pews of the 200-year-old church that houses the museum.
The historic figurines, some more than a century old, will highlight this Saturday’s Happy Haunting event, a family-friendly affair complete with spooky storytelling.
The dolls weren’t always a fright—they were once beloved by Mattapoisett’s children. Before mass-produced plastic, parents would buy porcelain doll heads from a store then make the bodies at home with sewn fabric.
DeCicco-Carey said the dolls’ ever-gazing eyes unnerve some modern-day visitors. “You see a human face, but you’re like: ‘this isn’t right,’” he said. “They’re just staring.”
Many of the figurines feature real human hair, he added.
