Mental Floss

Ready or Not: How Time Out Dolls Went From Cute to Creepy

From crafting fad to car show staple, these vintage dolls have stuck around over the years. They’re supposed to be cute—so why is the internet convinced they’re haunted?

By Kaeli Conforti|
Adorable or terrifying?
Adorable or terrifying? | Christopher Ziemnowicz, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 4.0

If creepy dolls freak you out, steer clear of car shows and certain corners of the internet. There you might come across time out dolls: kitschy, retro dummies made to resemble children. They’re often placed in the corner of a room as if they’re in time out—hence the name. Even stranger, they’re always posed with their arms covering their faces, and if you were to turn them around, you’d find that most don’t have faces at all.  

Videos of allegedly haunted time out dolls have been making the rounds on TikTok recently, but their creepy reputation is nothing new. So how did the dolls gain popularity in the first place? Why are so many people convinced they’re haunted or possessed? And what do they have to do with vintage cars? 

  1. Misbehaving Mannequins
  2. Viral Villains
  3.  Alarming Antiques

Misbehaving Mannequins

Time out dolls—also known as corner dolls, hide-and-seek dolls, peekaboo dolls, or pouty dolls—hit the home decor scene sometime in the 1950s. While they can’t be traced back to any one creator or brand (many are handmade), they became a minor phenomena, peaking in popularity in the 1990s.

Unlike other dolls, they’re not meant to be displayed on a bed, shelf, or sofa. Instead, they are typically positioned against a piece of furniture or propped up in the corner of the room, giving the appearance of a youngster being punished for doing something naughty. Standing about 3 feet tall, they can be dressed in the hand-me-downs of the children they’re modeled after. For some crafters, the resemblance to real kids is part of the appeal. “I have one made like Shirley Temple with all the curls,” one crafter told the Indian River Press Journal in 1998. “She[’s] dressed all in ruffles. They look just like real babies.”

For others, it’s the source of their horror. “People give two very distinct reactions to these dolls. Either they think they are strange and creepy, or they see these dolls and like them right away,” another doll-maker told The Signal in 2000.

At some point, they also started making appearances at antique automobile shows. They’re often posed in the backseat of the car, near the steering wheel, or set up on the bumper, with their outfits coordinated to match the vehicle. While time out dolls have largely fallen out of fashion as home decor items, they’ve stuck around in this context. Some theorize they’re used to cover up any of the car’s defects. Others suggest it started as a way to draw parents with kids to the car shows. Another possible explanation: It was an easy way for the wives of car collectors to get involved with their husband’s favorite hobby.

Viral Villains

Should you ever come across one of these strange dolls, do not under any circumstances bother them or talk badly about them in their presence—at least that’s what many superstitious users on Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok say.

In one series of viral TikTok videos, a user posting as Soph Clayton shares her experience with two time out dolls she found while babysitting. After stumbling upon a time out doll dressed like a girl, she talks about how creepy it is and rings the bell attached to its pants. She soon discovers a second doll, dressed like a young boy, in the other room. After ringing its bell and noting how strange it is to find two of them in the house, she films herself imitating its bizarre time out pose by resting her head in her arms against the wall. At this point, a shadow or glimmer of movement can be seen in the mirror beside her, indicating something—or someone—with a small, child-like stature has just run across the hallway out of frame. To add more horrifying context to the sequence, the creator hasn’t posted to the account since the videos were shared in 2020.

Is this proof that haunted dolls walk among us? Fortunately, no. Concerned TikTok users managed to track down the original creator after noticing her absence from the app. She’s alive and well, and has since posted to another account as Fiona McGarvey.

Even if the video was staged, it’s evidence of the creepy reputation the dolls have managed to build. They’ve become the stuff of internet urban legends. In one YouTube video, creator Jessii Vee shares a story of a woman hearing her Grandma’s hide-and-seek doll counting to 30 in the middle of the night. Once the countdown was complete, she allegedly heard the creepy little voice say “Ready or not, here I come!” before running around upstairs.

The host goes on to share another account of a woman who was dogsitting in a house where multiple time out dolls were set up in different rooms. The story ends with her waking up one night to find them all in her bedroom and leaving immediately.

 Alarming Antiques

Despite the near-universal consensus that these dolls give off bad vibes, they haven’t disappeared from the culture completely. In addition to car shows, you may find them in antique stores and homes that haven’t been updated in decades.

If you somehow find yourself in possession of one of these eerie dolls and want to get rid of it ASAP, one Reddit user suggests simply burning it. You could also try selling it, as there’s a proven market for supposedly haunted dolls.

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