The Creepiest Doll Contest is back at the Deschutes Historical Museum. Dolls have been scattered throughout the museum, most of them more than 100 years old.
“I would be looking through boxes and be sort of shocked at how horrifying some them were,” Deschutes Historical Museum Collections Manager Rebekah Averette said.
Some may greet you with a smile. Others lurk in the shadows. All are a part of a collection that’s been years in the making.
“They’ve come from all over the place,” Averette said. “I would say a large number of our dolls are actually from Marjorie Smith, from the Marjorie Smith Collection. Marjorie Smith was the first baby born in a hospital in Bend.”
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Marjorie Smith was born in 1909 and lived in the building where Lone Crow Bungalo sits now in downtown Bend.
Before she died at the age of 100, Smith left her apartment, along with everything in it, to the Deschutes Historical Society.
“We have maybe 75 or 80 dolls that belonged to her. We even have some photos of her playing and having tea parties on the roof of the building when she was a little kid,” Averette said.
Some of the creepiest dolls in the collection are on display and selected to compete in the museum’s Creepiest Doll Contest, where the public can vote for their favorite nightmare fuel here.
The creepiest doll will be crowned on Halloween.
