Introducing the Haunted Dolls of Olmsted County (Because 2020 Can’t Get Any Creepier)
Though not as scary as the election, the History Center of Olmsted County’s Creepy Doll Contest is sure to give you a fright.
With the end of election season a mere week away, Halloween horror can hardly hold a candle to garden variety political and existential dread. Just as we all know the cure for depression is sad songs, the cure for horror is more horror, and luckily the History Center of Olmsted County has returned once more for a sequel to last year’s wildly popular Creepy Doll Contest. It is Spooktober, people, so get good and scared. There’s plenty of time to sleep when you’re dead, which you will be after these dolls kill you.
With so much horrific reality out here these streets, the 2020 Creepy Doll Contest has ramped up its offerings, with opportunities to vote for a whole new range of nine contestants from the History Center’s museum collection; a Creepy Doll Costume Pageant; and a Creepy Doll Cocktail Party.
This year’s contenders seek to take the title from last year’s “Cloth Doll with Painted Face,” which dates back to about the 1850s and is currently enjoying all the benefits of her title — primarily making small children cry. Images of the horrifying dolls are on the museum’s Facebook and Instagram, or can visit them “live” in Olmsted County. But beware, if you make prolonged eye contact with any doll at the History Center, it may follow you home and end up sitting silently in a rocking chair you did not previously own, just watching. Just watching.
Staff will announce the winning creepy doll on Halloween night at the virtual Creepy Doll Cocktail Party, when he or she will be crowned and interviewed. No matter what questions are asked, the winning doll will simply whisper “Murrrrrrderrrrrrrrr” and cry tears of blood.
So whether your thing is checking out creepy dolls, dressing up like creepy dolls, or drinking creepy doll-inspired cocktails in sufficient quantities to pass out rather than stay awake thinking about creepy dolls, the History Center of Olmsted County has you covered. If nothing else, the return of the Creepy Doll Contest will go down in history as the second-most terrifying election of 2020
