A “creepy” doll that spooked shoppers after it went on display in an Edinburgh charity shop has been snapped up by a celebrity psychic.
Deborah Davies, star of Unexplained: Caught on Camera, has added “Annabelle” to her collection of around 60 “haunted dolls”.
Ms Davies paid £220 in total for the toy, which has been sent from St Columba’s Hospice charity shop in Morningside to her home in Cheshire.
The former Real Housewives of Cheshire star told Sky News: “I’ll have CCTV cameras on it 24/7 and for now I’ll keep it at my home, which is breaking my own rules.
“I keep the rest of my collection a few miles away, as many of them were sent to me by followers following serious poltergeist activity.”
A picture of Annabelle went viral online after the Ashton-Drake Galleries doll was displayed in the store window with a note saying “I am not creepy”.
‘Somebody said they felt the doll’s eyes were following them’
Simone Varga, St Columba’s Hospice charity shop manager, said a former volunteer donated the doll as she was moving away from Edinburgh.
Ms Varga said when she opened the box, she was taken aback by how lifelike the doll looked.
She told Sky News: “When I took it out and saw the legs and all that, I was like ‘these do look like human legs to me’.
“It had the little shoes on, which was quite creepy, and the white bits on the nails. And the feel of it, it’s a plastic but a funny kind of plastic – a rubbery plastic.
“It went viral after somebody said they felt the doll’s eyes were following them when they walked past the shop window and then that was it.”
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Ms Varga said she was delighted Annabelle was going to Ms Davies and thanked the TV personality for the generous donation.
She said: “She will be going to a good home because Deborah obviously collects dolls.
“That’s an amazing donation she’s given us. It’ll go to the good work of the hospice.”
‘There may well be a soul attached to it’
Ms Davies said one of her social media followers alerted her to Annabelle and she believes the doll may have a “soul attached to it”.
Ms Davies said: “As Edinburgh is one of the most haunted places in the UK with a wealth of history and this doll was causing people to not be able to sleep at night etc, I felt there may well be a soul attached to it.
“Especially as it was in Morningside, which is well documented to be haunted.
“I personally feel that the soul attached to this doll lost a child that looked very much the same as this doll. I feel it’s an old earthbound soul from that area.”