# Creepy baby dolls so lifelike police busting car windows to "save" it **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 15, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588 "2008-07-15T18:48:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/1 "2008-07-15T18:48:28Z")
[From this article](http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24019578-1248,00.html?Ick) [“Reborn dolls”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reborn_doll) [My fake baby](http://www.channel4.com/video/my-fake-baby/series-1/episode-1/living-doll_p_1.html) -Video > [@](#): > > Ms Cernik said last week’s case of mistaken identity mirrored a similar incident in the US when the window of a new Hummer was broken by police trying to rescue a “baby” that turned out to be a doll belonging to the owner’s wife. > > Selling for up to $1000, the painstakingly hand-painted dolls were so lifelike with eyelashes, fingernails, milk spots and wispy hair that they were constantly fooling people, Ms Cernik said. > > “They’re even weighted to feel like a baby’s weight and they flop like a baby,” she said. > > The dolls can even come with umbilical cords, cord clamps and their own birth certificates. > > “They are so realistic, people do become attached to them,” Ms Cernik said. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/2 "2008-07-15T18:51:43Z")
Ugh, that’s creepy. I don’t understand why you’d want one. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/3 "2008-07-15T18:59:34Z")
OK, the dolls themselves are creepy-but this is creepy as all get out: > [@](#): > > You don’t stop playing with dolls because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing with dolls. That is one twisted woman. Ugh–the dolls don’t look alive to me–they look dead. Plus, don’t you grow UP not just old? :dubious: (hey, I like toys, too–but this is ridiculous) \ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/4 "2008-07-15T19:07:43Z")
Here’s a fun thing to do: Go to your local Joann’s or Hancock Fabrics or Michael’s or wherever you can get craft supplies locally. Most of them will have a magazine section. Find an interesting looking dollmaking magazine. Revel in the friggin’ weird that is the dollmaking world. I’ve known a few dollmakers, and while I can confirm that mostly they are just genially dotty (and they would take pride in that), there are some very… very odd people in there. That “grow old because you stop playing with dolls” is a rather mangled quote from George Bernard Shaw: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” I see it used everywhere that people want to validate their hobbies. That’s FINE, generally, but an obsession is an obsession. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/5 "2008-07-15T19:09:19Z")
Dolls are sold under the premise “OMG, they look so real!” Lady buys one thinging “OMG, it looks so real!” All her friends upon seeing it say “OMG, it looks so real!” So what does she do? Leaves it on the backseat of her locked car. Clueless doesn’t even begin to describe it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/6 "2008-07-15T19:10:33Z")
I think if you’re going to leave a doll visible in your car that is so realistic that people are smashing your windows to “rescue” them, then you need to get a bill from the fire/police department for their services. Responsible doll ownership and all that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/7 "2008-07-15T19:12:06Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I don’t understand why you’d want one. [/QUOTE] I think it being in a new Hummer speaks volumes about the requisite mindset. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/8 "2008-07-15T19:14:53Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] Ugh, that’s creepy. I don’t understand why you’d want one. [/QUOTE] I’d like to coin a new word for this: stadpid. Kinda sad, kinda stupid. Both for the cops who are doing their best but smashing people’s windows, and for the people who are buying these creepy things. Ugh. That quote gave me the willies. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/9 "2008-07-15T19:21:39Z")
How about stupad? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/10 "2008-07-15T19:21:49Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’d like to coin a new word for this: stadpid. Kinda sad, kinda stupid. Both for the cops who are doing their best but smashing people’s windows, and for the people who are buying these creepy things. Ugh. That quote gave me the willies. [/QUOTE] Well, I don’t think you can really call the cops sad or stupid, if they genuinely believed they were trying to save a baby. Now, buying something that looks just like an unconscious baby is another thing. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/11 "2008-07-15T19:26:22Z")
I am envisioning a sequel to _Lars and the Real Girl_. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/12 "2008-07-15T20:02:21Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] Dolls are sold under the premise “OMG, they look so real!” Lady buys one thinging “OMG, it looks so real!” All her friends upon seeing it say “OMG, it looks so real!” So what does she do? Leaves it on the backseat of her locked car. Clueless doesn’t even begin to describe it. [/QUOTE] I have to agree with this. I don’t really care if someone wants to collect creepy looking “dead baby-like” dolls but leaving it in plain view in your car is just dumb. For that matter, leaving anything expensive in your locked car in plain view is really dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/13 "2008-07-15T20:23:27Z")
Hell_oooooooo_, uncanny valley. _shudder_ Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help but picture some hysterical mother whose baby has just died and she refuses to accept it. Wild-eyed psychotic break ensues, and she begins toting the dead baby around and doing all of the things she would do with it while it was still alive as if nothing was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/14 "2008-07-15T20:48:53Z")
There are a LOT of frustrated grandmoms out there. Can’t they find a more productive outlet for all that grandparenty goodness? God knows a lot of kids in the projects could use some of that. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/15 "2008-07-15T21:57:45Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] There are a LOT of frustrated grandmoms out there. Can’t they find a more productive outlet for all that grandparenty goodness? God knows a lot of kids in the projects could use some of that. [/QUOTE] Exactly–or they could volunteer to hold AIDS babies etc in the nurseries of their local hospitals. ☹ I find the jolly heartiness of this woman disturbing as well–doesn’t she realize the cops wasted their valuable time on her arrested developmental issue? ---
**Author:** ![AngryIrishLass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bbce88/32.png) [@AngryIrishLass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngryIrishLass)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/16 "2008-07-15T22:59:52Z")
It’s those re-touched photographs of the beauty pagent kids come to life!!! I would imagine these ‘art pieces’ are, at $1000 a piece, more for show than play. You really have to wonder about the folks who cart these dolls out in public. ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/17 "2008-07-15T23:03:29Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] There are a LOT of frustrated grandmoms out there. Can’t they find a more productive outlet for all that grandparenty goodness? God knows a lot of kids in the projects could use some of that. [/QUOTE] But if you help with kids in the projects, or hold AIDS babies as eleanorigby suggested, they still aren’t _yours._ You can’t guarantee that the kids in the projects will appreciate it, or that the AIDS baby won’t die or grow up to be a serial killer even though you were nice to it. With a doll, you control the story. The baby loves you and it never stops needing you. Please note I DO NOT hold this mindset. But I understand it. I feel sad for these people. It seems like something born out of extreme loneliness, and I can’t think of any constructive activity that would replace it (since, even if you adopted a real child, they would grow up, and you wouldn’t be able to control the story or make them appreciate or love you.) ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/18 "2008-07-15T23:08:43Z")
The doll collectors have my vote for the least in touch in with reality. Some American Girl collectors (grown ups) ship their dolls to other collectors, so the dolls can be on ‘vacation’ and the host takes pictures of the dolls in different locations to send to the owner. I’ve heard from a doll collector friend that some people won’t talk about certain topics in front of the dolls, cause it might upset them. ---
**Author:** ![Hirundo82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/919ad9/32.png) [@Hirundo82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirundo82)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/19 "2008-07-15T23:10:12Z")
[QUOTE=AngryIrishLass] You really have to wonder about the folks who cart these dolls out in public. [/QUOTE] I know what you mean; this from the article just dumbfounded me: > [@](#): > > “People do have to be careful when they go out with them.” Someone older than five or six years old taking a doll out in public seems really odd to my, even more so since it sounds like she is suggesting they be carted around in a stroller or bassinet. This is also really strange for someone who is not a child: > [@](#): > > “They are so realistic, people do become attached to them,” Ms Cernik said. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588/20 "2008-07-15T23:27:38Z")
[QUOTE=nofloyd] Some American Girl collectors (grown ups) ship their dolls to other collectors, so the dolls can be on ‘vacation’ and the host takes pictures of the dolls in different locations to send to the owner. I’ve heard from a doll collector friend that some people won’t talk about certain topics in front of the dolls, cause it might upset them. [/QUOTE] Ok, all that’s missing from this weirdness is American Girl porn–and NO, I don’t want to know! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-baby-dolls-so-lifelike-police-busting-car-windows-to-save-it/456588.md?page=2)