Haunted Dolls: Love at First Fright Artwork

Curious Explorers

What’s haunting the Paranormal Museum in Asbury Park ?
Are orbs ghostly phenomena or mere camera artifacts?
Can what we do in the future influence the past?
How are precognition and retrocausation connected?
Do the same psychological principles apply to both the living and the dead?
Did Abraham Lincoln foresee his own death?

Join historian Kathy Kelly, proprietress of The Paranormal Museum, and psychologist Traci Stein as they explore the evidence for - and against - a paranormal explanation for all things mysterious, historical and most of all - paranormal.

[Theme song, "The Paranormal is Real" by Leonell Cassio, used with permission.]

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Curious Explorers

Haunted Dolls: Love at First Fright

January 25, 2026 • Kathy Kelly and Traci Stein • Season 2 • Episode 21

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Ever wonder why that vintage doll at the estate sale is giving you major bad vibes? Traci and Kathy crack open the creepy toy box on haunted dolls, from eBay's booming market to the A-listers of possessed porcelain (looking at you, Robert and Annabelle). Kathy spills the tea about her 100+ haunted doll collection – including the one that sent her running from the Paranormal Museum in the dead of night.

Meanwhile, Traci reminisces about a Dead Files gem: one woman, 2,000 haunted dolls, and a daughter who's really into death.

Find out who sent Traci a (possibly) haunted doll, and what possessed her to stage a full-on photo shoot with it; why spirits love seeping into tiny ceramic bodies; when "collecting" crosses a weird line, and the science behind why dolls creep (most of) us out.

Catch the Curious Explorers Podcast on Apple Music and all your favorite streaming apps.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/curious-explorers/id1756564535

For more on the ladies of Curious Explorers, visit: https://curious-explorers.com/

For more on Kathy Kelly and the Paranormal Museum, visit: https://paranormalbooksnj.com/

For more on Traci Stein, visit: https://www.drtracistein.com/

To read the article by Rosemary Ellen Guiley mentioned in this episode: https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2689#:~:text=March%2016%2C%202018%20READ%20TIME,activated%20by%20the%20right%20circumstanes.

To read the VICE article mentioned in this episode: https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-is-why-we-think-dolls-are-creepyutm_sourcetonicfbus/

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