Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The Day I Tore Up My Lifetime Mickey Mouse Club Membership

The absolute most bloodcurdling, spine-tingling incident to transpire in our house came via the seemingly innocent and familiar face of this Talking Mickey Mouse doll manufactured by Worlds Of Wonder. Remember Worlds Of Wonder in the 80's, the makers of Teddy Ruxpin? "Come on boys and girls, sing along now." This Mickey Mouse had the same prototype features as Teddy with a mechanical mouth that moved along with the storytime cassette placed in the back, eyes that rolled to and fro like a Felix the Cat clock, and Mickey's trademarked voice. We all found the "Disco Mickey Mouse" incarnation of the 70's a little unnerving, but courtesy of Talking Mickey Mouse, they now call me the anti-Mouseketeer. I wear my red beanie cap with the ears turned upside down!

My brother, Brendon, largely ignored the expensive Christmas toy, and though the doll would just appear in various places throughout the house, we never took much notice of it. My Great-Grandmother died of Alzheimer's complications in the game room of our home after we set it up for her Hospice care. After her passing, the creepiness level intensified.

One sunshiney day, I came home from school to find the house empty, without any notes detailing chores. I love that! So, I prepared to spend the afternoon plopped down on my arse watching the forbidden wonders of MTV, and drinking Coke in the living room despite my Mom frowning upon such behaviour. The ever present Talking Mickey Mouse had found its way to the sofa end table. Immersed in the television, I didn't notice anything peculiar until I got up to make a foray to the kitchen. When I strolled back out of the kitchen, I had to pass the end table, and that's when something caught my eye. The dormant doll had sprung to life without any prompting or button pushing. Frighteningly, at that very moment, its eyes transfixed upon me, and it started mouthing incoherent things. I shrugged my startled nervousness aside and moved in closer to shut it off. The oval eyes began shifting back and forth, and it continued mumbling things in a low voice that I couldn't understand, so I assumed the batteries must be losing charge. I picked it up and turned it over to switch it off, only to discover that there wasn't a cassette tape placed in the back of the doll. I thought it seemed odd that it kept rambling on without any cassette in it, but chalked it up to a cross circuited internal glitch. I looked for the power toggle, when the realization hit me that I was staring down into a completely barren battery compartment. My brother had long since broken the plastic battery cover, and I could see directly into the well where the batteries should have been.

I shrieked, and threw the possessed doll across the room, and then did the stupidest thing ever........I ran upstairs and locked the door to my room. Yes, if I'm ever cast in a horror movie, I'll be the first to die, because everybody knows that the biggest mistake is to go upstairs. I eyed the window that led out onto the roof, and decided that if Mickey Mouse ascended the staircase, I would jump to safety. I sat there, too scared to move for nearly an hour, my poor heart about to burst, and listening for the telltale movements of a wicked talking doll crawling its way to me. I instantly felt sorry for ever watching the movie, "Child's Play" that involved Chuckie the killer doll, because it brought about all sorts of ghastly scenarios to my mind.

My Mom made it home, and only then did I feel safe to come downstairs and see the wretched doll, not crumpled in a corner like it should have been, but sitting upright on the end table as though nothing happened. I frantically told my Mom everything, half expecting for her to tease my "all knowing" teenage self, but she didn't. Instead, she told me that the Mickey Mouse doll had done the same thing to her in the next room, where my Great-Grandmother died. She too, noticed the empty battery pack, and missing tape, but attributed it to nerves and depression since losing my Grandma. My stepdad called her "LOCO" when she told him about it, so she decided that her mind must have deceived her.

Eager to rid ourselves of M-I-C-K-E-Y, my Mom elected to send it up with Brendon to his paternal grandparents home out in the country since he spent a considerable amount of time up there. Largely forgotten, years passed by, and my Mom ventured upstairs at the country home. There, at the top of the landing sat the Mickey Mouse doll. My Mom walked by it to retrieve something from the room, when the familiar started up.......Talking Mickey Mouse began his low voiced mumble anew, scaring my Mom, and prompting her to scream with terror. When investigated later by my stepdad, it was once again revealed that the doll remained without any batteries.

23 comments:

Amanda said...

LOL! That is the funniest,and yes creepy too, story I have ever heard. Very, very strange.

Becky said...

yeah, that's freaky. i hope that this story is fiction. in fact, i just decided that this story has to be fiction, because that is the one and only way i will be able to sleep at night.

SalGal said...

Ohhhh.... you're bordering on sacrelige with me here... me & Mickey are bestest pals!

Elizabeth-W said...

You're making this up!!! I'm with Becky.
Last night I had a dream that my house was possessed. The toaster kept catching fire, and when I would try to unplug it, it wouldn't let me. Then when I realized what was going on, I tried to escape and the front door slammed itself and grew extra bolts. On and on it went until i woke myself up screaming.

Unknown said...

Creeeeepy. I was waiting for the punchline though. I was waiting for the part where you tell us the Disney Company doll told you to vote to legalize gay marriage.

jams o donnell said...

Hmm If you rearrange Mickey Mouse's name you get BEELZEBUB! or at least that's what the aliens beaming messages into my fillings are telling me anyway!

Great tale, ewbl

Mimo- JenK said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one with posessed toys around!
Spooooky!

Anonymous said...

Did they have fireplaces back then? Because you should have burned it.

Christy said...

That is a SUPER SCARY story. When we were little my sister had this music box that had a little ballerina in (you know the ones.) One day it started spinning and playing music for no reason. My sister went to ask my dad about it, thinking he would give her some sort of logical scientific explanation for it (he is an engineer.) Instead he told her rather briskly "we don't talk about that kind of thing." His response made it totally creepier then it was before.

I always get creeped out in church when people tell stories about dead relatives they see in the house or temple. I hope I never have a visitor from the beyond.... creeeeeeepy! I think I would die of a heart attack if I ever had a heavenly messenger.

Super Happy Girl said...

Well, I have that stupid recurring dream of the creepy doll turning her head very slowly to stare at me.
Non-battery powered Talking Mickey Mouse doesn’t make it any scarier.

Too bad there wasn’t an Ebay back then, imagine the kind of money people would have paid for such a thing.
Nevermind.

Rhonda Sloan said...

Good story! No truth to that, right?

We have a possessed Elmo, but he just gets up at 3 a.m. and says "Anabella likes bananas. Elmo likes bananas too."

elasticwaistbandlady said...

*sorry for the absence, I had to work all day, and half the day Thursday too. Life is so unfair. Wasn't I punished enough with the creepy doll experience?*

I warned you guys didn't I? The good news is that I saw a special on Depends adult diapers down at CVS Pharmacy this week, so don't despair!

Yes, the story is absolutely true. I recall every horrifying minute detail of that afternoon, and guess whose children does not own a single talking doll?

I have more stories to share throughout the week, some of the most hair raising coming from other families in the neighborhood. There's little doubt that the phenomena seemed pervasive subdivision wide.(nobody else had the psycho doll thing happen to them though) So, If you ever move to Houston, e-mail me, and I'll tell you the two areas to avoid buying a home in.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

One more thing, No Cool Story, BFF's (Bloggy Friends Forever) are not supposed to make their already creeped out friends more scared. That doll link, whoa! Talking Mickey Mouse fits nicely into a WOO WOO feeling because it didn't actually bring harm, it just caused a few pairs of our underwear to be ahem "soiled." That haunted bad luck doll is the stuff horror novels are built around.

COS GUITAS EN LOS DIENTES!!!!
(I don't know if I spelled that right, but it's a favorite Papi-ism around here)

Bill C said...

Wish I had a nickel for every time I've seen someone mistakenly blame "cross circuited internal glitch" for possessed-toy behavior.

Mostly because I want to get a Texas Cinnamon Roll from our vending machine and I'm five cents short.

Also I'm seriously considering bidding on that haunted bad luck doll. That'd make a great Christmas or birthday gift for... well, someone, right?

omar said...

I can't even remember what I was going to comment on, because I read RaJ's comment about the Texas Cinnamon Roll.

You Texans sure do that right, the Cinnamon rolls and the toast. Yee haw.

What was this post about again?

Unknown said...

I wish people would wear signs. Like,

"I ask people on Ebay if their haunted dollies have poop holes."

If they were wearing their sign, I would know to stay away from them.

Julie Q. said...

Oooooh man, I am so creeped out by your story that I'm starting to think your smiley faces are staring at me....coming towards me....singing to me...aaaaaaaah.

Super Happy Girl said...

Aww, let me make it up to you:

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
(Gave you my heart)
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Next year
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
special, someone, someone
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
who'll give me something in return
I'll give it to someone
hold my heart and watch it burn
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
I've got you here to stay
I can love you for a day
I thought you were someone special
gave you my heart
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone
last christmas I gave you my heart
you gave it away
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone...

Carrot Jello said...

Give it to me NCS. You're making me swoon with that song. I was your original lover anyway.

Millie said...

I've always thought Mickey was possessed. That voice is unnaturally geeky, even for a mouse.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

RAJ- It didn't have a knife, and the doll didn't call me out by my name, and the head didn't rotate 360 degrees, therefore I conclude it to be super freaky but not a cursed plastic menace like the doll. I'm waiting for my Veronica's CD by the way. I'll trade you a package of Texas Cinnamon Buns for them.

Omar- Don't you know? EVRYTHING's BIGGER IN TEXAS!!!!! My butt included.

payne- We have enough real live poop holed specimens in my home producing real life poop, that I don't want a poop holed doll too.

julie- The Blog Has Eyes Part XIII.

NCS- You stop that right now! You're making me yearn for the days when I wore my neon pink "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" T-shirt, with blue jelly shoes, and I thought I would grow up to marry George Michael.

carrot- Does this make it a triangle between the three of us? Now, THAT'S creepy!

millie- I got my revenge. I ate Mickey Mouse shaped EGGO waffles for breakfast this morning.

Bill C said...

"The CD is in the mail." Only, it's not heading your way. Yet. But it will!

glo said...

Uhm...exorcism?