A couple was taken aback when they discovered CCTV footage of a haunted doll moving on its own at night, raising fears that it was being played with by a ‘ghost child.’
Lee, 36, and Linzi Steer, 52, collect eerie dolls but feel this one is a’mystery’ because it was brought to them with no letter detailing its history, leaving the two unsure what may be hiding in its past.
Last Friday, the married couple returned to their haunted artefacts museum in Rotherham to discover that the donated Victorian doll had mysteriously shifted places on its shelf.
Lee, 36, claims the perplexing CCTV film shows the doll gently leaning forward in a controlled pace until its head tilts slightly, adding he has never seen anything like it in his 20 years as a real-life ghost hunter.
When the couple posted the video of the doll’moving like a person’ on social media, other paranormal followers commented that it appears like a ‘kid is cuddling it.’
Linzi, a resident of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, stated: “This particular doll did not appear to be haunted to us. People submitted it but didn’t tell us anything about what happened to her.
“Normally, they’ll leave us notes, but not with this doll. It was a puzzle.
“We went in on Friday and we both noticed that doll propped forward. I said ‘let’s just check CCTV’.
“No one ever goes in. It’s just me, Lee and Lee’s mum that have keys. We had to go right back to Tuesday [on the cameras] then Lee went ‘oh my god’.
“The doll advances in three phases, then its head moves.” It turns its head, as if its joints were literally moving like those of a person.
“It was propped up that way.” If it had been a natural fall, it would have ended up on the floor, but it didn’t. She was positioned in a way that defied gravity.
“That doll is quite hefty, and it was leaning at an angle.” This is the first time we’ve captured something moving on film at the museum.
“It perplexes me. I’m genuinely sceptical, but I’m not sure why.”
Lee and Linzi, the founders of Project Reveal Ghosts of Britain, shared the video with their followers and claim that the majority of them felt it appeared like a ghost kid was playing with the doll.
Linzi said: “There were a lot of people saying the footage looks real. The main thing people talk about is the actual joints moving.
“We posted it online, and 99 percent of people believed it appeared to be a spirit kid seeking to embrace the doll.
“Many visitors to our museum notice the presence of youngsters. It’s pretty strange. We wish to work with everything that is linked to the doll.
“We have 11 separate rooms filled with various stuff. [The site] was originally three miners’ homes, but it is now our museum, a café, and a little shop.
“We know it’s been a lot of things in its time, but the one thing we know for sure is that there were two children who were severely neglected in there.
“There is documentation of another child that was burnt and scolded to death.”
The duo welcomes private parties and ghost investigators to their museum, which boasts ‘five of the top ten most haunted artefacts to ever exist’ on exhibit.
“We own a haunted artefacts museum, and every weekend there’s someone in there researching,” Linzi explained.
“This museum has haunting objects from all around the globe that individuals have sent us, and the home itself is quite haunted.”
“We go down there after a crew has gone in to make sure the house is in good condition.”
