Island of the Dolls
Iris Statler awoke to the feeling of the fetus inside her giving her a mighty kick. She yawned, rubbed her bulging abdomen and smiled with contentment. Any day now she would become a mother. When she heard Gage, her husband, making coffee in the kitchen, however, her previous night's anger returned.
"Would you like some breakfast?" he asked when she went downstairs and sat down at the table.
"No, thank you," she replied frostily.
"I see you're still mad at me."
"Silly me! I actually thought you'd want to be present for the birth of our son."
"It's not as though I'm going on vacation. It's my job," he patiently pointed out. "Besides, you're not due until the end of the week, and first babies are nearly always late. I'll be gone two days, three tops. I promise I'll be back before you go into labor."
Gage Statler was one of the stars of the hit reality program Ghost Geeks. Often referred to as a cross between Ghost Hunters and The Big Bang Theory, the popular paranormal show featured four handsome young investigators, Gage, Chase Whalan, Tanner Leighton and Lee Ashcroft, who were former highly gifted students at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and M.I.T., respectively.
Although somewhat mollified by her husband's promise, Iris continued to pout.
"Sometimes I wish you had become a doctor like you originally intended. At least then you wouldn't be running off to all corners of the earth in search of cursed necklaces or possessed Ouija boards."
"Come on now," Gage teased his wife good-naturedly. "Would you really want to be married to a plastic surgeon who spends his days administering Botox treatments and performing liposuction?"
"I suppose not," Iris confessed, finally softening.
Gage poured her a glass of milk and made her a bowl of oatmeal.
"I'm not really hungry," she protested.
"Remember, you're eating for two."
As she dutifully ate her breakfast, Iris asked, "So why are you headed off to Mexico? What's there, a haunted hacienda?"
"No, we're going to a place called Isla de las Muñecas."
"Which means nothing to me because I took French in school, not Spanish."
"It means the Island of the Dolls."
"Is it an actual island?"
"I believe so. It's located in Mexico City's Xochimilco canals."
"And why are you going there?"
"I have no idea. You know how the producers are; they like to keep the details to themselves until we arrive at the location."
"Well, whatever they've got planned for you," Iris said, rubbing her tummy again, "make sure you're home by the time this little fellow decides to make his grand entrance."
* * *
Gage Statler walked into the meeting room at the Las Alcobas hotel in Mexico City and took a seat next to Chase Whalan. Moments after he sat down, Celine Cowley, one of the show's producers, asked for everyone's attention.
"I know you're all tired after your long flight and probably want to go up to your rooms and take a siesta," she said, "but since we're going to have an early start tomorrow, I want to fill you in on the details tonight."
A groan of disapproval sounded in unison.
"Don't worry; I'll have food and drinks brought in for you."
"It had better be a nice juicy steak," Tanner Leighton declared. "I haven't eaten all day."
"You can pick whatever you want from the menu. Now, can we get started?"
Since there was no objection, Celine began the PowerPoint slide presentation she had prepared back in New York.
"This," she said, indicating the black-and-white photograph of a dapper businessman, dressed in 1920s attire, "is Adlai Dandridge, a wealthy Philadelphia banker and heir to a vast retail store fortune. In 1922 he suffered a great personal tragedy. While the family was vacationing in Atlantic City, his wife and young daughter drowned in the Atlantic Ocean. Dandridge was inconsolable. Rumor has it he was in bed with his mistress at the time his family died, but that's strictly speculation."
"Which means we'd better not make any mention of his alleged indiscretion on the show," Lee Ashcroft said.
"Right. Anyway, with his wife and only child gone, Dandridge makes two failed suicide attempts. For a while he is placed under a doctor's supervision, but then one day he gets on a train heading south and eventually winds up in Mexico, as far away from civilization as he can get."
"At the Island of the Dolls," Gage concluded.
"Yes, only there were no dolls there at the time. According to our research, Dandridge lived the life of a hermit, never leaving the island."
"Did he grow his own food?" Chase asked.
"No, he hired Pedro Diaz, a handyman from one of the nearby islands, to run errands for him."
Celine switched slides and displayed a photograph of a primitive hut on a small island covered with trees and plants.
"This is where Adlai Dandridge made his home after leaving the City of Brotherly Love."
"Not exactly on the Main Line," Tanner said with a laugh.
"More like the end of the line," Lee joked.
"Dandridge was living on the island about six months when one day the body of a little girl, roughly the same age as his daughter when she drowned, washed up on shore. The local authorities picked up the corpse and buried her on the mainland in an unmarked grave. Although there have been several attempts to determine her identity, no one has ever discovered who she was or how she wound up on the island."
"It's hard to believe no one reported a missing child," Chase said.
"There was talk of a missing child around that time. A mentally unbalanced woman claimed her daughter was possessed by the devil and sought the aid of a priest to exorcise the demon. When the little girl went missing, the police determined that her father took her away from her mother for her own safety and headed for the American border. The mother was later committed to an asylum."
"What about the dolls on the island?" Gage asked. "How did they get there?"
"The day after Dandridge found the little girl's body a doll washed up on shore. From that night on, he believed he was haunted by the ghost of the drowned child. He hoped the doll would appease the spirit, so he hung it from a tree with a length of string. The ghost continued to haunt him, so he sent Pedro to the mainland to buy another doll. Every week when he bought supplies for Dandridge, the handyman came back with more dolls. Word soon spread of the little girl's death and of her restless spirit. People from other islands and the mainland began to make pilgrimages to the island, bringing baby dolls, rag dolls, porcelain dolls—anything they thought the little girl would like."
"Did Dandridge stop seeing the ghost?" Chase inquired.
"No, but she no longer frightened him. He believed she came to the island to play with the dolls. I think she became a substitute for his own deceased daughter."
"Maybe there never was a ghost," Tanner ventured. "Maybe Adlai's mind was affected not only by his personal tragedy but also by living alone on the island."
"Anything is possible," Celine said and advanced to the next slide.
"This small shed was built by Pedro Diaz on Dandridge's orders as a shrine for the little girl. Notice the large crucifix on the wall, the statues of the Virgin Mary and the prayer cards strewn about the altar."
"And the dolls nailed onto the walls," Lee added.
"How many dolls are on the island?" Gage asked.
"At last count a little over fifteen hundred. There must be more now since visitors still go there and leave offerings. It's a shame the dolls have been exposed to the elements because some of them would be worth a great deal of money if they were in good shape. Unfortunately, many of the bodies have rotted away, leaving only the heads or limbless torsos."
"What about Adlai Dandridge? Is he still alive?" Chase asked.
"I'm afraid not. Oddly enough, fifty years, to the day, after the little girl's body was discovered, he was found on the same beach, half submerged in the water. After an autopsy was performed, it was determined he didn't drown; he died of a heart attack."
"Who inherited the island upon his death?" Tanner asked.
"No one. Dandridge had created a trust fund that guaranteed the island would remain a shrine to the little girl."
"And our mission—should we choose to accept it," Lee said, paraphrasing the well-known line from the Mission Impossible television series.
"You have no choice but to accept it," Celine laughed.
Lee ignored her comment and continued, "... is to investigate the alleged ghost sightings of the drowned child, I assume."
"Not exactly," the producer replied. "The only person who ever claimed to have seen her ghost was Dandridge. Pedro never saw or felt the presence of her spirit. Neither have any of the thousands of visitors to the island."
"Then why are we going there?" Gage asked.
"To investigate the dolls themselves."
* * *
After the meeting was concluded, the four hosts of Ghost Geeks went to the hotel bar for a drink before going up to their rooms to get some sleep.
"How's Iris feeling?" Chase asked.
"Good, but I think she's getting tired of being pregnant."
"She's due any day now isn't she?" Tanner inquired.
"About another week. I promised her I'd be there for the delivery, so I'm hoping everything goes smoothly with this episode. I hope we're not expected to investigate each of the more than fifteen hundred dolls on the island."
"Even if shooting takes longer than expected," Lee said, "maybe Celine will let you go home and be with your wife. The three of us should be able to finish up."
"Does Iris know what she's having?" Chase asked. "Or are you going to wait until the baby is born to see if it's a girl or a boy."
"We already know. The doctor told us it's a boy," Gage replied.
"A boy? I'll bet you already painted the nursery Fenway green and have a crib with a Red Sox logo on it," Tanner teased.
"You forget: my wife is from New Jersey. Iris is a Yankee fan. She wants to name our son after Derek Jeter!"
"Well, I hate to break up the fun," Lee said after finishing his drink and putting a tip on the bar, "but we have to get up early tomorrow and take a two-hour boat ride to the island. I'm going up to my room and get some sleep."
The other three men finished their drinks and headed for the elevators as well.
* * *
As Gage Statler sat in the brightly colored gondola that was ferrying the show's hosts through the canals to the island, he longed to be back in New England. Not only did he want to be with his wife when the birth of their child was so close, but he also hated the hot, humid weather of Mexico. It was still morning, and already his shirt was sticking to his skin.
"Maybe we should have brought a doll with us," Chase said.
"Yeah, one of those Frozen Elsa dolls. Maybe it would cool things off a little," Tanner suggested as he removed his cap and wiped the perspiration from his face.
Lee took a cold bottle of water from the cooler and placed it on his forehead.
"And to think I actually turned down a nice, air-conditioned office at Microsoft for this," the M.I.T. graduate groaned.
Chase seemed to be the only one who was not bothered by the unpleasant weather.
"I don't mind the heat so much," he claimed, "but these snakes are beginning to freak me out."
"Come to think of it," Gage said with a laugh, "we're not the most intrepid ghost hunters. You're afraid of snakes, Lee is afraid of spiders and Tanner is afraid of his own shadow."
"What about you?" Chase asked. "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid Iris is going to kill me if I don't get back to Massachusetts in time for the birth of our son!"
The playful banter between the young hosts abruptly stopped when the gondola came within sight of their destination. The cameramen, who were riding in a second gondola along with the show's producer, began filming the island from the water.
"This place is really creepy!" Gage exclaimed as he got his first glimpse of dolls and doll parts hanging down from the trees.
"I know what you mean," Chase agreed. "Dolls without heads. Heads without bodies."
"As a tourist attraction, this place ranks right up there with the Lizzie Borden house," Tanner said.
The gondolier pulled the boat up onto the beach, and the four men alighted. The second boat landed moments later, and the cameramen disembarked with their cameras rolling.
"Check out this clown doll!" Lee called to his co-hosts. "It's like something right out of a Stephen King novel."
"This one's even scarier," Gage declared, pointing to a porcelain doll that was missing both its glass eyes.
As the hosts and cameramen examined the doll, a tarantula crawled out of the empty eye socket.
"Ugh! Christ!" Lee exclaimed and quickly moved back in the direction of the beached gondolas.
"Why don't we get started?" Tanner suggested. "The sooner we do our jobs, the sooner we can get the hell out of here!"
Everyone, including the producer, agreed.
After consulting a printout of her schedule, Celine announced, "We'll begin the investigation at Adlai Dandridge's hut. When we're done there, we'll head to the section of the beach where he died and the little girl's body was discovered. Finally, we'll finish up at the shrine. Along the way to these three locations, we'll examine some of the more active paranormal sights."
"Remind me again," Tanner said. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"Many visitors have claimed that some of the dolls speak and move of their own accord."
"It reminds me of that old Twilight Zone episode," Lee said. "'I'm Talking Tina, and I'm going to kill you.'"
Once the gondola containing the state-of-the-art scientific equipment used in the team's paranormal investigations arrived, the snakes, spiders and malevolent dolls were forgotten.
Gage grabbed the air ion counter, which would be used to measure positive and negative ions in the atmosphere. Chase retrieved the digital recorder, used to capture electronic voice phenomena. Tanner gathered up the EMF detectors and the EVP devices while Lee searched for the hydrometer and thermal imaging scopes.
"Anybody see the infrared and thermal scanners?" Celine asked, as she went down her equipment checklist.
"Yeah," one of the cameramen replied. "They're in the box with the night vision cameras."
Once they were properly equipped, the cast and crew headed for Adlai Dandridge's hut.
"Home sweet home," Gage observed when they entered the shack.
"I've been to Philly," Tanner said, "and even the worst sections have got to be better than this!"
* * *
Although many of the readings taken at Dandridge's hut and on the beach where he died would have to be analyzed by sophisticated computer programs, the initial results of the tests were disappointing.
"No cold spots, no visual anomalies, no electrical magnetic disturbances," Gage observed.
"The only scary thing we've uncovered is the spiders," Lee confirmed.
"And the snakes," Chase added.
"Don't be too disappointed," Tanner advised. "It'll be dark soon. Maybe the spirits are waiting for night to fall."
After stopping to investigate several dolls along the way, the group arrived at the makeshift shrine just as the sun started to set. Due to the small size of the structure, only two people could fit comfortably inside. The others remained on the outside peering in when Gage and one of the cameramen entered.
"More dolls," he said.
What he found most disturbing was a sixteen-inch-tall Infant Jesus of Prague figurine that dominated the simple altar. Its gold-plated crown and cross-bearing orb were tarnished, its fabric robe was faded and moldy, and its raised hand had been broken off at the wrist. However, it was the painted features on the statue's face that made Gage most uncomfortable. It did not resemble the look of an innocent child or a loving, beneficent savior. Rather, it gave the impression of menacing evil.
"Did you see that?" Sal Genovese, the cameraman, suddenly cried.
"See what?" Chase asked from the doorway.
"That doll moved."
"I was looking at the altar," Gage admitted.
"Somebody turn on a spotlight, please," Celine ordered.
When the light was shined directly onto the doll, at least a dozen small spiders scurried out from its wild, uncombed mass of hair.
Lee shivered with revulsion and turned away.
"Oh, God, I can't wait to leave this place," he said.
"There must be a nest inside the doll," Tanner suggested. "That's probably why it moved."
Unfortunately, the other disturbances they were to encounter that night were not as easily explained away.
* * *
Around midnight the hosts and crew returned to the gondolas for sandwiches and soft drinks. Although he'd had nothing to eat since lunchtime, Gage Statler was not hungry.
"I'll take some coffee if there's any left," he said.
"There should be some in the thermos, but I don't know how hot it is," Chase informed him.
"I don't care if it's cold. I need the caffeine."
As she nibbled on a bologna and cheese sandwich, Celine Cowley reviewed her research notes.
"What I wouldn't give for a shower right about now," Tanner said.
Although the temperature dropped once the sun went down, it was still uncomfortably humid.
"Me, too," Lee agreed and spilled half a bottle of Aquafina over his head. "How much longer are we going to stay here?"
"We should be done in another two or three hours," Celine answered.
"That long? What's there left to do?" Gage asked.
"I want to go back to the shrine."
"Why?"
"To see Marietta."
"Who's that?" Chase asked.
"The original doll that washed up on the island the day after the little girl drowned. When we were at the shrine today, I wasn't sure exactly which one she was. I had to consult my research notes for a detailed description."
"Please tell me it wasn't the one with the spiders in her hair!" Lee groaned.
"It's not," Celine replied with a smile.
When they returned to the shrine at roughly one in the morning, the same cameraman went inside.
"Which one of you is coming in here with me?" Sal asked the four hosts.
No one immediately volunteered.
"One of you had better go in," Celine advised.
"Not me," Lee said. "I've had enough spiders to last a lifetime."
"I get claustrophobic in tight places," Tanner insisted.
Gage and Chase looked at one another, each hoping the other would volunteer.
"All right," Gage gave in. "I'll go. Maybe it won't be as bad the second time around."
"So which one is Marietta?" Sal asked.
"It's a porcelain doll baby doll with a two-inch crack in the forehead. It has blond, matted hair that looks like it might have been singed in a fire and blue glass eyes with real eyelashes."
"That must be it," Gage said, pointing to a doll that was nailed to the wall just to the right of the open door.
"Is it wearing a white Christening dress?" asked Celine who could not see the doll from outside the shed.
"At one time it might have been white."
"That's her. That's Marietta."
As Sal filmed his actions, Gage scanned the doll with the various tools of his trade. Unlike the other dolls on the island, Marietta caused a noticeable drop in temperature and a fluctuation in electromagnetic fields.
"We've got activity here," Gage called to the people on the outside.
"Why don't you see if you can pick up something with the infrared camera?" Celine suggested.
"Wait here," Sal said. "I'll go and get it."
Only moments after the cameraman left the shed, the door slammed shut, closing Gage inside alone, in total darkness.
"Jesus Christ!" he shouted, believing someone was playing a prank. "Do you want to scare me to death? Open the door."
"We can't. It won't budge," Sal replied.
Gage reached into his pocket, took out his iPhone and tapped the flashlight icon on the control center. By the light of his phone, he reached for the door only to discover there was no handle on the inside.
"Let me out," he cried, trying his best to remain calm.
"We're trying," Lee assured him. "The door seems to be stuck. We have to find something to pry it open with."
Gage's heart rate began to accelerate as he heard what appeared to be scratching noises behind him.
Oh, God, let it be nothing more harmful than a raccoon or a possum, he thought, not even sure if such animals could be found in Mexico.
He sensed rather than saw movement on the walls and quickly shined the light from his phone over the dolls. The walls seemed alive with spiders of all sizes and shapes, and even though he didn't share Lee's arachnophobic propensities, the sight made his skin crawl.
"Could you please hurry up out there," he called, his voice sounding more like a whine than a shout.
When he heard a loud crash on the floor, he immediately knew what had caused it. He turned his iPhone in the direction of the altar. The Infant Jesus of Prague statue was on the floor, shattered into dozens of pieces. The painted eyes of the face that had only hours ago appeared so malevolent now seemed filled with sorrow and pity.
"Hold on there, buddy," Chase called through the shed door. "We'll have you out in a few minutes. Sal is going to use his tripod to force the door open."
Far worse than the sound of the insects scurrying across the wall came the faint sound of sobbing as first one doll, then another and another began to cry.
This can't be happening, Gage thought. It must be my imagination.
As Sal began to force one of the legs of his tripod into a small crack of wood in the shed door, Gage heard laughter over the sound of the dolls' plaintive cries. There was little doubt that the sound was coming from Marietta. When he shined his phone on her face, the glass eyes moved in his direction.
It's got to be my imagination, he insisted, desperately trying to convince himself that none of what he saw was really happening.
The baby doll's porcelain mouth fell open.
"She's mine," Marietta said in a soft, wispy voice, barely audible above the sound of the other dolls' lamentations. "I've waited a long time for another one. At last I've found her."
"Stand back!" Sal shouted as the door was finally ripped from its rusted hinges.
Tanner and Lee moved swiftly to catch their friend before he hit the floor.
* * *
"What happened?" Gage asked as he was being carried aboard one of the gondolas.
"You fainted," Chase answered.
"Can't say that I blame you," Lee added. "I'd have done the same if I were trapped in a shed with all those spiders."
"Where are you taking me?"
"Back to the hotel," Celine replied. "We've done all that we can on the island. Our mission was successful."
Gage asked no further questions. He laid his head back, closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze on his face as the colorful gondola headed back to the mainland. He was still not quite himself when he walked into the hotel lobby.
"Maybe we should have a doctor take a look at you," Celine suggested.
"That won't be necessary. It was probably the heat that got to me. I'll be fine. After a relaxing shower and a good night's sleep, I'll be as good as new."
"Señor Statler," the front desk clerk called when he saw Gage heading toward the elevators. "We have an urgent message for you. Your mother-in-law telephoned. Your wife has gone into labor."
* * *
On the way from the airport to the hospital, Gage rehearsed the apology he planned to give his wife when he saw her. It would take more than flowers and saying he was sorry this time. Iris would be furious that he wasn't there for the birth, and she had every right to be, he realized.
When he opened the door to his wife's private room, he was surprised to see the smile on her face.
"I was afraid you were going to throw a bedpan at me," he said with a laugh.
"It's all right. It turns out all those child birthing classes we attended weren't needed after all. I had to have a C-section."
"Everything's okay, isn't it?"
"Everything's just fine!" Iris replied, beaming with the joy of motherhood. "Come and meet your daughter."
The smile of happiness instantly disappeared from Gage's face, and a violent chill swept over him as though he had been doused with a buck of ice cold water.
"Daughter? But I thought ...."
"That we were having a boy? You're not nearly as surprised as my obstetrician was! He was so sure the fetus was male when he saw the ultrasound."
"Are you sure she's ours?" the new father asked, looking down at the sleeping infant wrapped in a pink blanket. "Could there have been a mix-up?"
"No. The doctor gave her to me only moments after she was cut out of my womb. I saw them put the identification bracelet on her wrist with my own eyes. Why?" she asked warily. "Were you hoping for a boy and disappointed to learn you have a girl?"
"No. Not at all. The sex doesn't matter to me. My only concern is that it's healthy."
"She is, and don't refer to her as it. Her name is Marietta."
As Iris gently kissed her daughter on the forehead, the infant's eyes opened, and she stared at her father. He had seen those eyes before: in the makeshift shrine on the Island of the Dolls. Gage did not need a Harvard degree or his sophisticated paranormal investigative equipment to know that he was looking at the demon that had possessed the little girl who drowned in the Xochimilco canals—a demon that now possessed his own child.
This fictional story is inspired by an actual tourist attraction in Mexico: Isla de las Muñecas, Island of the Dolls. There are videos on YouTube of this eerie site.
Of all the creepy dolls on the island, I found this one most disturbing!
