I'm not sure if it makes it worse or not, but it is a ventriloquist doll that opens and closes its mouth all by itself.

Haunted Ventriloquist Doll

The story goes that four years ago, Gregor Stewart of Fife, Scotland bought a ventriloquist doll from a dealer in California. Once back at Stewart's home, the doll began opening and closing its mouth on its own. Furthermore the mechanism that moves the mouth is broken so it shouldn't be happening at all!

So, here's how Stewart came to be in possession (see what I did there?) of Uncle Herb, the haunted ventriloquist doll. Yep, the doll has a name.

The dealer from California got the doll from a family that wanted to get rid of it after their elderly family member, who owned it, passed away. She apparently kept him in a cupboard (more on that later).

After the California dealer had Uncle Herb, he began hearing footsteps in his house at night. After eventually moving the doll to the garage, the noises and disturbances continued. That's when he decided to not only put it up for sale, but he would only sell it to someone far away from where he lived. No one within California was allowed to purchase the doll.

Cut to Gregor Stewart acquiring Uncle Herb.

 

Uncle Herb

Why Uncle Herb? What about that mouth of his opening and closing? What about the spirit attached to the doll? What does it all mean?

Well, according to Mirror, here's what Stewart told them:

 

I think that when Uncle Herb opens his mouth it means that he is not happy about something,” he said.

When we first got him, we were putting him in a case on his own for a while to give him time to settle and that is when his mouth first opened.

And by the time we went to get him back out of the case he had closed his mouth. So I think that when he closes his mouth, it means that he is happy and settled down again.

We spoke to the spirit that was attached to the doll through a spirit box, a paranormal research device which allows spirits to communicate by manipulating white noise to form words and phrases, and asked what the name was.

He told us it was Herbert and we shortened it to Uncle Herb because we know there is a connection to an uncle in his story.

The spirit attached to uncle Herb was frustrated at being forgotten as he had never been given a name and had previously belonged to an elderly woman who kept him in a cupboard.

Since we have had him, he had had lots of people engaging with him and he’s been given a name so there is a much more positive energy around him.

The Daily Star reports that the haunted ventriloquist doll has referenced prison in conversations.

In conversations.

Okay, that's enough Gregor Stewart! It's obvious that he hasn't seen the 1978 cinematic masterpiece Magic, starring a young Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, and Burgess Meredith.

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