Lippard.Multics 1985-01-17 22:10:46 mst Thu
Subject:  Devil Dolls
   The Cabbage Patch Doll is one of America's hottest-selling toys.  But
recently, Connecticut exorcist Ed Warren, the toy has been targeted by
the devil.
   According to Warren, one doll told its owner, "You and I are going to
be together forever.  I'm not just a doll--I'm the Lord of Hell." When
Warren arrived on the scene, the doll was supposedly levitating eight
inches in the air.  "I quickly made the sign of the cross," he says,
"and held out my crucifix, and the doll flopped into its crib.  Then I
buried the doll and sprinkled holy water from a church onto the grave.
There hasn't been any trouble since."
   Another Cabbage Patch Doll tried to strangle its owner, Warren says,
and yet another induced nightmarish hallucinations.  In both cases, he
adds, he performed exorcism and burial.
   "These diabolical infestations occur when childless women buy the
dolls and treat them like the child they never had," Warren says.  "Some
cherish the doll as a loved one and buy it a wardrobe and jewelry; one
woman even had a complete nursery for the doll.  But the devil perceives
such behavior as a sign of human weakness and is just waiting to take
advantage of the situation."
   -- Eric Mishara in Omni (February 1985)