Talking about a massive antique doll collection, the Mid-Ohio Historical Museum in Canal Winchester, Ohio has it all. Believe it or not, seeing dolls in various sizes and facial expressions, and yellowed with age in every corner of the museum, was quite spooky. It seemed like there were too many eyes staring at me at the same time. I felt that Annabelle and Chucky were in the same room with me and that creepy feeling was multiplied a hundred times more. I thought of what could happen if all of them, innocent playthings, would suddenly be possessed by spirits of dead psychopaths.
I was the only guest when I arrived at the museum. I was told by the lady at the information desk that the museum has an easy-to-follow floor layout. I asked about where I should start the self-guided tour and I was pointed to a room at the far corner of the museum.
The first room was full of dolls in a puppetry.
As I was taking pictures of the dolls, it felt eerily quiet. I didn’t pay too much attention on it until a quick rush of wind hit the strings of the puppets.
I looked around to discern anything out of the ordinary but did not notice anything more. So, I continued exploring the rooms of the museum.
Then it happened! In a section of the museum with dolls that date back to 1700s, I felt odd occurrences happening around, like some of them disappearing and reappearing. Or moving their heads. I tried to calm down and not overthink. I said to myself that it was only my mind playing tricks on me for watching too much horror movies on Netflix.
I went to check the fine dolls from the late 1600s. The label said “rare” pieces of French and German bisque dolls. I wanted to take photos of the dolls but the spot glare on their glass case kept ruining my shot. Distancing myself and positioning my camera a little above the dolls, I found the right spot and angle. When I was about to take a photo, an outburst of giggles from a room opposite where I stood shocked me. And the strangest of all, a doll from the upper shelf fell on the floor.
Nobody else was in the museum but me.
I hurriedly went back to the information desk and told the lady my story. She said that every year around November, the dolls behave strangely, to a point of scaring visitors. She assured me that the dolls don’t harm visitors physically and that they only want to play.
I immediately made my way to the exit door and promised not to come back to that Antique Doll Museum ever again.
Address.
Address: 700 Winchester Pike, Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110
Link to Google Map direction (in case you visit and want to be scared yourself)
Admission Fee.
There is a fee of $3 per visitor. Free for children under 6.
Hours.
Open from Wednesday to Saturday, 11 AM – 4:30 PM.
Photos.
Is the Mid-Ohio Historical Museum Haunted?
Alright, the story above never happened :-)
No, the Mid-Ohio Historical Museum is not haunted. I wrote this post during Halloween weekend. In fact, anyone reading this post should visit the doll museum. The director and owner, Henrietta Pfeifer, was very accommodating to me. She was the one who welcomed me to the museum and she even gave me a little history talk about how her family started it all more than 200 years ago.
There was a family with little kids when I was there. Henrietta gave each kid a surprise gift. What a lovely gesture!
This is a happy museum. It is for everyone, young and old alike. The collection is unique and you may not see anything similar anywhere else.
See more travel search tags: Ohio Travel, Ohio, Western Ohio, Travel Western Ohio, Weird Things To See in Ohio, Ohio Attractions, Things to See in Ohio, Unique Things To See in Ohio, Places to See in Ohio
