Dale in the Trunk

puppets

As we left the souvenir store and headed south to Vinnie’s, the noises from the trunk didn’t go unnoticed. Dale has been bitching and complaining that we haven’t taken him to any of our daytrips to the abandoned sites. I tried to get it through is tiny plastic head that he would be stuck in the hot car or trunk. Sharon, or his human as he likes to call her, decided it would be fun to scare her new cyber buddy by having Dale in the trunk. As he retrieved her bag from the trunk, surprise, there was Dale lying on it. He quickly pushed Dale aside and grabbed the bag. I am sure Dale is pissed about being shoved aside as well as being left in the hot car.

Dale’s complaining about not being able to come in the house with us, or invited to lunch, was loud and annoying. By the time we got done with Florence and headed home, he was quiet. I think the heat finally got to him and he fell asleep. Now the little beast is plotting revenge for the “indignity of being locked in a hot trunk” as he calls it. Sharon is aware of his threats and knows he is up to something but doesn’t know what. Be looking for another Dale video on her blog, Ghost Hunting Theories.

These pictures are of the view from the Foothill’s, which is north of Tucson, and the restaurant we went to for lunch. I had yummy tacos there.

Wanted: The Plastic Imposter

puppets

Be on the lookout for a plastic ventriloquist doll that goes by the name of Dale. He is telling people that he is a blogger and asking for hugs. “Do not” fall victim to this very clever entertainer and his smooth talk. He has been known to creep onto his human’s laptop while she is sleeping and bad-mouthing her on various post to her blog. He is not a true blogger and needs a human to help him with his crimes.

Now that the human and her friend are doing a hug-a-blogger blog and book, he wants to be featured. He is hugging any human that comes to visit and continues to feature himself on the blog in order to make his point, “I am a blogger”.

He is described as barely 2 feet, red plastic hair, prominent nose, blue eyes, and a smart ass grin with a deformed bottom lip. He was last seen wearing a black, grey, and white button down plaid shirt, tan pants, and black socks. He is usually sitting on his human’s steamer trunk near her front door but is known to slip out during the night to post something to the blog or watch his human’s horror flicks while she sleeps.

If you see this little booger, please report him immediately to the Blogger Police. We must stop his shenanigans.

*NOTE: I’m not scared of Dale most of the time. When we are in a dark room and I don’t know where the little beast is, scares me the most. I am waiting for the day that he comes up behind me and says, “Hi Julie, whacha doing?” After that, there will be a loud scream followed by smoke from me running so fast, my shape in the door because I ran through it, followed by a stream of wet from me pissing my pants.

Pupaphobia

puppets

What Is Pupaphobia? It is a physically and emotionally, and illogical fear of puppets. The person coping with this phobia may also fear marionettes and team mascots. Perhaps the pupaphobic person fears the puppet's exaggerated features or its disjointed, bizarre movements. In extreme cases of Pupaphobia, the person may avoid any situation that may involve performances for children because of their morbid fear of puppets. Pupaphobia derives from the Latin word “pupa”, meaning doll and the Greek “phobos” meaning fear.

What Makes Puppets So Scary? Horror films can ofter make a seamlessly harmless doll or puppet into a cold blooded killer. This is the case in Child's Play where magic turns a friendly talking doll, Chucky, into a destructive murderer. The Great Gabbo, 1929, which may be the first of this genera featured a very disturbed ventriloquist with a dummy that seems to have a mind of its own. More movies followed, such as the Dead of Night, a 1949 movie about a crazy sarcastic ventriloquist, and Devil Doll, a 1965 movie with the puppet turning on its master, just to name a couple. The dummy turning on its master is also an episode in the classic show, The Twilight Zone titled, "The Dummy”, which was one of my favorites. Other movies such as Child’s Play, Shadow Puppets, and Puppet Master (1989) added to the phobia by having puppets and dolls as killers.

Another phobia that goes along with Pupaphobia is Automatonophobia. This phobia is the fear of Ventriloquist dummies, dolls, mannequins, wax statues, humanoid robots, audio animatronics and any human like inanimate objects coming to life. Only rarely does the fear become a full-blown phobia, but it is relatively common to experience hesitation or nerves when confronting these figures.

What brings on these fears and the causes of Automatonophobia or Pupaphobia? It is currently unknown precisely what causes these phobias. Maybe it’s our own beliefs about how humans should act, so we tend to mistrust people who stare blankly, remain quiet, or act in ways that we do not consider normal behavior. Automatons are programmed to either move or to just standing still and quiet and can look surprisingly lifelike. Usually upon closer inspection it will show that they are slightly different. They have smooth perfect skin, vacant eyes, and other qualities that are typical for automatons but do not emphasis a human’s body. Automaton designers realize there are some restrictions of their work. This may involve dim lights, spotlights and other effects that could be considered unnerving adding to the frightening realistic effects that may bring on these phobias.

I don’t think I suffer from these phobias, but I didn’t want my daughter displaying her dolls on the shelves. I was creeped out by their starring vacant eyes.