Chanel
"I'm your problem now." Did I arrive on your doorstep? It's time to play.
Discovery Notes
1963, Central City, Colorado
Warning Issued
If you decide to adopt her, you are advised to ring a small handbell sometime before midnight to keep lost souls from wandering back into the house. It also keeps her from hearing Gretchen calling out. IF you choose to move her on to her next friend, circle doll with Himalayan salt, not sea salt, for the night.
Last Known Account
Chanel was unearthed in a cedar trunk in an abandoned boardinghouse outside Central City, Colorado, less than a hundred miles from where Gretchen had first been reported. The house had been built for mining families in the 1880s and stood empty after a winter storm buried half the town in snow. Old mining families whispered that when a child died violently, their spirit could “get caught” in familiar objects, especially dolls, ribbons, or clothing. Dolls dressed in pink or white were considered bad omens, colors tied to both innocence and burial shrouds. Some miners’ wives believed such dolls acted as lures, pulling other children toward the same fate. Chanel’s presence seems bound to this belief: she calls for cousins, siblings, or playmates, drawing them into her circle until “the family is complete.”
In 1994, a Denver family reported Chanel’s ribbons appearing around their daughter’s wrists every morning, tied in perfect bows. The girl swore a voice told her to “come outside and play in the snow.” One night she vanished from her bed; her footprints led into the yard, but there were no prints leading back. When the parents searched, they found only a trail of pink ribbon half-buried in the drifts.
In 2007, a collector attempted to reunite Chanel with Gretchen for a Halloween exhibition in Boulder. On the first night, staff reported hearing the dolls’ voices overlapping in the museum’s basement. By the second night, visitors claimed to see two girls in matching dresses moving just beyond the reach of the lantern light. On the third night, the exhibition was abruptly canceled after the curator’s own daughter vanished from her locked bedroom. Her bed was found empty, a ribbon tied to the doorknob, and her diary scrawled with the words: “They are family now.”
Chanel is not just an echo of Gretchen — she is her other half. Alone, each doll is dangerous. Together, they are believed to be unstoppable, pulling families into their unfinished circle. Whether they search for relatives, playmates, or something deeper remains unknown.