Weird dolls hanging on neighbours tree?

[sandyfroglets]

Unsure what this is for but they keep adding more rag dolls to their tree in their front garden. It's really creeping my children out.

They are hanging with other objects like wooden rings and ribbons. Is it some kind of pagan thing? No idea but it's bloody weird...

Aibu to ask them what it's for!? We live in a quiet little part outside of a city. Nothing unusual goes on here!

So apparently I read it’s protection for the house.

I’ve read a few articles about that kind of protection spirits etc

i literally just watched that film host on bbc too! Scared the crap out of me reading this too

That was my first thought. The kids have made these as Christmas decorations for their tree inside but the parents have decided the dolls are "so special that they're too good to keep inside" and "the whole neighbourhood should be allowed to see them."

Agree about the non-biodegradable bastardization of cloutie trees. The rags mean different things in different traditions, but it's ironic these have been so misappropriated in a spiritual tradition - or set of spiritual traditions - which above all venerate and respect nature.

The same thing applies to the piles of cairns people have taken to leaving everywhere. This is potentially dangerous, as it can misroute those on a hiking trail, and it's also bad for the natural environment. I encountered a beach once that was absolutely littered with the things.

I subscribe to the maxim of 'leave no trace'.

Like something from The Wicker Man 😨

LOOOOOL that's fantastic, you wouldn't want to live by me, I have l pelham puppets hanging in my windows, and a 6' mud reaper in the back garden complete with solar lantern and baby doll

I'm pagan, involved in local pagan community and never heard of anyone putting dolls in trees. There are so many different pagan paths, but certainly never something I've encountered.
If it were fruit, just the rags, a Yule goat or something, maybe. But this just looks like a horror movie and not anything I recognise on any pagan path I've encountered.
My guess is they're probably chuckling to themselves about freaking out the neighbours and into horror films.

Or maybe taking just modelling to a new level and its an art thing

Haha I thought the same thing. Maybe someone who hates them lol

Was just going to post about this! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_the_Dolls

FWIW I am not pagan, or particularly religious or spiritual in any way. I come into contact with a lot of people who are though, and am going from what they have told me re the cloutie trees. Most of the people I know who call themselves pagan are deeply respectful of nature and the natural world and would baulk at the idea of hanging plastic anywhere.

OMG, your first image didn't have much scale and I hadn't realised how big they were!!

Looking on the bright side, at least ot should put off the Christmas chuggers ...

think yourself luck they aren't doing this

nerdist.com/article/doll-altar-ouija-board-found-in-forest-england/

Not much help to you but we had a neighbour who did this with teddies. No reason that any of us in the neighbourhood could fathom - was right next to the park so ALL the kids saw them.

I hate dolls, I would be moving house

Or maybe they're scaring away the Jehovahs Witnesses.

@Nocutenamesleft a suburb of Southampton!

Dordolec in Albania are usually more like a single stuffed toy attached to the property, to keep the evil eye away. Although my MIL prefers to hang up bunches of dried garlic and chillies. I’ve never seen anything like OP’s photo in Albania before!!

Yes. I can't see the problem. They're not doing any harm.

Is it supposed to be Harry & Meghan? 😁

Nightmare fuel!!!

Jesus............
I think you'll need to approach the neighbours somehow. Put your mind to rest. I'd be really freaked out if it was me and probably wimp out by sticking a Christmas card through their door with a note asking what the tree decoration means as the DC are a bit scared of it not having seen this kind of thing before and you're interested.

My mum has done that previously with my old dolls to keep birds away from fruit... We had to take it down because it looked way too creepy! 😂

It reminds me of a 'fairy tree' local to us. Just a tree on the edge of someone's garden that overlooks a public path, and they have decorated it with dolls/fairies, ribbons, and other random things. It looks cute though, not freaky, and the kids like it!

Looks like something from Kirsties Homemade Christmas.

Quite frightening how peeps are assuming the worst about the people who put them up just because its a bit out of the ordinary.

Cut them down n burn them.