A local photographer got home from a wedding early Saturday morning to find a series of baby dolls hanging around her Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Megan Saul said she has been a professional photographer for the past 13 years and never imagined such a strange encounter would blow up on social media the way it did.
“I don’t necessarily think it was a kid’s art project,” Saul said.
It started with a play doll she noticed right outside her window around midnight Saturday, as she was lowering her blinds to go to sleep. Saul said she asked neighbors if they had seen what she had witnessed, partially to make sure it wasn’t a real baby.
The following morning, Saul said she went outside to confirm it was indeed a doll, and later noticed about three others hanging by nooses from some power lines located in the Humboldt Park/Logan Square community.
The dolls had red markings that appear to resemble blood, some had their feet painted in black and others had ripped pants.
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“I’ve seen other random things with shoes that we always joke with in the local community,” she said, but never something like this. “It’s really messed up.”
Saul said she believes those dolls were taken from a neighbor who had recently thrown out some furniture and had gotten rid of unwanted goods.
She said that by Wednesday afternoon, she noticed all four dolls were gone—perhaps thanks to ComEd or an adult in the area who thought these dolls were inappropriate for the family-oriented area.
Whether it was a random act, a prank or some sort of a message to the public, Saul said there’s no clear indication as to why these “disturbing” dolls came about.
Might just be a reminder that Halloween time is approaching.
