Tis the season – eggnog, holiday feasts – the latest toys. Last year I was taken aback by Video Barbie. She of platinum blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and lens disguised as pendant around her svelte neck. Only word I could muster was creepy.
But lo, this year my eyes have fallen upon a toy better deserving. Monster High Dolls. Check out Frankie Stein, suitably pallid, with scar – and according to the Mattel website, a cool ghoul with killer design details.
As a longtime student of folklore surrounding the supernatural – phantasms, banshees, and vampires, I understand the lure of Beyond. Hans Holzer could not have found a more dedicated admirer when I was not yet a teen. And there is always a literary vampire lurking somewhere – before Stephanie Meyer was Ann Rice, long predated by Bram Stoker… ah, Renfield.
Before and after those – there will always be the friend, parent, or stranger draining away life energy that does not belong to them. The real undead, the vampires among us.
And now ghoul dolls, sold to young girls to strut and style long black and grey hair. Video Barbie gave evidence of one disturbing cultural preoccupation, Monster Dolls, yet another. Outside of folklore, rotting flesh is not a domain of immortality nor of entertainment. Death is not cool, dead dolls even less so.
Shouldn't...but Do 
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