CHILES@CMU-CS-C.ARPA (08/15/85)
From: William.Chiles@CMU-CS-C.ARPA There were two doll stories that I remember, one from Night Gallery and one from The Zone. The latter was described in a previous post, so I'll only say that it was about a bitter man ruining the lives of his mate and daughter until one day his daughter obtains a doll that shows her the love she never had. The father cannot destroy the doll for all his efforts, and the doll finally kills him for not leaving well enough alone. Besides the mate and child wished for his death as well. The Night Gallery episode, which is actually what the original query was after, concerned an ex-British officer that had served in Africa, India, or some such place during periods of war and occupation. He was responsible via orders from higher up that he had to obey or lose his job to kill many people wherever he was stationed. One man he killed was a ruthless criminal (or some such person). Many years later in Britian, the officer lives with his niece or daughter and a nanny, and one day a doll arrives. The nanny assumes it is a gift from her employer to the littler girl, so she lets the little girl play with it even though the nanny finds it offensively ugly. The officer immediately recognizes it as a witch doctor device from his days in India (I'll settle on a place). He knows it is useless to get rid of it, and he catches it smiling at him sometimes. His little girl soon realizes the doll is ripping to shreds her other dolls, and she is frightened by it because it says mean things to her. The officer draws up a will leaving everything to the nanny to care for the girl, and he dies. The episode ends with some guy, who you know is the source of the doll, receiving a gift from a delivery boy. The gift is a two foot doll resembling the British officer. Bill -------