Cute Or Creepy? These Dolls That Are Believed To House Spirits Are Back In Malaysia

Okay, most of us grew up playing with dolls right? Yeah, but while most of us played with our Barbie and Ken dolls during our childhood days, the doll that is gaining popularity in Malaysia these days is a kind of lifelike baby doll from Thailand known as Luk Thep.

Luk Thep which means ‘child angel dolls’, originated in Bangkok and there’s a common belief that these dolls harbour spirits. 

Wait. Spirits?

But why?

It all started back in 2016, when the creator of these dolls, Mama Ning, started the trend, as reported by Time Magazine. People believed that if they got the doll from her, they will be paired up with their dolls in a spiritual process.

This kind of blew up when celebrities started to endorse these dolls. 

And since then, more and more people started gaining a liking for these dolls and collecting them.

While some people just treated it as a form of toy collection, many started treating their dolls like human babies and even began cleaning and feeding them like they would with a real child.

That’s not all. 

It was also reported that some people began to worship their Luk Thep. And this was because they believed that these dolls could be possessed by the spirit of a child if blessed by a Buddhist monk. 

But of course, many people had differing views about these Luk Thep. 

According to the Bangkok Post, some believed that these will help to improve one’s financial situation. People saw the Luk Thep as something that would bring prosperity if they were treated well. 

But what does being treated well mean? Well, a Thai Airline, Thai Smile Airways, even started to allow their travellers to book a seat just for their Luk Thep on their flights. You know, so that these dolls could travel in comfort. 

However, there were people that trashed this idea and called the ones who came up with this ‘mentally ill’. 

Okay, so not everyone believes these dolls are a symbol of good fortune and wellness? 

Well, no. There were even some people who feared these dolls. 

People started to take to Facebook to warn people against buying the dolls by claiming that about there were ‘evil spirits’ in them.

One of the Facebook users even posted on how there was black magic in the dolls that would make one want to buy it as soon as they commented on how it was ‘cute, beautiful or pretty’. 

Okay. So does everyone have one of these dolls? Where do they even get them? 

It is not known exactly how many Malaysians own one of these dolls, where the people that got a doll got theirs from or how much they each got their doll for. 

However, after a check was done, it was found that none of the major e-commerce stalls sold these dolls. The only website they could be found on was Etsy and they were sold for about SGD$800 per doll.

Also, they were being sold on various other Instagram accounts that were based in Indonesia. (Yes, Indonesia, for some reasons unknown)

So, cute? Creepy? You decide for yourself. I just know I am never going to be spending $800 on any doll, no matter what. Even if it can vomit out cash.