Haunting images show an abandoned home full of old dolls that was once owned by a bereaved mother, with locals too scared to enter as they believe it to be cursed.
The lonely owner hoarded more than 1,000 dolls before she died and the home near Seville, Spain, has not been lived in since 2017.
Ben James, 32, an urban explorer from Cambridge, took photos of the house with a tragic story with locals saying the woman lost two children. To cope, she is said to have collected dolls to talk to and care for.
In the tiny village near Seville, the villagers were well aware of the woman, but were terrified of going anywhere near the home, convinced the woman was insane and that the house was cursed.
It is claimed if you were to move one of the dolls, or remove anything from the home, you would be cursed and die just as the children did.
“It’s an urban legend of a lady who lost her children so she collected the dolls as a way of coping for many years,” he said.
“No one was allowed in the house, she was a recluse. She was found dead in 2017, but the villagers still won’t go near it because they say the house is cursed and possessed.
“Apparently they say the children have possessed the dolls and anyone who tries to take anything from the house will be possessed and die as well.”
The villagers live in fear of the home, so the house has been left virtually untouched since 2017, making it a rare sight of creepy dolls and decaying floorboards.
“So the house has pretty much been left from 2017," he said.
“As you can see from the outside it looks very grand and opulent, like something out of a Disney villain movie but the inside is perfectly preserved, there’s ceilings falling down, floorboards collapsed yet all the dolls are in there. It’s amazing to see.
“It’s one of the most amazing places I’ve seen purely because of such a huge collection of dolls. People collect things but I mean there were well over a thousand dolls in there and just to see them perfectly left in a house that’s been abandoned from 2017, it’s very unusual.”
Ben explored the home alone and in the daytime, but he still said the site had a very creepy and sinister feel to it, even saying that he heard some of the dolls’ music play by themselves.
“It did feel very creepy, there were a couple of points where some of the dolls, maybe because of the wind, started chiming, like when you move dolls and they play that music,” he said.
“I did this exploration on my own. It was fine when I was there but it did feel very creepy and the weird thing is it’s literally this village in Seville in the middle of nowhere so like where was she even getting these dolls from, it’s not as if Amazon would deliver.
“It’s definitely one of my favourite finds purely because of the backstory and that collection. I probably wouldn’t go back purely because it’s a bit sinister but of all the places in the world it’s probably one of the most special.”
