A man who bought a ventriloquist doll believes its haunted as its mouth spookily opens and closes all by itself.
Gregor Stewart, 51, from Fife, Scotland purchased the doll four years ago from a dealer in California, US, who wanted to sell it to someone as far away from him as possible.
However, since becoming the owner of the ventriloquist doll, who he calls Uncle Herb, Gregor believes he has witnessed the doll opening and closing its mouth even though the mechanism of the mouth does not work.
The building surveyor said: "I think that when Uncle Herb opens his mouth it means that he is not happy about something.
"When we first got him, we were putting him in a case on his own for a while to give him time to settle and that is when his mouth first opened.
"And by the time we went to get him back out of the case he had closed his mouth. So I think that when he closes his mouth, it means that he is happy and settled down again.
"We spoke to the spirit that was attached to the doll through a spirit box, a paranormal research device which allows spirits to communicate by manipulating white noise to form words and phrases, and asked what the name was.
"He told us it was Herbert and we shortened it to Uncle Herb because we know there is a connection to an uncle in his story.
"The spirit attached to uncle Herb was frustrated at being forgotten as he had never been given a name and had previously belonged to an elderly woman who kept him in a cupboard.
"Since we have had him, he had had lots of people engaging with him and he's been given a name so there is a much more positive energy around him."
During conversation with uncle Herb, Gregor says that he has referenced prison. And he believes he doesn't like being in the case and opens his mouth to show his feelings towards this.
The person that sold Uncle Herb to Gregor received the doll from a family he had known for some time. The elderly lady who owned the doll had passed away and the family wanted to get rid of him.
Gregor said: "The doll was kept away in a cupboard and the family would always hear lots of noises coming from where he was kept.
"The rest of the family were never keen on the doll, and when the lady passed away they wanted it off their hands and gave it to a family friend. They had warned him about it but he was happy to take it.
"Once the man got it back to his home, he said that he was constantly hearing footsteps through the night. He eventually moved it to his garage but the noises and disturbances continued so he decided to put it up for sale.
"He was in California and he refused to sell it to anyone in the same state as him because he wanted to be as far away from the doll as possible. The fact that he didn't even want to be near the doll spiked my interest even more.
"So I got in touch and asked if Scotland was far enough away. I got into conversation with him to find out as much as possible and to make sure it was genuine. We agreed on a price and he came over to Scotland."
Mr Stewart claims uncle Herb was very quiet when he arrive and he only started to communicate with the doll through spirit boxes and noticed that his mouth would open and close by itself.
He said: "When I first saw the doll in real life I was expecting to feel negative energy from him, but I didn't get that at all. When I noticed that his mouth would open and close sometimes, I was even more interested and curious.
"Initially people would get a feeling of discomfort around him but now people just want to hold him and cuddle him. He is always on display as he doesn't like being kept in a case. He is sat on a shelf.
"We only ever have him in a case for protection because he is old and delicate.
"We estimate that he is from the early 1900s. He is such an intriguing doll."
