Do you Voodoo? Down the rabbit hole of WTF is this?

I rarely source inventory from thrift stores these days. I am busy buying directly from families and helping them in their home clean out or estate liquidation process. So imagine my surprise when I popped in a NJ thrift I was passing and my kid was happy to walk through and I actually found something GOOD. Never expecting much, I was taken aback by a large collection of YOODOO VOODOO dolls. Peeking through the cello I noticed that these dolls were anatomically correct AND were made with nylon stocking like material like a cabbage patch. But what had my attention…..arm pit hair on the lady doll? What is this? The box in and of itself is a masterpiece. ‘Stick it to them with Yoodoovoodoo!’ And ‘The voodoo-it-yourself kit for people who love to hate’, ‘a product of revenge’. The box is sarcastic comedy gold. I had to have them all.

I am down the rabbit hole of research to try to uncover who made these dolls and why! On first glance, I tried to process what era they came from. No barcodes, no websites. That’s a good sign that they are older. There is a ‘reorder’ card on each with a P.O. Box to mail order more dolls. Another sign it was pre-dot com era. Next I hit the web. I found evidence of one or two known dolls via pics. Then I found the some copyright records from the late 80s/early 90s. The next interesting thing to note is an original advertisement for the doll! It came from an 80s/90s magazine called SPY. It was a satirical journaling of NYC area celebrities and upper class folk. Looking like a fun time, I just ordered a book published later that gives a history of the rag mag and may or may not add some additional insight into the doll. There is definitely a story here as this box is all telling. It even calls out ‘brother Gene’ who sounds like the first voodoo victim.

Each doll comes with 2 pins that you pierce the doll with to inflict pain/your curse/whatever on your victim. This whole gag is like someone’s private joke gone public. It’s genius and whomever took it to this level had the funds to back it up. I am currently in possession of 22 dolls, only 5 males and the rest are female. Here’s a look at this highly detailed beauties.

I also have to note that there are no legal disclaimers on this at al! Like it’s a doll with no keep away from children (considering there are removable pins and glued on hair accents). Also nothing noted that it is a gag gift, which it obviously is. I do believe I linked an ad to another magazine called Chic. It was a Larry Flynt production and upscale porn type magazine. So that confirms the genre it was being sold to, Here’s a look! If you are familiar with them or their story please drop me a line!

XO MALISSA

Just finished the James Mont/Chairmasters chair up! I gave her a colorful ikat seat perfect for boho, transitional and eclectic spaces! Listing is live in my Etsy shop,