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COLLECTING dolls is no unusual habit, but one mum has taken her addiction to a supernatural level.

Katrin Reedik, 33, has spent thousands of pounds buying HAUNTED dolls which she believes are possessed by the spirits of dead people.

But the full-time mum now needs a babysitter for her toys which, she says, will cause untold mischief if they are left alone in her home.

Indeed, she claims the spooky dolls, which are known to turn on the television, have even started a fire.

Katrin, mum to Christopher Robin, eight, and Karl, seven. spends her nights chatting to her charges about how they died.

She said: "I became interested in the spirit world in 2008, while living in Estonia, Northern Europe, because I felt the presence of a spirit.

(Image: PA Real Life Features)

"This started my interest in the paranormal and when I moved to Glasgow in November 2008 I started researching spooky things and stumbled upon 'haunted dolls.'"

Katrin was first intrigued when she discovered through online shops and forums there were dolls with spiritual powers.

She explained: "Haunted dolls are not possessed as such, the doll is the spirit's home.

"The spirit is attached to the doll and sometimes leaves it in the same way humans go to work every day.

"You can buy a doll, get it in the post, and the spirit comes with it."

(Image: PA Real Life Features)

A shop in Shrewsbury, Shropshire sells the dolls in the UK and scores of people chat about the subject on forums.

Enthralled by this new discovery, Katrin ordered her first doll, Mystical, from the USA for just £10 in August 2010.

She said: "When she arrived I realised straight away she was not a doll, she was a person.

"That night I put her near the television

"I told her: 'If you're happy switch it off, if you are not happy leave it.'

"The response was terrifying. The TV switched off and on, the lights flickered and I knew it was Mystical talking to me through the electricity.

"She told me she was happy to have been adopted by me.

"I was overwhelmed and had to put her away."

But a week later, she tried to 'speak' to the doll again.

She said: "She told me, in the same process through the TV, that she had died when she was 103 and is very wise."

After coming to terms with Mystical's power, Katrin decided she wanted more dolls and has now bought 12.

She said: "Cost depends on quality and history.

"You can't put a price on them, because they're so much more than dolls, they're links to another world.

"I am happy to go without other things to buy the dolls.

"I make my own clothes rather than buy new."

(Image: PA Real Life Features)

Katrin uses specialist ghost-hunting equipment to chat to her dolls, including voice recorders.

She said: "I have also attempted to hear voices though my mobile phone.

"I put my phone on record when the dolls are in the room and listen back.

"You can hear them. They sound like humans, having conversations in the background.

"I heard a doorbell once, and I don't even have one."

Katrin believes each doll is a different person who has passed away, and uses the name they had in life.

She said: "Michael, the second doll I got in June 2011, is a baby who died from cot death in the 1980s and has since inhabited the body of a porcelain doll which I have now adopted into my care."

She gets her dolls from a number of different places.

She said: "I usually get the dolls from collectors who have websites dedicated to them.

"They have purchased the dolls from people who didn't know the doll was haunted."

Not everyone is as keen on the collection as Katrin.

She says: "Usually my sons are not scared by the dolls, they like them and read to them.

"But they are a bit scared of my latest doll, Agatha, as her body is soft and her head heavy.

"Some relatives don't like them, they make them nervous."

(Image: PA Real Life Features)

It was the purchase of Michael which showed Katrin the dolls could 'misbehave.'

She said: "Michael is very active, he will twist his head.

"My mum noticed this too, and his facial expression changes.

"When Michael sees me playing with my children I often sense him crying out: 'Mummy, play with me.' But what do you expect? He is only a child.

"One day I was watching TV and the channels kept flipping to cartoons, I turned them back, but it kept flipping.

"I realised it was Michael. He is only a baby and he wanted to watch cartoons.

"I think he used his energy to do this."

It is not just Michael who plays up his 'doll mum.'

Katrin said: "Ashley came weeks after Michael. One night Ashley revealed to me, through the use of a pendulum, that he died more than three decades ago in a car crash.

"He regularly hides my car keys, because of the accident.

"His mum passed over in the crash and now he doesn't want me going out in my car.

"I shout out: 'Ashley, Ashley,' and the keys come back."

Each of the dolls has a story.

Katrin said: "Isabelle was a young girl who died of cancer, she was a bald child as a result of treatment.

"Touchingly, the doll's hair is also wispy.

""he is quite cheeky, she teams up with Michael to turn on taps.

"I have no idea how they do this. It's a real mystery.

"I then got Yulia, 33, who died in a plane crash.

"Baby Blue came next in autumn 2011, he died when he was ten months old.

"His spirit sneaks into my sons' beds. They feel the covers go back.

"We know who it is so they are not scared."

Her next four dolls were Heather and Gretchen, both seven-years-old and Iris and Pearl, who died in their 20s.

She said: "I know when Pearl is around, she smells of fresh washing and bread.

"They love to gossip to one another. I'm not sure what they talk about, like most young women they don't want to tell their old mum."

(Image: PA Real Life Features)

Katrin's last two dolls both arrived in May this year, Trena is a witch who died in her 30s and Agatha who is a portal for three spirits.

But having the dolls around has not always been a smooth ride.

She admitted: "There was a small fire in my flat a few weeks ago and I know it was the spirits.

"They just have so much energy, but I wouldn't be without them."

She does not like to leave the dolls alone, so her mum babysits if she has to go away over night.

She said: "Mum refuses to go into my room, where the majority of the dolls are kept.

"She said it is too scary, and is afraid of the spirits but I couldn't leave them alone.

"I have had boyfriends and they don't mind them as they don't believe they are haunted.

"People think I am mad, but I have heard the dolls talk.

"I have adopted them like I would a child and I would not let them go."

Meet the dolls

Mystical - Died when she was 103 and is very wise.

Michael - A baby who died from cot death in the 1980s.

Ashley - A child who died more than three decades ago in a car crash.

Isabelle - A young girl who died of cancer.

Yulia - A woman who was 33 when she died in a plane crash.

Baby Blue - A baby who died when he was ten months old.

Heather and Gretchen - Both seven-years-old.

Iris and Pearl - Died in their 20s.

Trena - A witch who died in her 30s.

Agatha - Possibly evil, as her kids are scared of her.

Behind the phenomena of haunted dolls

The Facebook page of Haunted Dolls, a shop in Shrewsbury, Shropshire has 8292 likes.

Haunted dolls is run by a group of paranormal investigators.

Dolls are not bought they are adopted. And dolls are not considered as toys by collectors.

Dolls cost between £10 and £500 depending on their history.