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7 months ago
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A creepy doll in a wicker cage which was bought for £100 from a charity shop will now be used as the centrepiece for a pagan festival its new owners say.
Laurence Mitchell, 54, told Mail Online he plans to incorporate the prop, which he has nicknamed 'WickerBoi' into his annual pagan Krampus festival.
The bizarre doll, which was bought from a YMCA in Hove, will be at the Heart of Whitby Krampus Run.
Organisers Mr Mitchell and partner Elaine Edmunds originally saw the doll on Facebook and with the help of two friends raced almost 50 miles to collect it.
The festival at the start of December, where Whitby locals dress as the Austrian krampus, a half-goat, half-devil that punishes misbehaving children, has been going for 10 years.
Sam Keylock, 54 (left) and Lara Young, 50 (right) in their car on the way to collect the creepy doll after the charity shop said they would only reserve it for them for two hours
Mrs Keylock and Ms Young dressed in their Krampus festival costumes posing with the doll in a wicker cage in a forest
The creepy doll in a 3ft-tall stick cage was on sale at a YMCA charity shop in Hove. The doll was covered in light brown paint and was finished with a shaggy mousy-brown wig
Mr Mitchell and Ms Edmunds first spotted the wicker mannequin on a Facebook group called Folk Revival and thought it would make a good prop for their festival.
The group, which has 70-100 members, gathers every year to celebrate the folklore and history of Whitby by dressing up.
The graphic designer from Whitby said: 'So it appears up on this site. And obviously we thought it was just an interesting thing to probably have a look at, we probably could recreate one, and we just showed our friends on some of the others in the in the group.
'We started to see it pop up in a lot of other kind of like sites as well. So obviously it got a bit viral that way.
'I mean, we'd all basically just assume something like this, it would be one of those things that would be snapped up, I mean? Who wouldn't want one.'
The festival organiser contacted his friend Sam Keylock and asked if she would be be able to get hold of the unique doll.
'Sam Keylock gave them a ring to see if it was still available.
'She zoomed in to see what shop it was. Tracked it down. Found it was in the Y.M.C.A. in Hove and gave them a call.'
Members of Whitby Krampus run in ghoulish costumes as part of their Christmas festivities where they dress up as the Austrian Krampus to scare misbehaving children
The stick cage is over three feet high and is topped with an animal scull and finished with shreds of rags and bones
The one-metre-tall mannequin is curled up in a wicker cage with its feet hanging out of gaps in the bottom
'Basically the person on the other end says, "Oh, God, that thing! I'll go and see if we've still got it." And apparently it'd been there for a good couple of years.'
'And they haven't really put it on display. And I'm assuming it might be putting people off going into the shop.
'He went through the into the storeroom. It was there. And he's like, "Yeah. Still got it."
'We said, "Well, can you hold on to it for us?" and he said he'd give us two hours maximum, but they lived in Hastings and the thing was in Hove.'
Lara Young, a psychotherapist, 50 and Sam Keylock, 54 made the almost 50 mile trip from Eastbourne to Heathfield and then to Hove YMCA to collect the prop.
The two friends raced against the clock to arrive at the charity shop within their two-hour window and made it just in time.
'We managed to hit every red light, every road works, we were stuck in traffic the whole time.' Ms Young said.
'And then when we got to Hove we still had to park - we only just made it.'
After the pair collected the three-foot-tall boy in a wicker cage they carried it through Hove before driving home.
'We did get a few people asking us about him.'
The prop, which the pair say weighs between three to four kilos, only just fitted into their car.
Members of Whitby Krampus Run dressed as pagan mythical creatures and wandering through woodland as part of their Christmas celebrations. The festival has been going on for 10 years
A YMCA charity shop in Hove was selling the creepy prop for £100 and the staff believe it had been used for a TV show before it was donated
The mannequin, which will form the centrepiece of a parade, is staying with Ms Young and will be transported 630 miles to Whitby in June in time for their summer festival.
Ms Young and Mrs Keylock became involved with the Whitby Krampus run after auditioning as a band - The Krampus Krumpettes and have been regulars at the festival for 5 years.
The prop from the hit Sky show Britannia will be right at home with the festival organisers who say they have a range of similar bizarre artefacts.
Their collection includes handmade masks, traditional masks imported from Austria and made by master craftsmen, herds of horse heads, a ring full of bones and large-scale devil costumes.
Ms Edmunds say that while the pair love the prop, some of the comments have been quite negative but she insists it's an 'extremely well crafted, well made piece'.
'We picked up on the quality as well as the look of it.' she added.
The couple said they first became interested in pagan traditions after buying a small figurine from a market in Prague.
'In 2005 we came home with a little wooden figure from Prague that was a little damaged looking figure, I suppose, he had a basket on his back, but with a child in chains of one hand and a whip in the other, and we weren't really sure what it was.
'But we're just quite drawn to it.
'We had a friend who ran an antiques place, and he pointed out that that was Krampus, and from there Krampus just became part of our consciousness.'
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