Story by Nimue Brown, image by Jessica Law

No one knows for certain who it was that made the Jessica Law doll. There are some who say it was Jessica herself, although even they argue about whether the doll is a product of some terrible occult action, or some equally terrible scientific madness.

The Jessica doll is two feet high – considerably smaller than the original. If you take the doll by the shoulders and engage it in a walking motion, the head swivels slowly from side to side and the eyelids go up and down. It is a most disconcerting effect. What is more troubling however is the way in which the doll moves any time you aren’t looking at it. These movements are often small and are seldom intrinsically threatening, but it is certainly the case that the doll declines to stay still for long.

If you find the doll inside your home, my advice is not to make it walk, nor to attempt to engage it in conversation. Treat it with respect and allow it plenty of space. That you could find the doll unexpectedly in your house is a distinct possibility. Do not, under any circumstances allow your children to play with it. While there is no clear evidence that the doll has evil intentions towards children, may I point out that it is both a doll, and clearly haunted and that a risk to children is a reasonable inference.

Of course the doll primarily raises questions about the whereabouts and activities of the original Jessica Law. There are some who say they saw her in the sea some months ago, and that she had grown tentacles, or perhaps reverted to her original and tentacular form. There are others who claim that she has become a terrifying bird-woman and now spends most of her time on the cliffs screaming at the sea. Others assure me that she was a mermaid all along. Any of these things are possible. Perhaps all of these things are possible and she is a creature of many shapes and natures. If that is so, then perhaps the Jessica Law doll really is Jessica herself, in her current manifestation.