David Bridges
While Briar Rose’s sister Belle, 8, plays with her American Girl dolls, the 3-year-old has found comfort in something else: a terrifying baby doll she found at a Spirit Halloween.
Brittany Beard — a 33-year-old mom from Groveland, Florida — told TODAY that while she isn’t particularly a fan of Halloween and horror, but she took her family to the seasonal costume shop on Monday, Aug. 22 to just browse. It was there that her youngest daughter spotted a spooky baby doll, which Beard has now affectionally dubbed “Creepy Chloe,” wearing dirty clothes with cracks painted on its skin.
To Briar, she’s just Chloe.
The mom of two shared her daughter’s newest toy in a hilarious Facebook post on August 26, documenting some of Briar and her doll’s recent adventure at Magic Kingdom in Disney World. In the post, Beard shared several photos of Briar posing with Creepy Chloe, including multiple shots from a photoshoot she had done at the park.
“This is what it looks like when you take your 3 year old to the Spirit Halloween store and she absolutely insists on buying the creepiest baby doll you’ve ever set eyes on,” she wrote in the post. “She said, ‘But I’m it’s mommy and it needs me!’ Briar named the doll, Chloe and I then immediately nicknamed her Creepy Chloe. I’m pretty sure Creepy Chloe is stealing my soul when I sleep.”
As part of their trip to Disney World, Briar also insisted that Creepy Chloe get to wear a princess dress as well, to which Beard said, “Because creepy babies need Disney magic too I guess?” In order for Briar to fit with the spooky theme, Beard ended up dressing her in a Haunted Mansion outfit.
While the family is not as fond of Creepy Chloe as Briar, it was love at first sight for the 3-year-old in Spirit Halloween. Beard explained that though Briar does love regular baby dolls, when she saw the creepy doll in the aisles of the store, “she had to have it.”
“I’m always having to explain myself because we’re walking through the parks or swimming and people are just giving me the weirdest looks because there’s Briar just walking next to me holding this super creepy doll that’s dressed up,” Beard said. “I just feel like I always have to explain it like, ‘Oh, she fell in love with this doll at Spirit Halloween and I’m just letting her be her.’”
In the week since Creepy Chloe joined the Beard family, she’s been on quite a few adventures as Briar’s sidekick.
The family enjoyed a nice lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe on Thursday, August 25, where a waiter and their manager approached Beard and immediately brought the pastry chef, who loves Halloween, out to meet Briar and Creepy Chloe. The pastry chef even had a special surprise for Briar: a custom Halloween-themed cupcake and an edible poster for the Haunted Mansion.
Several times throughout their day trip to the theme park, Beard said she was stopped by fellow guests, cast members and workers who said that Briar and her doll were the “best thing I’ve ever seen.” Briar even got the chance to go backstage when she got to the Haunted Mansion, taking a moment to pose for photos with two cast members donning the same outfits as Briar.
“When they saw her, they immediately were like ‘You’re going backstage with us,’” Beard recalled. “When we got to the ride area, they were all waiting and presented her with a big certificate and how she’s now an undertaker at the Haunted Mansion. Briar just thought she was royalty.”
Creepy Chloe also went swimming for the first time last week and headed to a local spring in Florida on Friday with the family. Briar, of course, put the doll in a mermaid outfit for her first aquatic outing.
The next night, the family headed to Disney’s Fort Wilderness, which Beard described as having a “country” vibe. Naturally, Creepy Chloe had to dress for the occasion, so she wore pink cowgirl boots and a pair of Mickey Mouse ears.
Beard has not yet come around on her feelings toward Creepy Chloe, but her husband, who initially was not a fan, has changed his mind about the doll. She explained, “I talked to him this morning and he was like, ‘You know, maybe it is a good lesson that you love everything no matter what it looks like.’”
Still, even with that loving moral of this story, if Creepy Chloe mysteriously goes missing, Beard says with a wink: “You know what happened.”
Maya Kensington
Cameron Steel
