Katrin Reedik, 33, from Glasgow, has spent thousands of pounds on what she claims are haunted dolls and believes they are possessed and if they are left alone they will cause mischief in her home.
The full-time mother-of-two says her nights are taken up with chatting to her charges about how they died.
The single mother to Christopher Robin, eight, and Karl, seven, says that she bought the dolls after developing a fascination with the supernatural while travelling.
'I became interested in the spirit world in 2008, while living in Estonia, Northern Europe, because I felt the presence of a spirit,' she said.
'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.
'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.'
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, in August 2010 Katrin ordered her first doll, Mystical, from the US for just £10.
Katrin says that as soon as Mystical arrived she began to notice spooky goings-on in her home.
'When she arrived I realised straight away she was not a doll, she was a person,' she said.
'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, Katrin tried to 'speak' to the doll again.
'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.
Karin now says that she sources her dolls from a number of different places.
'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.'
She says she is happy to spend a fair amount on the dolls because you are buying into their history.
'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.'
Katrin has even sacrificed her basic needs in order to fund her habit.
'I am happy to go without other things to buy the dolls. I make my own clothes rather than buy new.'
Karin uses specialist ghost-hunting equipment to chat to her dolls, including voice recorders.
'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.'
Despite having devoted much of her time and money to the dolls not everyone is as keen on the collection as Karin.
'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.'
It was the purchase of Michael which showed Miss Reedik the dolls could 'misbehave.'
'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.'
'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' Karin says she has witnissed other younger dolls becoming mischevious.
'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 Karin's dolls have a story which can affect the way the doll's behave in the house.
'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.
'She 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.'
Karin says that the dolls are even starting to play tricks on her children as well as her.
'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.
'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.'
Kartin'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 with Karin claiming that they were responsible for an accident in her home.
'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 but she tries to avoid them where possible.
'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.'
Karin admits that people do have a hard time believing her but she insists that she is telling the truth.
'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.'
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