In an ideal situation, nobody would ever be seated directly next to a stranger on a plane, but we're rarely that lucky. That said, there is a hierarchy of people you definitely don't want to sit next to. People who eat smelly food are worse than people who take up more than their share of space. Crying babies are slightly more tolerable than someone watching Mrs Brown's Boys out of their iPad speakers. But nothing compares to a haunted nightmare doll straight from The Twilight Zone.
Funnily enough, author Sara Nović, who tweeted about her experience, shared a red eye flight last night from Seattle to Houston with just such a doll.
To pick a strange detail from many strange details: The middle aged man who the doll belonged to bought it a ticket of its own.
The man told Nović he was traveling to Cincinnati "to see the giant Noah's ark replica built to spec, and the creation museum. As a matter of course."
The doll's name, incidentally, was Barbara.
Good luck sleeping through that.
When Nović arrived in Houston and boarded her next plane, the story took another turn.
As some speculated in the thread, it's possible that Barbara was a Luk Thep, or a supernatural "child angel" doll that is treated like a real child. Luk Theps have become so popular in Thailand that Thai Smile Airways said in an internal memo "dolls with tickets will be served snacks and drinks, though they will be barred from sitting in exit rows."
Sitting next to the doll on the red eye made the flight "particularly terrifying," Nović said via email. The man, she told me, did not appear to be of Asian descent, and most of the airline staff seemed surprised and excited to see a passenger actually purchase a seat for a doll. "As far as it being a possible good luck charm, the airline workers also seemed to find it unique, especially that he'd bought it a ticket," she said. "They all came running from other gates and wanted to see the photo when they found he'd already boarded."
Creepy factor aside, Nović managed to make it out of the trip without being cursed—as far as we know. "He didn't do anything with it except put his arm out to protect it during takeoff and express incredulity to the attendant that he should not enter her name and birthdate on her ticket info," she said. "He also mentioned that she was well-behaved. He was otherwise friendly."
