Riverina Rewind: Doll found under Wagga floor continues to haunt the internet

A 200-year-old wooden doll that was found in an abandoned Wagga Wagga house in the 1970s is giving a new generation the creeps thanks to social media.

On Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, paranormal content creators can’t get enough of the spooky antique doll dubbed “Letta Me Out”, and some have made the trek to regional Queensland to meet the creature.

With his large, hooked nose, wicked toothy grin, dark, glass eyes and a long ponytail of real human hair, Letta is truly the stuff of nightmares, but for the family who adopted him more than 50 years ago, he’s considered a lucky charm.

The story goes that Letta was discovered in 1972 when 23-year-old Kerry Walton and his brother were in Wagga for their grandmother’s funeral.

The pair were scouting for bottles beneath the floor of a supposedly haunted farmhouse when they saw a child-sized body in the crawl space.

Kerry described his shock during an interview for The Extraordinary TV series in 1994.

“I was sort of under the house and with a torch, still a bit frightened about going under there, and I shine the torch on this fellow and I thought it was a little kid,” he said.

As Kerry and his brother drove home to Brisbane, the fully articulated doll appeared to be wriggling inside the sack they had placed him in and they joked that he was calling, “Letta me out”.

“When we first got him, I was petrified,” Kerry recalled.

“The night I got home, I left him in the lounge room and halfway through the night I had to go and put him back in his bag and put him under the house!”

Over the years, the Waltons have claimed to have seen all kinds of weird and wonderful things surrounding the doll, from terrified reactions from people and animals to unexplained phenomena and even surprising turns of good luck.

An antiquities expert dated the nails in the doll’s shoes to 18th century Eastern Europe and suggested that it is of “Gypsy” origin. Various psychics over the years have also claimed that Letta is associated with family tragedy and is inhabited by a spirit.

Recently, Kerry handed the care of Letta over to his granddaughter Hayleigh who keeps him around the house and runs his social media.

She told visiting YouTuber The Side Eye Guy that he’s an important part of the family and enjoys his new home.

“Where he was living, he was just in a wardrobe at my grandfather’s house, and he didn’t like being in the wardrobe, so I think giving him his own space has kind of helped a lot,” Hayleigh said.

“He’s perfectly fine with me and my kids. My husband’s a little bit iffy of him, especially having him in the house.

“He was a bit of a sceptic until the light started turning on, and the door would randomly open after it’s been locked with a key.”

Despite claims that Letta is possessed by the spirit of a drowned child and possible connections to witchcraft, Hayleigh said the doll responds to the energy visitors bring with them.

“I don’t think he’s evil,” she mused.

“You can tell when he doesn’t like people.”

While Letta has attracted plenty of attention over the decades, Hayleigh said she would hate to see him locked away in a museum or private collection.

Despite plenty of offers over the years, she said that he will remain with his adopted family and be passed down to her daughter who “loves him to pieces”.

“I don’t want him going behind glass doors. I don’t want that for him,” she said.

“I think he’s quite happy with family.”