THE AIRBNB DOLL HOUSE NIGHTMARE – CHAPTER 1

THE AIRBNB DOLL HOUSE NIGHTMARE 

on a Greek Island filled with witches and weirdos 

Written by Sally Golan

Edited by John Orquiola 

CHAPTER ONE: HOUSE OF DOLLS 

I swear, I should have sued Airbnb for allowing this house to exist on their platform. This memory will haunt me for the rest of my life and after reading this, it will haunt you too. 

Ready for story time, kids? 

Kefalonia island sits in the Ionian sea and has always piqued my interest because of a few extremely stunning attractions like: Melissani Caves, Myrtos Beach, Fiskardo Beach, Xi Beach, and the impressive town of Assos village. 

It was August in the summer of 2018 and I was hell bent on making this trip happen. My local friend Kostas was also keen to join the adventure. We only had one problem: We could not find accommodations to save our lives. 

Hotels in Greece tend to be pretty dank and the Airbnb market back in 2018 was just beginning to pop, except for on the Ionian Islands. The inventory was slim to none and I was getting desperate. “Aaah, wait what’s this”? I slide through photos of an Airbnb called “Fairytale house” with a huge mural of an enchanted forest behind the bed, some old, antique looking furniture and a few…

Wait hold on…

Let me zoom in…

Are those dolls? 

“OK, just like 4 or 5 dolls. I can stuff them in the closet,” I mutter to myself as I instantly book the fairytale house, despite it looking like a grandma pad. 

TIME TO PLAN FOR YOUR TRIP!!!!

I exchange contact details with the host and she offers to pick us up at the airport. She doesn’t speak much English so we rely on Google Translate. I make a list of all the beaches I want to see, all the restaurants I want to eat at, and all the little towns to take photos in. My Kefalonia island dream will finally come true. 

Kostas and I land in the world’s tiniest airport, gather our belongings, and head outside to find our Airbnb host. We look around, we look around…

“Is that…her driving up?” He says as he points outward

“No…it can’t be…” I shiver at the sight of something out of a movie.

A beat up car that looked like it hadn’t been washed since 1975 pulls up. The driver door opens and out steps an elderly lady with enormous gray hair, tied up in a gigantic balloon-like bun on top of her head. She’s wearing what looked like a Victorian era dress that bellowed outward as I thought “How the F did she fit that into the car?” She locks eyes with Kostas, flashes a yellow toothed grin, and hobbles in our direction. 

I look around for signs that we’ve landed in Salem.  

We load our bags into her shit-mobile and get in the backseat to be greeted by a living carpet! The thing starts to bark and I realize it’s a dog that also has not been washed since 1975. There was dog hair everywhere, so much dog hair in the car that I was afraid to sit in the backseat, for I too would become a living carpet. The smell…was something else. My heart starts to pound and my mouth goes dry. This is when I realize I made a big fucking mistake. 

We drive to the house in dark, eerie silence. 

I contemplate rolling out. 

I look at the dog

The dog gives me “get out while you can” eyes 

“Come inside come inside,” the old Greek lady helps us with our luggage up a flight or two. She opens the door and reveals an eccentric and incredibly strange apartment with not one, not two, not even three…but 50 something dolls sitting, standing and staring at us. 

Porcelain dolls, marionette dolls, colloquial dolls, bisque dolls, china dolls, belongs-in-a-horror-movie dolls, scattered all about the house in creepy museum-like fashion. Some were sitting on the tiny antique couch in the living room, some were placed on the kitchen counter and some were even sitting on the stove.

Fuck.

My. 

Life. 

I didn’t even realize that I was holding my breath. I look at Kostas and he stood frozen with his arms wired to his body as if he was already under a spell. We exchange looks of complete fear. 

“Sally,” Kostas whispers to me as the Airbnb hosts explains how the house works in the background. “Did you see pictures of this place before you booked it?” 

“Of course I did!” I hiss.

“Did you not see the dolls?!” Kostas demands.

“I saw 4 in the photos! I didn’t know there were 100 of them!!!!” 

The host now takes us into the bedroom. It only gets worse. Two single beds have been pushed together to create an uneven double bed as one of the single beds stood taller than the other. I sit on the mattress. It’s hard like cement and creeks like arthritis. The sheets were dusty, the pillows were as flat as pancakes, the room smelled like moth balls and skeletons in the closet. 

Was this really a Greek island or The Hills Have Eyes?

The “host” now leads us back into the living room and kitchen area where most of the creepy dolls live. I lock eyes with one of the medium sized ones in the kitchen and try not to let it control my mind. 

“Sally!” I jump

“WHAT???” I shoot back.

“Do you see the books on the book shelves?” He points to a wall of books, floor to ceiling and thick hard covers, all black with gold foil stamped writing on it. 

“It’s all witchcraft! Greek witchcraft! She’s a witch!” 

And that’s when we simultaneously shit our pants. 

“Have a pleasant stay!”  

READ CHAPTER 2 HERE