--- title: Creepy Porcelain Dolls Left on Porches By Old Lady, Not Stalker description: Each doll resembled a little girl who lived in the house canonical: https://time.com/3033988/porcelain-dolls-porches/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-25T16:20:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:56.071Z og:title: Person Who Left Dolls on Little Girls' Porches Not a Huge Creep After All og:description: Each doll resembled a little girl who lived in the house og:url: https://time.com/3033988/porcelain-dolls-porches/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13ee158d1a2513d1/69869d46cd804d2542ccc1d4/san-clemente-california-doll.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Handout of a combination photo showing two of the porcelain dolls found on doorsteps of numerous residences in the Talega community of San Clemente og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Person Who Left Dolls on Little Girls' Porches Not a Huge Creep After All twitter:description: Each doll resembled a little girl who lived in the house twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13ee158d1a2513d1/69869d46cd804d2542ccc1d4/san-clemente-california-doll.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Person Who Left Dolls on Little Girls' Porches Not a Huge Creep After All  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jul 25, 2014 4:20 PM UTC  A combination photo showing two of the porcelain dolls found on doorsteps of numerous residences in the Talega community of San Clemente, Calif., July 24, 2014. A combination photo showing two of the porcelain dolls found on doorsteps of numerous residences in the Talega community of San Clemente, Calif., July 24, 2014.Oragne County Sheriff's Department/Reuters  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jul 25, 2014 4:20 PM UTC There are few things spookier than opening your front door and finding a porcelain doll that looks like your young daughter, but that’s exactly what happened to eight families in a Southern California town. Many residents were freaked out by the dolls, and thought there could be some kind of stalker on the loose. “I’m actually thinking the worst, like someone creepy watching our children and I’m actually pretty scared about it,” Mary Robin Baziak told [NBC Southern California. ](http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Porcelain-Dolls-Left-Outside-San-Clemente-Homes-268503732.html)“(Someone) found a China doll on her stop that looked like her daughter.” The dolls, which started appearing on doorsteps in San Clemente on June 16, had initially stumped police. But the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday that they’ve identified the person responsible as a woman who went to church with some of the families and didn’t mean any harm. “Investigators have concluded that her motivation was out of goodwill and that she intended it as a kind gesture,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a press release. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3033988/porcelain-dolls-porches/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3033988/porcelain-dolls-porches/"},"headline":"Person Who Left Dolls on Little Girls' Porches Not a Huge Creep After All","datePublished":"2014-07-25T16:20:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:56.071Z","description":"Each doll resembled a little girl who lived in the house","url":"https://time.com/3033988/porcelain-dolls-porches/","keywords":["Living","Newsfeed","California","weird","Dolls"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13ee158d1a2513d1/69869d46cd804d2542ccc1d4/san-clemente-california-doll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13ee158d1a2513d1/69869d46cd804d2542ccc1d4/san-clemente-california-doll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Handout of a combination photo showing two of the porcelain dolls found on doorsteps of numerous residences in the Talega community of San Clemente","caption":"Handout of a combination photo showing two of the porcelain dolls found on doorsteps of numerous residences in the Talega community of San Clemente","creditText":"Oragne County Sheriff's Department/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3033988/porcelain-dolls-porches/","name":"Person Who Left Dolls on Little Girls' Porches Not a Huge Creep After All"}}]}] ```