KELLER, Texas — This story has been updated with new details from the people who placed the doll on the bench.
A creepy doll that mysteriously showed up on a bench at a town hall in North Texas has suddenly become a hot spot for visitors.
The City of Keller Government Facebook page put up a post Thursday, showing a "Creepy Victorian Murder Doll" sitting on a bench at Keller Town Hall that someone left near the town landmark.
City officials are calling the doll "Vicki M." and said she arrived around 9:00 p.m. the night before by a "gang of spritely teenage girls."
The city posted images of the doll on both Facebook and Twitter, showing the pale-skinned doll with her blackened eyes and blue dress.
On Friday afternoon, a North Texas mom told WFAA it was her daughter, Lucy, and her two friends who left the doll at the town hall.
The doll was left at one of the girls' houses by one of their older sisters' friends, the mom said.
None of the parents wanted to keep it, so the girls decided to leave it in the town square as a prank on their way back from a church youth group.
The mom said they were surprised by Keller’s response and how quickly it started to go viral online.
The city's social media team had some fun with the situation, as the Facebook post said in part, "So noooooormally we’d think nothing of it, but we’ve seen The Craft. And Annabelle. And Child’s Play. So….yea. We’ll be calling for some backup from Keller Public Safety on this one."
As of Friday morning since the Facebook post went up, it has nearly 10,000 likes, 4,000 comments and 16,000 shares.
A trend that has started, though, is people in Keller showing up to the bench to take selfies with the creepy doll.
Then, to add a twist to the situation, the City of Keller sent out a Tweet late Thursday night, showing the doll now replaced with an actual woman who is dressed like the doll.
The Tweet said, "We’re not sure whether to be impressed or terrified. So our Creepy Victorian Murder Doll disappeared off her bench early this evening, and a life-sized version has evidently replaced her!"
The three girls' hope was initially to sell the doll to raise money for their church group, but someone has recently taken the doll, the mom said.
