14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this year, in June, we introduced you to some seriously freaky dolls developed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (better known as the CIA) as part of the country's war on terror.
At a first glance, these wacky dolls, photos of which are included in the gallery below, are no more and no less than representations of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.
However, they can, one way or another, turn into demon dolls and scare the life out of anyone bold enough to welcome one into their home.
The Osama bin Laden concept dolls that we talked about several months ago completely transformed when exposed to heat. In a nutshell, their face melted off and revealed a set of devil-like eyes adorning a freakishly red face.
By the looks of it, the CIA worked not just these dolls, but several other prototypes as well. Of these other Osama bin Laden toys, one was sold at an event organized by Los Angeles-based auction house Nate D. Sanders this past Friday.
Somebody paid a heck lot of money to get it
The Osama bin Laden demon doll that was auctioned off towards the end of last week comes complete with two heads: a perfectly normal one and another especially designed to strike fear into kids and grownups alike.
As detailed by Toronto Sun, the doll had a starting price of $250 (about €200). However, it ended up fetching way more money than this. More precisely, it is understood that the person to bought it paid nearly $12,000 (€9,700) for it.
According to auction house Nate D. Sanders, just two other such prototype dolls are currently left in the world. Of these, one is kept at the CIA headquarters and another at the Pentagon.
Two heads and devil eyes aside, there really isn't anything odd about the doll that was auctioned off just a few days ago. Thus, just like its siblings at the CIA and the Pentagon, the doll shows Osama bin Laden wearing off-white pants, black boots and even a robe.
Not at all surprisingly, the identity of the person who got the doll has not yet been made public. Truth be told, chances are the buyer of this exquisite Osama bin Laden toy will forever remain anonymous.
Why did the CIA develop such dolls?
Information shared with the public says these Osama bin Laden prototype dolls were the result of a collaboration between the CIA and toymaker Donald Levine. Despite being labeled as toys, they weren't exactly meant for playing.
On the contrary, word has it that the CIA developed these so-called demon dolls in an attempt to scare children and make sure that they would never even consider joining al-Qaeda.
Officials with the CIA say that, to their knowledge, such dolls never made it out the design room. Thus, they argue that, although it is true that the Agency launched such a project in collaboration with toymaker Donald Levine, nothing more than prototypes were ever produced.
“After being presented with these examples, the CIA declined to pursue this idea and did not produce or distribute any of these action figures. Furthermore, CIA has no knowledge of these action figures being produced or distributed by others,” CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said back in June.
