Searching for Agnes: Poughkeepsie shop owner looks for the special, creepy doll she accidentally sold
Laura Bell, owner of Curio Cabinet of the Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, is hoping someone sees the recent media coverage and contacts her with information about the whereabouts of her doll Agnes.
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A Poughkeepsie oddities shop owner could use some help finding a special, creepy doll that was accidentally sold.
Laura Bell, owner of Curio Cabinet of the Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, is hoping someone sees the recent media coverage and contacts her with information about the whereabouts of her doll Agnes.
Since Bell opened the Main Street oddities outlet two years ago, Agnes had always been positioned by the register with her partner, Stewart.
"She's got a mug only a shop owner could love," Bell said, looking at a photo of Agnes.
Someone else apparently loved Agnes enough to buy her for $65 last month.
Bell said she was out preparing for the city's monthly downtown festival when her employee texted her a photo of Agnes that Bell thought was a different creepy doll.
"It was my fault. I didn't look closely. I didn't slow down," Bell said. "I didn't see it head-on. She asked for a price and I gave her a price because I was carrying a box of t-shirts for the First Friday event and didn't think about it twice."
She realized what had happened a moment later when the employee texted her back: "I'm gonna miss that ugly baby on the counter."
"I was like, 'You sold Agnes?’” Bell said, laughing. "What? No!'"
Bell started in the oddities business, selling crystals in parking lots outside concerts. Her enterprise has grown, leading her to open a storefront in Poughkeepsie in 2024.
Certain corners of the shop are devoted to work from local vendors whose work includes preserved animal organs and literally stuffed animals, all ethically obtained from local veterinarians and taxidermists.
One piece featured a stuffed muskrat performing Hamlet – called “Hamrat.”
The shop offers a wide selection of records, magazines and trading cards from the 1980s and 1990s, including Garbage Pail Kids.
Sprinkled throughout the shop are several other dolls - all creepy.
Agnes had a certain energy, though. She was different. She was Agnes.
Bell says that if Agnes’s accidental buyer agrees to sell her back to Curio Cabinet, Bell would gladly include some free merchandise to sweeten the deal.
"But if she's meant to be with somebody else, then she's meant to be with somebody else," Bell said. "And we'll get Stewart a new girlfriend. He's just not ready yet."
