Oddities market fills the gap in macabre curiosities

The dolls Katherine Blahut designs are the ones from your childhood — with a macabre twist.

There’s the Nosferatu-inspired “NosferaTOT,” complete with fangs, pointed ears and another doll’s severed leg, and “ScAriel,” a demonic, Disney-inspired mermaid more interested in taking human souls than gaining one.

“I get a lot of questions like, ‘Are they haunted?’” Blahut said Sunday at An Oddly Curious Market in Winnipeg, where she was one of 45 vendors.

The sight of sinister-looking baby dolls brought some marketgoers to a dead halt at Blahut’s table. Some were curious or commented on how impressed they were by her work. Some visitors appeared a tad uncomfortable.

“People say, ‘It’s so creative, awesome work.’ Some find it too scary,” Blahut said.

The two-day market, now in its fourth year, is billed as an event for artists and makers of “odd, curious, weird, dark, macabre, strange or unusual goods and art.” It offers a range of unique items, from taxidermy and jewelry to pottery and alternative clothing.

This year’s market was held at the Center Culturel Franco-Manitoban in St. Boniface, after the 2025 edition was held at the Manitoba Museum. Organizers said more than 1,000 people attended Saturday.

Blahut travelled from her home in Regina, Sask., to sell her creations and promote her business, KATOD (“Kreepy and Totally Odd Dolls”), which she started in 2022.

She was inspired after she and some friends made Halloween dolls for fun on a girls’ night.

“Everybody was like, ‘Holy smokes, that’s awesome,’ so I thought I’m just going to keep creating and find an outlet,” Blahut said.

She buys unwanted children’s dolls at thrift stores and garage sales. “And then I creep them out,” said Blahut, who also accepts custom orders.

Each doll she creates is given a name and a back story. Buyers receive a certificate with information about the doll, including whether it is blessed or cursed.

Next to Blahut, vendor Jessica Dahlen’s array of taxidermy, including jarred squids, crayfish and a sheep’s heart attracted the curiosity of marketgoers.

“I would say the wet specimens are the ones that creep people out the most. The things floating in jars,” she said. Buyers tend to be looking for something unusual to display at home to add to an existing collection.

Dahlen said the most popular items at her stall are taxidermied ducklings ordered from an artist who sourced them from the agriculture industry.

“A lot of stuff I carry was intended to be food for us and animals,” she said.

Dahlen said all of the taxidermied items are ethically and sustainably sourced according to industry standards.

She co-organizes the market and is a co-owner of the Wolseley boutique Cauldron Bubble, which sells witchcraft items and other goods.

“The market started because there was nothing here like this,” Dahlen said.

Marketgoer Victoria Oake bought rabbit fur and a decoration that contained animal bones from Dahlen’s stall.

“I have a crafting room that I also have as my oddities room, where I’m going to display all my strange little items,” Oake said.

Oake, who makes leather accessories including boot straps, chokers and belts, said she might incorporate the fur into a wearable piece that she plans to create. She hopes to one day sell her own creations at markets.

Sunday was the first time she has browsed An Oddly Curious Market.

“I’m probably going to buy a lot more stuff. This is really up my alley,” Oake said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca