While working on a book about California's most giant artificial body of water, the Salton Sea, I came across loads of abandoned dolls that have rotted in the extreme heat and sunshine. Some of these dolls would scare most children and a few adults. The morbid quality they possess is what makes them attractive to me. The faces of these dolls have burned in the hot sun, appearing to look like exposure to a nuclear disaster. Other dolls have the telltale signs of a haircut from a child's hand. The more expensive porcelain dolls have cracks in the face and are wearing once elaborate Victorian clothing, now tattered and torn, making them appear to have age and seem like a tiny old human. They bring back memories of torturing my sister's dolls when I was a young boy, as kids often do.