"No it's not, but it was a different kind of puppet they used on stage as their prop way back before our time. They just made it in a different form. They started using soft teddy bear puppets in the 5th century. So ventriloquist dummies didn't come out in that period. You see puppetry is an ancient form of theatre. It was first recorded in the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. Some forms of puppetry may have first originated a very long time ago as 3000 years BC.
"That was a long time," she said.
"Yeah, very long. So the act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing. And having the ability to do that is knowingly called in English, the ability to [throw] one's voice. The technical term for that is [ventriloquial figure] in size anywhere from twelve inches tall, to human-size and larger. With the height usually falling between thirty four and forty two inches. This type of doll has been created from papier-mache or wood. In the modern times other materials were often employed. That is including fiberglass-reinforced resins, urethanes, filled rigid latex, and neoprene," he informed.
"Damn you use so many big words," she said.
"I'm a teacher, that's what teachers do. So, going to the creations of soft puppets. There is many different types of hand crafted puppets. And they are made of a wide range of so many materials. It all depends on the puppet's form and it's intended use. The making of puppets can be very complex or very simple in their creation. The simplest puppets are the ones that is called Finger Puppets. Finger puppets are tiny, and it can fit into a single finger. Like Sock Puppets, sock puppets are formed from a sock and is operated by inserting it's hand inside the sock. The opening and closing of the hand imitates the moving of it's mouth. Next, is the hand puppet. The hand puppet is controlled by the puppet's one hand that occupies the interior. It moves the puppet around. Now the Punch and Judy puppets are very similar examples that I mentioned. Other hand or glove puppets are bigger and require two puppeteers for each puppet.
Rod puppets. Rod puppets are made from a head attached to a rod. Over the rod is a body form that has arms attached that is controlled by separate other rods. Rod puppets have more increasing movement to it than an easy hand does or even a glove puppet. You know puppets have been around and used since the beginning of times on stage to animate and to communicate the ideas and needs of human societies by imitating human characteristics and voices. I read an article some years back that some historians claims that they existed earlier actors in theatre.They say there is evidence that they were used in Egypt that is early as say 2000 BCE. String operated figures of wood was manipulated to act and perform the kneading bread. Puppets were manipulated in many ways to do different acts on stage. Puppets were very popular in the ancient times and were more popular later from the 1930s-1980s. They even made popular films out of puppets like the Puppet Master. Being John Malkovich. Little Shop of Horrors. Hobgloblins. Have you seen them?" He asked.
"No, but I do like to watch scary movies," she said.
"I love them. Well since you are a fan of Horrors, did you know they even made popular ventriloquist dummy films?" He asked.
"No I haven't," she said.
"Aww man, you must check those films out. They made ventriloquist dummy films like Dead Silence. Goose Bumps. Magic. Devil Doll. Dummy. The Great Gabo. Knock On Wood. And as you know all of the Child's Play movies," he informed.
"CHUCKY?" She asked shockingly.
"Yeah."
"CHUCKY THE KILLER DOLL WAS A VENTRILOQUIST DUMMY?"
"Yeah."
"Wooow, I didn't know Chucky was a ventriloquist dummy," she said.
"Hey you pronounce that word correctly now," he said.
"Yeah it took me a minute to," she said.
"Yeah Chucky the killer doll is a hand made ventriloquist dummy doll. But the only difference is that Chucky was not manipulated to speak in those movies. He was possessed by that serial killer Charles Lee Ray. His voice and spirit got installed in the doll. Chucky was Charles's nickname. So Chucky's flesh is human, so he was not controlled in anyway. Chucky was his own voice and own person, but was just in a different body," he informed.
"Gotcha, that's interesting as fuck Mr. Hanks," she said.
"Hahaha, yeah, it is," he said.
"But ventriloquist dummies can also be dangerous? Right?" She asked curiously.
"Yes."
"How? How can a ventriloquist come to life? Fuck, what is going on? How is I'm saying this? This is fucked up," she asked, getting perturb and frowned.
Mr. Hanks grabbed her hands.
"I'm terribly sorry dear what you are experiencing is horrible. Dolls can have a way of coming to the living existence," he said.
"How? Why?" She asked.
"There is some cases that ventriloquist dummies can possibly come back to life to haunt others. It can be possessed by an entity," he informed.
"What's an entity?" she asked.
"Spirit," he said.
"So you saying that puppet... I mean ventriloquist doll is possessed by an evil spirit of a human?" She asked.
"That's right," he said.
"How do I stop it?" She asked.
Jasmine's phone rings. "Oh God, this my momma calling, she wants me home."
"Okay that's it for today, but you can meet me after class tomorrow. I may have more information to share with you. I would need to do a little research because I'm not that certain on how to stop that thing. But...." Mr. Hanks got up from his chair and got closer to Jasmine.
"But for the time being, stay safe, and make sure you lock all of your doors. And also tomorrow I will bring you some spiritual candles and incents to fight out that evil spirit. I don't know what it is, but I will surely find out," he said, reassuring her.
"Thanks Mr. Hanks."
"Bye now, goodnight," he said.
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