Fair Charlotte

By Crusader1307

 A seldom told American Myth, this Story comes to us from 1843 and involves a young girl named ''Charlotte''. The tale is generally assumed to have originated in Ohio (but versions carried to many other States). Charlotte it seems suffered from a Heart condition which required Her to not participate in many of the ''pleasures'' of being a young woman in the 19th Century in particular Dancing. Wishing to meet Her ''Beau'' and participate at a well known Ball in the area, She left Her Home on a very cold night (without a coat) and traveled by carriage to the function.

The story takes several ending from The Era. One, is that Charlotte died on the way to The Ball. Her carriage Driver was unaware. Suffering a Heart Attack, her face frozen in a ghastly visage Charlotte ''arrived'' at The Ball as a Corpse. Another has Charlotte making it to The Dance, but suffering Her Heart Attack in a Dressing Room. She was found dead. ''Charlotte'' was used as a cautionary tale dealing with health care and obeying One's Parents (or even perhaps One's Physician). The tale would give rise to a rather unusual product ''created'' as a result of The Urban( ) Legend. This was the creation of The ''Frozen Charlotte'' Doll in the 1850s..

These macabre figurines were made of China and ''marketed'' to young Girls. In the 1860s, the Tale's somewhat morbid points caused Production to wane. A small China bathtub was added to The ''Charlotte'' Doll and ''She'' was re-named ''Bathing Charlotte''. The Doll did not survive much past the 1890s. However even this spawned an ''Urban Legend'' in and of itself. As late as the 1920s and 1930s, ''buried'' Charlotte Dolls could be found just about everywhere in Rural America. One theory is that when a Girl ''Grew Up'' and no longer wished to ''play with Dolls'', ''Charlotte'' was buried. Some state that the practice was linked to ''finally'' burying Charlotte (who had died on the way to Her Dance).