Arrived as a special contribution to Western Civilization with City Limits Gazette # H 1/4 (Dec. 1991).
My brother actually had a Caspar the Friendly Ghost doll that talked when you pulled the cord on it's neck. Then his white fluffiness gave way to threadbare groadiness, and his utterances began to sound like something out of the Exorcist as the little record inside his plastic head started to wear out.
I'm pretty sure I used this concept in a longer story-- just can't remember where.
