Five-year-old dressed as 'Chucky' terrorizes unsuspecting people in an Alabama neighborhood

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on July 26, 2022

Some things in life demand a double take and a closer inspection. For Kendra Walden, it was the sudden appearance of a real-life "Chucky" doll casually strolling down the street in an Alabama neighborhood that warranted a second—followed by a third—look. The 31-year-old was in a car with two other women in Albertville, Alabama, when she first spotted a life-sized version of the homicidal doll from the 1988 horror film "Child's Play" out and about in the community. "I was remodeling a house in the area and me and some of my employees were headed home from that house," Walden told TODAY.

At first, Walden suspected she was hallucinating. How else would one explain the inexplicable presence of a fictional murderous doll in a hilly, residential street in Pinson? However, "Chucky" wasn't a mirage. "When we got closer to him we saw that it was real," Walden said. "It scared the heck out of us." She added that everyone in the car was "screaming like little kids" when they realized the menacing figure staring at them intently as they slowly rolled by seemed—against all odds—to be real. "My brother Zack, who is a Marine, was working on this house the day before," Walden said. "His biggest fear in the entire world is Chucky so he would have died on the spot."

Since they couldn't believe their eyes, Alexis Atchley—Walden's colleague who was driving the car—turned the vehicle around so everyone could get a closer look. "When we circled back around (the boy) had his mask off, but quickly popped it back on and crossed the street after we passed," Walden recalled. "We turned around again and that’s when we got the photos." Since uploading three photos from the wild encounter on Facebook, she's been inundated with notifications about likes, comments, shares and messages. The post, which reads "Dear Parents of the little boy in the Chucky costume in Pinson... GET YOUR KID... I almost had a heart attack," has been liked more than 52,000 times in the past two weeks.

"At first it was private and then a friend asked to make it public and after that, it's been crazy," said Walden. "I can rarely check my notifications because so many are on the Chucky post. I’ve had so many people reach out about people sharing it and such... The mother of the child eventually commented on our post and after looking at her photos we knew it was her son." As it turns out, the Pinson "Chucky" is a local 5-year-old boy named Jackson who is now extremely pleased with how he's been able to give people a bit of a fright. Speaking to WIAT, the boy's mom, Britnee Reed, revealed that the costume has been a staple around the house and neighborhood ever since her son went as "Chucky" for Halloween.

"That's just kind of how his personality is," she said. "He dresses up in different costumes throughout the week. He loves to make people laugh." Reed was at work when one of her co-workers shared Walden's viral Facebook post with her, remarking how it looked like something Jackson would do. "I zoomed in and said, 'Oh my goodness,' that's my kid," she said. Reed immediately contacted her mother, who was watching Jackson at the time. Her mother explained that she'd helped Jackson get into the costume and sat on the porch watching him as he strutted about.

Meanwhile, Jackson is thrilled that he's been able to scare not just people in his neighborhood but the thousands of people who've seen his "Chucky" persona on Facebook. "Tell them I was a good Chucky," the youngster said. "And make sure you send my grandma a copy of the pictures, too."