Dear God....

Just over a decade ago, a well-educated Russian historian was captured by authorities when they stumbled upon his grisly collection of hand-made human dolls scattered throughout his apartment.

Once a respected figure in his field, horrific truths began surfacing in 2011 about Anatoly Moskvin, 57, that revealed he was digging up dead females and turning them into dolls. It was believed that by the end of his two-decade-long span of graverobbing, he had desecrated around 150 in total.

Dumped among the mounds of clutter within the home of Moskvin, from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, were 26 mummified bodies of girls and women aged between three and 29. 

The scholar-turned-bodysnatcher had unearthed the dead girls and lived with their corpses in his house of horrors after turning them into ghoulish playthings and adorning them with lipstick, makeup, and knee-length boots.

He dug up the bodies of the girls before dragging them back to his home, where he would turn them into showpieces that resembled antique dolls with red lips, blushed cheeks, and brightly coloured, frilly dresses.

Chilling images of his sickening collection show bodies and skeletons in stockings and costumes, with one even dressed to resemble a child's teddy bear. 

Footage later released by cops showed the dead children placed around his house in bizarre outfits, poking out from behind curtains and shoved into gaps in his walls.

They were also seen seated on shelves and sofas, surrounded by clutter. 

Some were found with their faces wrapped in fabric which Moskvin had applied makeup over, and others had their hands concealed in sheets of fabric.

A terrifying image of one of Moskvin's victims showed a skull covered in a thick layer of wax as the teeth protruded from the dead girls mouth. 

He admitted he would stuff the decayed corpses with rags before wrapping their faces with nylon tights, or attach fashion doll's faces on top of the human ones.

Moskvin would also insert buttons or toy eyes into the girls' eye sockets so that they could 'watch cartoons' with him. 

The self-proclaimed 'necropolyst' - an expert on cemeteries-  had collected photographs and plaques taken off the gravestones, doll-making manuals, and maps of local cemeteries, as well as the original clothes worn by the dead girls from when they were buried.

When police eventually caught Moskvin, they found music boxes and toys wedged into the bodies, so that the dolls could produce sounds for the perverted man when he touched them.

There were also personal belongings and clothing buried inside some of the mummies, and one even had part of her tombstone with her name scrawled on it stuffed inside her body.

It was revealed that the highly-trained bodysnatcher marked the birthday of each of his dead victims in his bedroom in chilling rituals, as well as named them and organised parties for his 'toys'.

His mother Elvira, 84, said: 'We saw these dolls but we did not suspect there were dead bodies inside. 

The corpse of murder victim Olga Chardymova, aged ten, was one of the 26 Moskvin dug up and turned into mummified dolls.

Her mother Natalia Chardymova did not realise that on her regular visits to her daughter's graveside, the coffin was empty because Moskvin had stolen Olga's corpse for his sick collection.

Following his arrest, Moskvin was interviewed by Russian media where he revealed the twisted 'motives' behind his spate of horror crimes.

He stated he felt great sympathy for the dead girls and thought they could be brought back to live by science or black magic.

As an expert on Celtic culture, he learned that the ancient Druids slept on graves to grow closer to the spirits of the dead and communicate with them.

He began searching for obituaries of deceased local children, and when he found one that 'spoke to him' he would sleep on the child's grave to determine whether the deceased wanted to be brought back to life.

He admitted he had been doing this for around 20 years, but never dug up the body of a child without their permission.

As he grew older, he said it started becoming painful to sleep on the graves, which is when he began bringing them home.

He was also allegedly motivated by his own desire to have children, specifically a daughter.

Moskvin once attempted to adopt a young girl but his application was rejected due to his low income.

He denied any sexual attraction toward the dolls and claimed he instead considered them his children as he spoke with them, sang songs to them, and watched cartoons with them.