ROBERT THE DOLL
Stories of possessed or haunted toys are somehow very scary and sinister - even to adults. This true story of Robert the Doll is Americas most famous of all.
The scene for this tale is a mansion known as the Artist House in Key West, Florida. The Otto family moved into the house in the late 1800's. Thomas Otto and his wife had a reputation for not being the kindest of people towards their servants, with suspicion of mistreatment.
One day Mrs Otto caught one of the maids, a Haitian servant practicing black magic in the back yard. Mrs Otto released the servant from service, but not before the maid gave Robert-the Otto's little boy a lifelike doll. The doll was about 3 feet tall, stuffed with straw, button eyes and believed to have real hair made from Robert's hair. Then she cursed it.
Robert loved his doll, he took it everywhere with him. He named the doll, Robert after himself. They could be heard talking to each other, as children do with their playthings. They were inseparable, eating at the table together. Robert would sneak tit-bits to the doll as you would the family dog behind your parents back. They would sleep together and both snuggled up under the bed covers.
But then things started to take a turn for the worse. Robert insisted his mother called him by his middle name, Gene. Servants often reported hearing Gene talking to Robert in his room, only for a deeper voice replying. They said they even saw the expression of the dolls face change! Sometimes Gene would be found scared to death, cowering in a corner of his room with Robert sat on the bed or on a chair staring at him with his button eyes. The room would be ransacked only for Gene to swear 'it was Robert not me'.
Events took on an even more sinister turn when objects in the Victorian mansion would fly off the walls, and shelves. Gene's toys were mutilated, which Gene always said was Robert's fault. When no one was in the house, neighbours said they could see Robert peering out of a window but then reported that he was looking out of another at the same time.
The servants never lasted long in that house, as tales of evil giggling emitting from the room the doll occupied, or it turning up unexpectedly in any part of the house, seemingly by itself would send anyone to flee the place.
Eventually Robert The Doll was banished to the attic. But this didn't put a stop to the doll's pranks. Not yet anyway.
Mr Otto passed away, leaving the mansion to Gene, who married and became an artist. History repeated itself as once again when Gene rescued Robert The Doll from his attic prison - the two became the best of buddies again. Robert was always at Gene's side no matter what he was doing. Gene's marriage went on the rocks after that and Gene's mother's (Mrs Otto) health suffered, eventually causing her to go insane and dying of an unknown cause. Robert was once again deposited back in the attic where he remained.
New owners purchased the Artist House only for Robert to start his tricks again, turning up anywhere in the house as if at will. People would mysteriously get locked in the attic or evil laughter could be heard.
The final straw for the new owners was waking one night to find Robert poised at the end of their bed laughing and holding a kitchen knife in his hand.
Robert, holding a little stuffed Lion, was re-housed in a glass case at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West for everyone to see this strange little doll for themselves. People working at the museum and visitors alike often reported catching Robert move out of the corner of their eye or noticing Robert's smile had turned to a scowl.
One particular night a curator cleaned Robert then left for the night. The next day Robert had changed position even though he was locked in a glass display cabinet and his shoes were covered in dust again. If anyone took a photograph of Robert without asking his permission first, which was granted by a slight tilt of the head, a curse would be bestowed upon them. Something a cameraman from the Travel channel forgot to ask resulting in his HD camera to inexplicably stop working. The cameraman begged Robert's forgiveness.
This story inspired the making of the 'Chucky' films.
By Andrew Searle - copyright 2015