Robert the Doll - one of the most haunted objects in America. He’s in a museum in Key West and visitors are given a very specific warning. You have to ask Robert for permission before taking his photo. If not, you may experience an accident or bad luck like your camera breaking or something worse.
The doll was originally owned by a local Key West painter and author Robert Eugene Otto. The Otto family was quite wealthy and made sure Robert had everything he ever wanted as a child. When his grandfather was on a trip to Germany in 1904, he purchased the doll as a birthday gift for young Robert. The doll was manufactured by Steif the popular German toy manufacturer that invented the teddy bear. The doll was never mass produced or meant to be sold. It was designed to be used as a window display and not as an actual toy.
Little Robert loved his birthday present. He immediately became attached to the doll and named it Robert after himself. He dressed the doll in one of his old sailor suits and the two went everywhere together. I’m sure many of you remember a toy, blanket, or a stuffed animal you did the same thing with as a child. It was you and your beloved toy against the world.
It didn’t take long before people started to notice that there was something strange about the new doll. Robert would talk about the doll as if it was a living being. Servants in the family’s home would often hear Robert in his room alone having conversations with himself in two different voices. One night, Robert’s parents woke up to the sounds of furniture being overturned and their son screaming for help. They found Robert curled up in his bed surrounded by overturned furniture with the doll sitting at the foot of the bed staring at Robert.
Not long after, strange things began happening around the Otto’s home. Items would frequently move locations and toys would be broken. Robert would proclaim that the doll did it, but his parents thought he only had an over active imagination. They assumed Robert was going through a mischievous phase that he would eventually grow out of, but he didn’t and things around the house got worse. Things began happening when Robert wasn’t home. Sometimes it appeared like the doll’s expression would change, or that they would see it move out of the corner of their eyes. They started hearing the doll giggle and sometimes running upstairs. The doll enjoyed staring out the large upstairs windows, watching what was going on outside the street below. People passing by claimed to see the doll moving from window to window when they looked up at the Otto’s house.
The incidents continued as Robert grew up. Once a plumber was working at the Otto’s home and kept hearing the laughter of a child. The plumber was working alone and each time he would hear the creepy laugh he would look up to find the doll had moved to a different a chair upstairs. Robert eventually left home without the doll to study art in New York and Paris. Robert’s parents stored the doll in the attic until Robert returned home to Key West with his new wife Annette.
Robert fixed the doll its own room on the top floor of his parents old home. He made sure it had everything it needed, because he didn’t want it to feel neglected or lonely. Robert’s wife soon grew to resent the doll. She hated being second to a doll. Local legend insists that Robert would spend his days locked in the doll room he created spending the day painting with his best friend. Eventually, his wife made him store the doll back in the attic when she threatened that it was either her or doll. The constant grief of having to choose his wife over his life long friend is what some believe ultimately led to Robert’s death in 1974. His wife died two years later and the Otto house was sold to Myrtle Reuters who owned the home for the next twenty years. The house came partially furnished, including the dolled that remained in the attic. During the time she lived in the house she would always hear odd noises coming from the attic and she would constantly find items misplaced in her home.
When she finally found the doll and learned its history, she truly believed it was haunted. She donated it to the Martello Museum where it has stayed on display perched in a glass box still wearing its sailor suit clutching a stuffed lion. Employees and visitors have claimed to have seen the doll move. His smile has been known to quickly turn into a scowl. Some employees believe the doll will get out of his display at night. Sometimes when they come into work, they find him in a different position or with a fresh layer of dust on his shoes.
Word of the haunted display quickly spread, and visitors came from all over to get a glimpse of the haunted doll. Many claim electronics act strange around the doll. They believe that you must write a letter asking permission to take pictures of Robert. You must respect the doll. If you fail to ask permission, he will put a curse on you or any naysayer who mocks those who don’t believe in him. Those cursed, have experienced broken bones, car accidents, divorces, job losses, and all kinds of misfortune.
Some believe there is a darker origin to the doll. They think Robert may have been created by one of the Otto family servants who was mistreated. She cursed the doll and gave it to their young son to torment the family for the rest of their lives. Others think the doll is the result of voodoo rituals and that it is drawn to other voodoo figures. If you are visiting Key West you can stay at the Otto’s old home where this story all began.