Haunted Key West: Robert the Doll

 

For over 100 years, Robert the Doll has been one of Haunted Key West's most notorious residents

 

*Author's Note: Permission was requested for all photographs and their use in this blog post. It is written with all due respect for Robert and the supernatural occurrences described herein.

Robert the Doll

For all its tropical beauty, Key West also has a great deal of paranormal mystique. What better time than Halloween to share one of Key West's most famous ghost stories, the tale of Robert the Doll. Robert was the inspiration for Chucky of Child's Play fame, but as is often the case, truth is stranger than fiction...

 

The Artist House at 534 Eaton Street is now a guest house in the heart of Old Town Key West

The story began in 1904 at 534 Eaton Street, when it was occupied by the affluent Mr. and Mrs. Otto and their young son, Robert Eugene "Gene" Otto. The lifesize doll was given to four year old Gene by a Bahamian servant who was rumored to have practiced Black Magic. The doll was modeled as a likeness of Gene, so he called him Robert, his own given name. Robert and Gene were inseparable, but it quickly became apparent that this was more than just a childhood toy.

Strange things began to happen around the Otto house. Often when Gene and Robert were alone together, Mr. and Mrs. Otto would hear two distinct voices. When asked who he was conversing with, Gene would simply reply, "Robert."  Silverware disappeared, furniture was moved, and each time Gene was blamed for something, he would say, "Robert did it." Before long, Mr. and Mrs. Otto would awake to loud crashes and Gene's screams, rushing to his room to find him cowering in bed amidst overturned furniture, sobbing and claiming, "Robert did it." Unable to take any more, Gene's parents banished Robert to the attic, where he remained for several years.

Gene grew up to become a successful local artist, and he married a beautiful woman named Anne. He inherited the home at 534 Eaton Street from his parents and continued to reside there with his wife. At this time, he freed Robert from his attic prison, and once again the two became inseparable. Gene began spending more and more time painting in the turret room with Robert at his side, and again the two could be heard conversing. 

Meanwhile, Anne was watching her marriage deteriorate as Gene's behavior became more and more erratic. He would sometimes run screaming through the house smashing dishes, furniture, and anything else in his path. After each outburst, Gene's explanation was always the same... "Robert did it." At her wit's end, Ann insisted that Robert be moved back to the attic and remain there behind a locked door.

After a few more years of solitude, Gene became increasingly distraught, repeatedly telling Anne that Robert had become very angry while closed up in the attic. He insisted that Robert have a room with a view, the turret room, and desperate to please her husband, Anne acquiesced. 

Gene became ever more secluded, spending days and nights inside the room with Robert. Those who spent time with him there told stories of the doll's facial expressions changing and the sound of giggling in the room. Robert would often appear in different windows, and school children would rush past the house, insisting they saw him moving from window to window. A man doing work on the house ran screaming from the room after hearing Robert giggling and seeing his expression change into a scowl.

In 1972, Gene died in the turret room with Robert by his side. Heartbroken, yet understandably relieved, Anne sold the house, leaving Robert in a cedar chest buried among stacks of boxes in the attic. The family that moved in had a ten year old daughter, and when Robert was discovered in the attic, she asked to keep him in her bedroom with her other dolls. Before long, the house echoed again with a child's screams. Her parents found her shaking and crying in bed, claiming that Robert had run about the room and attacked her. She has maintained her claims through adulthood that Robert was alive and had tried to kill her.

Since 1994, Robert has lived in a glass case at the East Martello Museum, next to the airport on South Roosevelt Blvd in New Town Key West. He has continued his mischievous ways, and staff and visitors have reportedly seen him blink, nod, or change his facial expressions. Some days staff will open the museum to find the toy lion shifted to his other leg. 

Legend dictates that visitors must ask Robert's permission before taking a photograph, and must treat him with respect or he will curse them. Those who scoff at the notion of asking a doll's permission often reconsider when their cameras malfunction or their photographs mysteriously disappear. The wall behind Robert's case is covered with letters begging his forgiveness, letters sent from around the country by former nonbelievers who suffered the consequences of disrespecting Robert.

  

I'll admit, I had to work up the nerve to visit Robert and take his picture. Nobody else was in the museum that morning, so I had Robert to myself, alone in the room of a haunted Civil War era fort. I approached his case with trepidation, heart pounding in my chest. I introduced myself, explained my intentions, and asked his permission for this blog post. As I was about to take a photo, I realized I'd been looking at his feet, his sailor suit, his stuffed lion, but I hadn't really looked at his face. Was I really too afraid to look him in the eye? I slowly raised my gaze to meet his, and from that point on I felt as if his eyes never left me as I walked around his case. I took photos from different angles, all the while speaking softly to Robert, which didn't feel nearly as awkward as it does to describe it!

I told him I admired him and thought that perhaps, like many of us in Key West, he was just misunderstood. While I had expected to feel creeped out and unsettled, I felt inexplicably calm in Robert's presence. I later learned, according to his website, that he had once had his picture taken with a special camera, which revealed Robert has a blue and violet aura. A blue aura conveys love, peace, and communication, while a violet aura is associated with magic and deep spiritual understanding.

 

Robert's Aura. Image courtesy of www.robertthedoll.org

Beyond the peaceful vibe, I sensed a deep loneliness. I felt a sudden kinship with Scout at the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, when she realized Boo Radley wasn't the monster he'd been made out to be either...

"When they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things... Atticus, he was real nice..."

"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them." 

And so it was with Robert. As with many aspects of Key West, maybe an open heart and mind are all that's required to see the truth... or maybe the magic of Key West just has to be seen to be believed...

Happy Halloween from Royal Palms Realty!