Robert the Doll
Adapted from Volume 1, Issue 10 of Highly Illogical, sent on January 30, 2016
All of my friends have been RAVING about the gorgeous ridiculousness that is the new horror film The Boy, which is about a young woman who becomes a nanny to a creepy doll that is treated as a member of the family. Turns out this doll is haunted and can move around or something, and of course it wants to kill her. Anyway, haunted dolls are, as you can imagine, one of my top ten favorite subjects to discuss, so I thought I would bring you one of many haunted doll tales I have in my arsenal to celebrate that new movie sensation that is sweeping the nation.
Today I'm going to tell you about one of the most famous haunted dolls in the world, Robert the Doll.
Robert Eugene Otto (known as "Gene" to everyone he knew) was a young boy living in a mansion on Key West in the early 1900s when one of his family's maids gave him a life-sized doll stuffed with straw. Gene was delighted with the present and named the doll Robert after himself. Robert and Gene were inseparable playmates, doing everything together. Legend has it that often Gene would wake up screaming, and his parents would find him in his bedroom with all of his furniture overturned and Robert sitting at the foot of his bed. Gene would blame Robert for the mess. Gene was also often overheard in his room talking, with a second voice responding when he was alone with Robert.
When Gene moved out to pursue his life as an artist, Robert was moved to the attic, where the sound of small footsteps and children's laughter was often reported. After the passing of his parents, Gene and his wife inherited the family home, where Gene gave Robert his own bedroom and spent the remainder of his life painting with Robert at his side, despite his wife's extreme dislike of the doll.
Robert found a new companion when a woman bought Gene's home after his death in 1974. For the 20 years that she owned him, she treated him like a child and doted on him, bringing him with her when she moved from the house a few years later. In 1994, she donated Robert to his current home at the Fort East Martello Museum, telling them that he could move on his own and was haunted.
Now that he is on display, there are strict rules surrounding behavior while in Robert's presence to avoid being cursed or messed with by him. If you pass by his display case, you should greet him and tell him your name and you should never take a photo of him without asking for permission first, as he has been known to interfere with electronic devices. In the picture, you'll notice that there are a lot of handwritten notes taped to the wall behind him. These are from former visitors of the museum, who feel that Robert has interfered with their lives since their visit, usually apologizing for their disbelief or disrespect and asking him to leave them alone. I'm not sure if I'll have to apologize for Robert for writing about him, he wasn't taking calls so I couldn't ask for permission. Busy guy.
I'm not sure if Robert is actually haunted, but there has to be something about this doll that makes people feel like they need to act really weird about him, right? I mean, even from the get-go his first owner named him after himself, then grew to give him his own room. That could all be chalked up to Gene being a weirdo, but then a FULLY GROWN ADULT WOMAN decided to treat him like an actual child for 20 years. Even people who simply look at Robert for a few minutes in a glass case feel the need to write him letters. Why this doll, why all this hubbub? Because I just think he's weird looking.