Robert the Doll is an allegedly haunted doll exhibited at the East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. Robert was once owned by painter, author, and Key West resident Robert Eugene Otto.
History
The doll originally belonged to Robert Eugene Otto, an artist described as "eccentric", who belonged to a prominent Key West family.
The doll was reportedly manufactured by the Steiff Company of Germany, purchased by Otto's grandfather while on
a trip to Germany in 1904, and given to young Otto as a birthday gift. The
doll's sailor suit was likely an outfit that Otto wore as a child.
The doll remained stored in the Otto family home at 534 Eaton Street in Key West while Otto
studied art in New York and Paris. Otto married Annette Parker in Paris on May 3, 1930. The couple returned to the
Otto family home in Key West to live there until Otto died in 1974. His wife
died two years later. After their deaths, the Eaton Street home containing the
doll was sold to Myrtle Reuter, who
owned it for 20 years until the property was sold to the current owners, who
operate it as a guest house.
In 1994, the doll was donated to the East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida, where it became a
popular tourist attraction. It is annually rotated to the Old Post Office and
Customhouse in October.
Legend
According to legend, the doll has supernatural abilities
that allow it to move, change its facial expressions, and make giggling sounds.
Some versions of the legend claim that a young girl of "Bahamian descent" gave Otto the doll as a gift or as "retaliation for a wrongdoing".
Other stories claim that the doll moved voodoo figurines around the room, and
was "aware of what went on around
him". Other legends claim that the doll "vanished" after Otto's house changed ownership several times after his death, or that young Otto triggered the doll's supernatural
powers by blaming his childhood mishaps on the doll. According to local
folklore, the doll has caused "car
accidents, broken bones, job loss, divorce and a cornucopia of other
misfortunes", and museum visitors supposedly experience "post-visit misfortunes" for "failing to respect Robert".
In popular culture
The doll was exhibited at TapsCON, a convention hosted by The Atlantic Paranormal Society held in Clearwater, Florida, in May
2008, marking the first time that it had left Key West, Florida, in its
then-104 years of existence.
In October 2015, the doll was taken to Las Vegas for a Travel Channel television program in Zak Bagans' "Haunted Museum." The episode originally aired on
April 2, 2016, as the first episode of Deadly
Possessions, and re-aired on August 12, 2017, as the first episode of the
series Ghost Adventures: Artifacts.
A horror film franchise loosely based on the legend began
with the film Robert, released in
2015. To date, four sequels have followed: The
Curse of Robert the Doll in 2016, The
Toymaker in 2017, The Revenge of
Robert the Doll in 2018, and Robert
Reborn in 2019.
The doll and a replica doll sold at the gift shop at the
Martello Museum appeared in the second season of Ozzy & Jack's World Detour.
The doll was featured in an episode of the podcast and TV
series Lore.
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