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Robert the Doll, also known as Robert the Haunted Doll or Robert the Enchanted Doll, is a doll that was once owned by Key West painter and author Robert Eugene Otto. The doll is alleged to be possessed by spirits, and has a terrifying reputation. The doll is currently located at the East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida.
Description[]
The dark story of Robert the Haunted Doll began near the turn of the century when the family of eccentric Key West artist Robert Eugene Otto took up residence in the famous Artist's House in the heart of the city. Affluent and well-traveled, the Ottos found the easy and unhurried lifestyle of the Florida Keys most agreeable. They settled in with their young son and a large staff to wait on their every need.
Local legend holds that the Ottos were stern people who held their son to rigid expectations and expected strict obedience from their staff. It is said that the Ottos took on a Jamaican woman as a nurse for young "Gene," as they called him, and it was she who spent the long hours with him while his parents traveled the States and other parts of the globe. But the idyllic relationship was not to last, and the story is told that the nurse got on the bad side of Mrs. Otto and was promptly dismissed. But before she left the household she gave a gift to her favorite charge -- a hand-sewn stuffed doll, made in the likeness of young Gene. A slightly imperfect replica who Gene took to immediately.
The doll was christened with Gene's first name, Robert, and from the moment he received him from his Jamaican nurse, Gene never let the doll out of his sight. It went everywhere with him and was often seen accompanying the boy on day trips into town, both neat little gentlemen in pressed white sailor suits sitting perched among the Otto servants or straggling along behind Mrs. Otto as she shopped.
Soon, however, the relationship between Gene and his doll took on a troubling aspect. Gene could often be heard playing joyfully in his toy room one moment and then, after a solemn silence, the sound of low conversation would trickle down to the servants' ears, first in Gene's boyish voice and then in an entirely different tone. Sometimes Gene's voice would sound agitated, but the responding voice only sounded insistent, and it was these moments that began to trouble first the servants and then Mrs. Otto most. On occasion the concerned mother would burst in upon her child and, oddly and unexpectedly, find her son cowering in a corner of the room, and the doll perched in a chair or on the bed, seemingly glaring down at the boy. (HauntedAmericaTours.com)
Notable Accounts[]
Tourists who visit the Artist House today say Robert is not necessarily "attached" to his new home, as they have reported the sounds of giggling and small scampering feet in the empty rooms where the tour guides feared to take them. Sometimes children on their way to school pass the Artist House and flee in terror from the face of Robert peering down from the Turret Room windows. Doors are still found unlocked, windows left slightly open in the areas that Gene and Robert frequented all their lives. (HauntedAmericaTours.com)
Source[]
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/hauntedstates/hauntedflorida/hauntedkeywest/