The True Story of ‘Evil Doll’ that Inspired ‘Chucky’ & Haunted Key West For 100 years
Robert the doll attempted to kill a 10-year-old girl.
You might have gotten scared of the Child’s Play movie franchise. Red-haired killer doll, Chucky, haunted many in their dreams. The scary work of art took its legacy from the most famous freaky doll baby of Key West, Florida — the Robert.
People have over a century feared Robert because one is always thought to be listening. Let’s dive into the history of Robert the doll.
History of the man who owned the odd doll
The doll was owned by a person named Robert Eugene Otto, who gave his name to her. He belonged to an affluent family and afforded the luxury of studying fine art in Chicago, Paris, and New York, ultimately becoming a notable author and painter.
Meeting Anne, a concert pianist in Paris, led him to marry her. They lived in New York City for a few years and then shifted back to Key West, Florida, Otto’s inherited house.
Switching the name of the place to Colonial Queen Anne manor the Artist House, the couple spent the rest of their lives there. The home owned great importance, as did the influence of Ottos, for today it is turned into a hotel.
Why such details for the house? Well, it is the place where Otto spent time with Robert the doll — a place where people still report catching the sight of the ghost who stroll across the staircase.
But interestingly, the tv channels like Discovery and travel uncovered that the unsettling ghost is not of Robert the Doll, which people might assume but of Anne Otto, who in wedding dress patrols her house. Where is Robert the doll then? Elsewhere. You’ll know it soon.
Robert’s scary beauty
Before diving into Robert’s haunted reputation, let’s analyze the fear reflected from the Brady black’s eyes patched over a monkey face full of scars.
Clad in the tailored suit, the doll holds an additional toy, which is weird itself — a bug eyes, wide-opened mouth stuffy creature.
Owning the height of 40 inches, a human-sized child, Robert, would have been dressed initially up like a jester. Reports say that a sailing suit would have been Gene’s own outfit.
By just knowing that Otto passed down his name as well as clothes to the odd doll, it is easy to comment one might have sent down his little piece of the soul into it as well.
Origins of the Devil doll
What makes Robert weird? It is unique. Instead of getting mass-produced for kids’ consumption, the toy was primarily crafted for the Steiff company, the toymakers, which would showcase it with the window of jesters and clowns.
Now how did Otto receive the doll? The artist house website states that the doll was a gift from a Bahamian girl, a family’s Bahamian maid, who might have initially got it from the Steiff company through someone.
The word of Bahama itself brings the association with voodoo. Interestingly, the servant who gifted the doll is said to have used a lock of Otto’s hair, sew it into the clothing and put a voodoo curse on it.
Florida Keys Treasures states how Otto’s toys had tiny voodoo dolls he would throw across the room to soothe his anger.
Otto’s weird relation with Robert the doll
Their inseparable relation remained until Otto died. Interestingly, Otto treasured connection with the doll since childhood, where his mother would hear him conversing with it. Like every average person, Otto’s mother assumed that Otto did both the voices, but she later questioned her assumption regarding the very fact.
There were hardly instances when Otto and Robert were not together — the doll sat on its own chair in the dining and slept with Otto every night.
Interestingly, a concerning fact surfaced that Otto used to blame every negligence in his own behavior on Robert. Throwing frequent tantrums here and there, Otto would make Robert at fault — even blame for small things like overturned chairs and spills would fall under Robert’s wing. Be it an elaborated disorder or little chaos, the words of Otto would echo across the house: “Robert did it.”
Additionally, it was weird that Otto had built a separate space for Robert in the attic with complete furniture, owning every toy that the toy itself would need — like the teddy bear, which Robert seems to hold in the pictures.
Otto would confine himself in the attic with Robert, preferably for the ideal light situation. Several school children reported how they witnessed the doll moving past from one window to another on their way back.
Surprisingly, Anne Otto didn’t mind the weird relation which her husband shared with a more bizarre friend.
What happened to Robert after Otto’s death?
Anne locked the weird toy in a cedar chest in the very attic. Robert found a new handler Myrtle Reuter who, after Anne’s death, bought the place in about the 1970s.
Reuter visitors would claim to hear the mysterious footsteps above the attic together with the disconcerting terrifying giggling.
The Robert the doll homepage reports how a plumber working in the attic heard giggling upon which he turned, only to discover that the doll had moved past across the room all by itself.
More strange observations were made regarding Robert changing his facial expression when overhearing the conversations — especially related to his relationship with Otto. Reuter’s visitor once commented how Otto must have been an “old fool”. Overhearing such a nasty remark for his beloved, Robert twisted his face, forming an angry scowl.
The family’s 10-year-old daughter took Robert from the attic to her room and soon suffered from a night terror, claiming Robert didn’t only move across the room but tried to kill her. She further claimed how he mutilated his others dolls and tied her dog with a cord tightly around his neck.
The family donated Robert to Fort East Martello Museum in Key West in 1994 — a place where Robert has resided since.
Robert’s mischief in Fort East Martello Museum
Robert must have been living a satisfying life — after all, Otto designed all the museum’s gallery. Initially, he was not put for the show.
Upon discovering the stories related to the weird creature, the audience showed great interest and curiosity for its appearance, resulting in him getting put in the glass case over a bit of a chair together with his toy lion.
The museum staff felt the shifting energy upon Robert’s arrival. What actually happened? Exactly what we see in horror movies — the cameras and electronics would malfunction out of the ordinary. Additionally, the photos clicked would get processed as smeared.
Robert would hear the same old line which echoed in Otto’s house: “Robert did it.”
Robert’s terrifying curse
Apart from Robert’s famous mischiefs of gumming up electronic devices, what concerns the audience the most is his curse. The naughty little doll would curse visitors who would disrespect him — click his photography without consent.
Sadly, no one can ever figure out the process of taking his permission. But, that doesn’t mean that no one is safe from his curse, as there exists a proper method of apologizing from him.
Upon encountering misfortunes for disrespecting Robert, “clicking his pictures”, people were terrified. Some reported broken body parts; others reported earning broken relationships like divorce.
Some met with accidents while other lost jobs. Strange. Noticing the odd happenings in their life, the visitors began writing apology letters to Robert.
People want to avoid suffering from catastrophe; thus, today Robert receives three letters a day! Several scanned letters on Robert’s homepage contain actual terrifying incidents that the visitor’s life met with.
Robert remains the most infamous history doll who inspired games, movies, and what not? But how it turned from an ordinary toy to being a terrifying creature? Well, the official page states the possibility of its being afflicted with voodoo.
In contrast, the others argue that Otto’s conversations made him the way he was — the frequent blaming talks filled a simple toy with negative energy, giving him a piece of life. Mystery and mystery. Today, the odd creature can be visited every day except Christmas.
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References:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-story-behind-the-worlds-most-haunted-doll
