Robert the Doll is a doll manufactured by the Steiff Company of Germany, and was gifted to painter and author, Robert Eugene Otto in 1904. The doll is purportedly the most haunted and/or cursed doll in existence, and is currently being exhibited at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida.
Robert the Doll came into the possession of its first owner in 1904, when Joseph Otto brought it
back to the United States from a trip to Germany to give to his grandson, Robert Eugene Otto. An
alternative history recounts Otto receiving the doll from a Bahamian woman.
[1]
[2]
Some time nearing adulthood, Otto would leave his home in Florida for Chicago to study at the
Academy of Fine Arts before studying at the Art Student's League in New York, and finally at the
Academy Collarossi La Grande Chaumiere and Academie Julien in Paris, France.
[3]
In 1930, Otto married Annette Parker after meeting during his time in France. Otto would eventually
inherit the house in Eaton Street, Florida, and so the couple returned to the United States.
[4]
In 1974, Otto passed away. It was around this time that Annette moved Robert into the attic.
Later that year, the Otto estate passes to Myrtle Reuter, who discovers Robert the Doll shortly
thereafter.
[4]
Around the 1980s, Reuter moved from the Otto estate to Von Phister Street, taking Robert with
her.
[5]
In 1994, Reuter donated the doll to the Fort East Martello Museum.
[5]
In 1997, an investigation team performed a seance in the Otto estate, but an invisible force
seemed
to initially prevent the team from entering the attic. After finally managing to enter the
attic,
the investigators claim to have witnessed orbs of light shooting in different directions before
leaving the house.
[4]
In 2017, Black Sabbath's lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne had an encounter with Robert the Doll for
the TV show Ozzy & Jack's World Detour. In 2020, the two would encounter one another
again on
the TV show The Osbournes Want To Believe!, where Ozzy blamed the doll for a year of bad
luck which included pneumonia, surgery, and a Parkinsons disease diagnosis he received shortly
after his encounter with Robert.
[6]
In 2022, YouTube content creators, Sam and Colby visited Robert the Doll on their channel, and
talked about their experience on The Joe Rogan Experience later that same year. To this
day,
comment sections of YouTube videos featuring Robert the Doll are littered with viewers paying
respect or apologising to Robert.
[7]
[8]
Robert the Doll is a hand-stitched, stuffed doll originating from the Steiff Company of Germany. The doll stands at around 40 inches tall and is stuffed with wood wool. He is dressed in traditional sailor garb, and is said to have once bore painted features, though these have since worn off. The doll received his name from his first owner, Robert Eugene Otto, who went on to be referred to as "Gene".
The original owner of Robert the Doll, Robert Eugene Otto was 4-years old when he received the doll as a gift. He developed a close bond with the doll, and kept it in his possession until his death in 1974.
Myrtle Reuter came into possession of the doll shortly after the deaths of Otto and his wife, Annette. Upon purchasing their Eaton Street home, she discovered the doll and became its new companion. Reuter went on to donate the doll to Fort East Martello Museum in 1994, mere months before her death.
The Fort East Martello Museum features a number of relics significant to the history of Florida Keys. Initially, the museum kept Robert in storage before eventually choosing to display it, after which, it quickly became the museum's most popular attraction.
There are two different accounts on how Robert Eugene Otto came into the possession of Robert
the Doll: The first was that his grandfather, Joseph Otto, brought it back for him as a gift from
Germany, and the other was that it was gifted to him by a housemaid of Bahamian descent.
If the latter version is to be believed, the doll was said to have been supposedly cursed with
voodoo and given to Robert as retribution for being slighted by the Otto family.
[9]
On receiving the gift, Otto named the doll "Robert", insisting that the doll itself
wanted that name, while he himself would take on the name "Gene". It's from this point on, Robert
and Otto were insperable, even receiving his own seat at the family dinner table. The belief was
that the sailor uniform Robert wears to this day may have belonged to Otto.
[4]
Otto would spend a large portion of his time playing with Robert in his room, with family servants
overhearing Otto talking and receiving responses in a much deeper voice, despite there being nobody
else in the room. On questioning, Otto would be unable to replicate the voice, and would claim
that the voice was that of Robert's.
[4]
One night, Otto's parents were awoken by screaming coming from his room. On entry, they found that
all of the items in the room had been turned upside-down. The cowering Otto's response to this was
simply that Robert did it.
[10]
Following this, strange occurences became more frequent in the Otto
household: furniture would move, servants found themselves locked in rooms, and eerie noises could
be heard all around the house. All instances were blamed by Otto on Robert.
[10]
A separate incident saw
one of Otto's favourite toys destroyed, and while his parents were sure it was Otto himself who had
done it, he claimed that it was his favourite toy, but Robert didn't like it.
[4]
Otto's parents eventually decided to separate him from Robert, feeling the doll was a bad influence
on their son. Despite Otto's protests, Robert was sequestered to the attic, though this didn't stop
the anomolous activity. It is said that Otto's aunt is the one that put Robert in the attic, and
the next night she was found dead in her bed.
[4]
Servants to the Otto family would quit suddenly and
frequently with no explanation, and the family were said to have heard footsteps around the house
and giggling throughout the night, both which couldn't be attested to anybody. Nonetheless, Robert
would stay in the household attic for the forseeable future.
[4]
As an adult, Otto left Florida to pursue his passion for painting in Paris. He would go on to meet
Annette Parker who he married in 1930, and after inheriting his old home in Key West, they both
moved to Florida to live there.
[4]
Despite their time apart, Otto was eager to reunite with his old doll, Robert, and once again
became inseparable. Otto commissioned furniture to be made specifically for Robert, and often kept
him close by.
[4]
Otto's wife, Annette, wasn't particularly fond of Robert, and noticed a change in her husband's
attitude, with him often blaming his darker actions on Robert. At his wife's behest, Otto moved
Robert into his childhood bedroom, known as the "turret room", placing him in the window so he
could get a view over the street, and accompany Otto while he painted.
[4]
Passersby would say they could see Robert staring and gesturing at them, causing kids to run, and
others to avoid the area altogether.
[10]
It was in 1974 that Robert Eugene Otto passed away.
[3]
What came next differs from version to version, with one version of the
story suggesting that Annette, after suffering a nervous breakdown, was committed to an asylum.
Another version states that Annette went on to return Robert to a chest in the attic after her
husband's death and went on to sell the house.
[10]
[4]
Whichever might be the case, the Otto estate would
subsequently fall under the ownership of Myrtle Reuter. Reuter soon began to notice the same
strange sounds experienced by Otto's family, and after investigating the attic, she found Robert
locked away in a chest, and chose to bring the doll down into the main house.
[1]
After his return into the house, it was said that Myrtle would find Robert in strange places,
having seemingly moved on his own, while others would claim that they would notice the doll's
expression change.
[9]
Reuter went on to eventually sell the Otto house, taking Robert with her. One night, she woke
in the middle of the night to find her door locked, trapping her in the room. No details are shed
on what happened that night, though it was enough to convince Reuter to donate Robert to the Fort
East Martello Museum. Reuter died shortly thereafter, the details of which aren't disclosed.
[4]
A variant of the story sees the daughter of Robert's new owners terrified for her own safety after
experiencing visions of Robert trying to kill her, leading to them donating the doll to the Fort
East Martello Museum.
[10]
The museum temporarily kept Robert in storage, until museum workers reported seeing the doll move
around the rooms. Word quickly spread about Robert the Doll, and visitors would increasingly
request to see him, prompting the doll to receive his own display in a more prominent part of the
museum.
[4]
Several incidents were said to have taken place since Robert received more of a spotlight in the
museum. One such incident saw the curator, prepping the exhibition alone one night, flee from the
museum in terror. Another employee witnessed the lights of the museum simultaneously switch on
after locking up. Some say Robert changes his position while sat in his display case, and others
purport that staff underwent illnesses, mental trauma and bad luck in their personal lives after
coming into contact with the doll.
[4]
Visitors would go on to report odd happenings when photographing Robert: digital camera batteries
would die, and photos would show as blurry or overexposed.
Furthermore, guests would claim a string of bad
luck after coming into contact with the doll, ranging from unemployment and deadly diseases to car
accidents and the sense of being haunted.
[4]
It quickly became established that Robert was cursed, prompting the museum to put up warnings to
visitors of Robert. Guests quickly began adopting the tradition of asking Robert's permission
before taking a photo, and thanking him afterwards.
[4]
Letters from visitors arrive at the museum frequently, most of which
feature apologies, asking Robert to forgive them of any offence they may have caused the doll.
Museum staff catalogue and keep each letter to this day.
[1]
