Posts tagged "Artist House"

Robert the Doll

Robert did it…

Robert the Doll has perhaps one of the more famous ghost stories of Key West. He certainly has one of the more tangible and creepy ones; tangible because he’s still around and you can go visit him, and creepy because.. well he’s just really creepy.

Young Robert Eugene Otto lived with his parents in Key West in the early 1900′s in what is now know as the Artist House. His parents were well off and had in their employ a few Bahamian ‘servants’ (Slaves?). It was rumored that they were stern people, and kept Robert under strict rule. They were also rumored to have been fairly unpleasant to their servants, one in particular, a woman who gave the then 5-year-old Robert a life-size doll in his own likeness shortly after the death of his sister. The doll made of wire, cloth and straw, and some say Robert’s own hair. It is also said to contain a soulstone. (This practice involves a small crystal being placed into an object, thus imbuing it with power by taking a soul of its own).

Robert struck up a strong bond with the doll, naming it Robert after himself, and demanding everyone from that point on refer to him as Eugene. Whenever Eugene would be scolded for something by his parents, he would always blame the doll.. “Robert did it!”

Eugene eventually went off to Paris to study painting and met his wife Anne, whom he brought back to Key West. His parents had died and left Eugene the family home, and upon moving in, Anne learned of the Doll Robert. She thought the relationship between her husband and the doll strange, but kept her thoughts to herself in the beginning. Eugene reportedly had Robert by his side at all times, wether painting or relaxing and this began to wear thin on Anne.

Reports vary, but the story basically goes like this; Anne had had enough, and insisted Robert be put in the attic, but after only a short time Eugene told her that Robert wanted his own room, and he hired carpenters to come in and construct a Robert-Sized room in the third floor turret room of the house. The room was complete with low ceilings, and doll sized furniture. Eugene sat Robert at the window so he could look out over the street.

Children on their way to school would walk by and claim to see robert moving about in the attic room, the curtains moved, and they said Robert would change positions. They’ve been interviewed as adults and still hold true to their claims.

Eugene became abusive towards Anne in his later years and would always tell her that “Robert did it.” After his death and burial in the Key West Cemetery, Anne locked Robert in his third floor room, moved back to her family in chicago, and leased out the house with the proviso that Robert remain the only occupant of the turret room.  This remained the case until her death in 1976 when the new occupants decided to renovate part of the attic to accommodate another bedroom.

This is the account of a plumber hired to work in the room:

“I was doing some work in the larger part of the attic of the house. The people there wanted to make it an additional room so I was running the lines for a new toilet. The doll looked pretty creepy sitting there on the little chair holding its stuffed animal, but I had work to do so I didn’t think much about it at first. As my work continued I had to make a few trips to get some parts from the van. Each time I returned I could swear the doll had moved a little bit. Like I said, I had work to do so I ignored it as much as I could, but when I was just about finished with the job and started decending the stairs, I heard a little kid giggling behind me. When I turned around the doll was on the opposite side of the room. The first thing I did was look to see where the kid was, but no one was there. I wasn’t really frightened, but it was weird so I just continued down stairs and left. Some of my tools are probably still up there.”

Subsequent occupants reported the sound of children giggling, thumping, and footsteps coming from the turret room. The often would enter the room to find robert in a different place than where they had set him. They were so disturbed by this that they locked Robert in a sea chest in his room.

Eventually the contents of the house were willed to the East Martello Museum where they discovered Robert in his chest and put him on display. I just had to go see this!

These days robert still holds court in the East Martello Museum

And he really does hold court. People come from all over to see him, they leave notes.. they write letters, there is an official ‘Robert the Doll Day’ in Key West. It’s said that Robert drains batteries, and causes all manner of disturbances with cameras. People report of having an entire roll of film come out black, others report having the entire roll be photos of Robert instead of the rest of the museum. Three People have had their pacemakers fail while visiting Robert. If you don’t ask Robert’s permission to photograph him, or say hello and goodbye to him, you will have bad luck, even sickness.

I went in thinking to myself.. I’m not going to ask permission, that’s silly.. besides how am I going to know if it’s true or not!

I chickened out. I asked. I’m a little ashamed of it, but at the last minute I decided that I was on a mission to have less strife and more harmony in my life so I needed all the superstitions help I could get.. no matter how silly it was.

Seeing Robert up close and personal is a little unsettling. I don’t know if it was because I’d read so much about him, or if there was really something emanating from him. It’s not so much that it feels evil as develish.. like a little kid holding a burning bag with a dog turd in it, trying to decide who’s porch to drop it on…

Goodbye Robert!

We took turns taking our pictures with him, and we said our goodbyes.

I haven’t experienced any bad luck or anything, but Sunday Christina and I had a little fight.. I wonder if it was Robert working his mojo on me…

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!