Robert doll (4 photos)

The Robert doll is an indispensable attribute of tourist tours around the island of Key West.

It once belonged to artist and writer Robert Otto in Key West, Florida. It is assumed that the doll was bewitched and possessed by evil spirits.

The story begins in the home of the Otto family, in Florida, 1904. The owner of the house was known to treat his servants poorly, and was not the kindest of people during his lifetime.

One strange black servant, who was assigned to the son of the owners, was, as many claimed, knowledgeable in matters of witchcraft, black magic and the Voodoo religion. As history shows, a servant gave young Robert a doll. The doll was three feet tall (about a meter), and was filled with straw. The servant created the doll himself, and it charmed the little boy.

The boy decided to name the doll Robert. The doll has become a constant companion for a small child. Relatives and servants began to notice oddities in the child. We often heard conversations between a boy and a doll coming from above. This in itself may not have been so bad, since many children talk to their toys... But the father was alarmed and frightened by the fact that he heard his son answering his questions in a completely alien voice, not like his own. Relatives began to worry.

The parents claimed they heard the doll giggling and swore they caught a glimpse of the doll running around the house.

Many strange things began to happen in the Otto family household. Often neighbors could see Robert moving from window to window when the family was outside the house. Local children even began to avoid the house. The father began to blame Robert's doll for the failures and troubles that were happening. The parents claimed they heard the doll giggling and swore they caught a glimpse of the doll running around the house.

The boy began to have nightmares and screamed at night. When his parents came running to hear their son's screams, they often found furniture overturned and their child terrified. As a rule, the doll sat quietly at the boy’s feet, on the bed, clearly gazing at the child, who loudly shouted “Robert Did It!” In addition, guests swore that the expression on the Robert doll's face changed before their eyes.

In 1974, the owner of the house died, and his wife sold the house, leaving Robert the doll forever in the attic.

Guests swore that the expression on the Robert doll's face changed before their eyes.

Paranormal investigators from the Atlantic Paranormal Society's Convention recorded the doll's aura using a special camera.

The new family now lived with its own worries, and Robert’s stories died down...

Robert waited patiently in the attic to be found again. The new owners' ten-year-old daughter was delighted to find the big toy in the attic and added it to her other favorites in the bedroom. But the scary doll didn’t take long to appear. A little girl began screaming during the night, claiming that the doll was moving around the room, climbing onto her bed and attacking her as she began to fall asleep. Even after more than thirty years later, that girl steadfastly claims that "the doll was alive and wanted to kill her."

Robert, still dressed in his white sailor suit, lives comfortably in a display case, and is well guarded in Key West at the Martello Museum. The workers of which still continue to make reports about the strange antics of this frightening doll.