ROBERT THE DOLL

In my opinion, Robert the doll is one of the most unsettling-looking dolls that actually exists. He currently resides in Key West, Florida, displayed in a glass case, and still manages to give people quite a scare when they come to view him. Now, let's delve into the specific incidents involving Robert the doll, along with his dark and twisted history.

Now, let's get into the chilling story of Robert the doll. It all begins with a young boy named Robert Eugene Otto, born on October 25th, 1900. He went by the nickname Jean and belonged to a prominent southern family in Key West, Florida. The family lived in a magnificent Queen Anne Victorian mansion they had built at 534 Eaton Street, now known as the Artist House. Jean received a special present when he was four years old—a large cloth doll nearly his size. He named the doll Robert after his own first name.

Robert the doll was approximately 40 inches tall, dressed in an old-fashioned sailor's uniform, and likely brought to the United States by Jean's grandfather. The doll had a sinister appearance, with seams and gouges on its face that made it look as though it had been disfigured in a terrible accident. Despite this, Jean adored the doll and considered him his best friend. He would have full conversations with Robert, who joined the family at the dinner table and even had his own room in the turret of the house.

Strange things began happening when Jean was alone with Robert. His parents heard what seemed like soft giggling at first, which they assumed was Jean playing with the doll. However, the giggling turned into laughter and then talking, with a deep voice that didn't belong to their young son. They were disturbed to find that no one else was in the room, and all doors and windows were locked. When asked, Jean casually replied that he was just talking to Robert.

This is where the eerie story of Robert the doll begins.

Shortly after this, Thomas and Minnie started experiencing loud noises echoing throughout their house, as if someone was dragging a heavy object across the floor. Whenever they investigated the source of the commotion, they would discover furniture displaced or knocked over. Gene, their child, consistently attributed these occurrences to Robert, claiming that Robert could move on his own and possessed exceptional strength, capable of lifting objects much heavier than himself. Initially, Thomas and Minnie dismissed these claims as products of Gene's vivid imagination, assuming he was just being a typical imaginative child.

However, the situation took a darker turn when items began breaking or going missing, and Gene always pointed the finger at Robert. Troublingly, Gene started suffering from horrifying nightmares and night terrors, often waking up in terror with Robert by his side. One night, when Gene was ten years old, his mother heard screams and a commotion from his room. When she tried to enter, she found the door locked, and Gene inside, screaming for help, but too frightened to unlock the door. Eventually, she managed to open the door and discovered a scene of chaos – the room was in disarray, with furniture overturned, toys and books scattered about, and the bed stripped of its sheets and blankets. Gene cowered in a corner, trembling with fear, while Robert sat at the foot of the bed, fixated on Gene.

Gene recounted that he had woken up to find Robert staring at him, and then all of a sudden, objects began flying off the shelves and out of the drawers, terrifying him into screams for help. Minnie was bewildered and asked who caused the mess, to which Gene calmly replied that Robert had done it.

Following this unsettling incident, inexplicable events continued to unfold. Robert seemed to move around the house independently, sometimes ending up in unexpected places, like sitting in his rocking chair, gazing out onto the street below, even though Gene had left him in his bedroom.