Robert the Doll

A&E have been showing episodes from previous seasons of Paranormal State, in addition to its newest episodes. We are glued to this show, although we don't always agree with the religious ceremonies conducted to "exorcise" spirits. In Episode 11 (Season 1), Ryan and the team investigates an ugly-looking "haunted piano". When the owners brought it into their home, they inexplicably became sick, having feelings of anxiety and oppression. Indeed, Ryan and the team also start feeling the same, so "disposed of" the piano, smashing it up in a warehouse.

There are many reports of objects being paranormally possessed or cursed, ranging from coins to ships. Everyone probably knows about "Chucky" (the doll from the movie Child's Play), but the notion of a doll that comes to life is just fantasy. Or is it?

Robert the Doll was a wire-framed, straw-stuffed cloth doll given to a Key West painter, Robert Eugene Otto, by a Bahamian "servant" (slave), in the early 1900s when he was still a boy. In many voodoo practices, it is believed that if a "soulstone" (a crystal that will take the soul of another person the moment of their death), the soul of that person can pass into the crystal, thus imbuing it with a soul of its own. It is most likely that the servant placed a soulstone, containing his son who passed away at the time, into the doll. Otto's sister also died at around the same time he received the doll, but he immediately took to it. He named the doll Robert and insisted that everyone else called him Eugene. Throughout his childhood, whenever bad things happened or Eugene was blamed for mischief, but Eugene would say that Robert did it.

Strange and inexplicable events began to occur. Items were thrown across the dining room, servants locked outside, clothing was found torn up, and bedding in long unused rooms were crumpled on the floor. Beloved toys were also found brutalized and mutilated. Servants often reported hearing giggling sounds and snippets of low conversations, first in Eugene's boyish voice then in an entirely different tone.

Eugene eventually married, and the couple moved into "The Artist House". Eugene insisted that the doll never left his sight, not even at the dinner table or at the newlywed's bedside. He even had a custom-built room for Robert the Doll, replete with a lowered ceiling and customized furniture.

Over time, Eugene became increasingly abusive to his wife, Anne, and would frequently lock her in a slanted closet under the stairs (beneath Robert's room) for days on end.

After Eugene's death, he was buried in the Key West Cemetary and Anne returned to her family home in Boston, but allowed the house to be rented out. She locked Robert in his upstairs room, placing a clause in the rent agreement that "Robert must at all times remain the sole occupant of the attic room", otherwise the contract was considered as void. The clause was honored until her death in 1976.

A plumber needing to do some work in the house for new renters unlocked the room and there he encountered Robert! He later reported that the doll appeared to shift slightly in its chair, including appearing on the other side of the room when he heard giggling sounds.

Future occupants continued hearing noises coming from upstairs, including footsteps, laughter and crashes. Further investigations revealed that Robert had moved position from where he had been left, usually with his crossed arms or legs or shifted from one chair to another. Eventually, Robert was locked in a sea chest and left in the attic again, honoring the original lease agreement once more. This only angered Robert even more and it was claimed that he reappeared in all kinds of places. The final straw came when the doll was reportedly found giggling and holding a kitchen knife at the foot of the new owners' bed.

Suffice to say that the owners left hurriedly and gave the doll to the East Martello Museum, in Key West, where he is well-guarded. He was rediscovered years later in storage and was put on display in the museum. Visitors reported new camera batteries draining, pacemakers and cameras stopping and feelings of nausea and dizziness. Some visitors swore that Robert's facial expressions changed before their very eyes. Museum curators claimed that Robert changed position overnight, despite the fact that he was behind a glass case, locked with 3" wooden doors and bars on every window in a brick museum.

The doll even made an appearance at the paranormal convention, Taps CON, held in Clearwater, Florida in May 2008. This was the first time that it had left Key West, Florida in the 105 years of its existence.

Believe the story of Robert the Doll or not, it is still a creepy tale nevertheless.

[The full article can be found at Paranormal News Central.]