Episode 21 – A Boy and His Friend: Robert the Doll
Hey, all! Welcome back! In this episode, we discuss the truly creepy Robert the Doll! If you haven't heard of him, get ready. As if dolls aren't creepy enough on their own, this doll emotes, moves, interferes with electronics, and exacts punishments when he is...displeased. Settle in and listen up! Here we go!
STOP! INSIDE JOKES AHEAD!
If you haven’t gotten to listen to the episode yet, spoiler alert! This post contains lots of stuff that will make waaay more sense if you listen to the episode before or while reading. So if you haven’t already, pump the brakes and listen to the episode or just click above to play so that you can be in on all the shenanigans to follow!
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Produced by Peter Woodward
Listener Story
During a trip to FL, Peter and Brandi met up with a family that had an encounter with the subject of our episode: none other than Robert himself. A woman’s father refused to do the recommended “cleansing” after visiting Robert and immediately had a fall in the parking lot when he was trying to leave! Luckily, some holy water seemed to do the trick, and he is back to visiting paranormal sites!
By the way, in case you were unsure about the equipment we were discussing, an EMF detector and dowsing rods are pictured below for your reference. You’re welcome!
MEET ROBERT!
Meet Robert the Doll. He is 40 inches tall, made of cloth, stuffed with wood wool, and dressed in a little sailor suit. He is an original and unique doll made in Germany in 1904 by the Steiff Company, the inventors of the original teddy bear.
It’s thought that he was originally intended not as a toy, but as a display doll due to his unusually large size. The sailor suit he wears actually belonged to the boy that would own him: Robert Eugene “Gene” Otto, born October 25, 1900 in Key West, FL. At 4 years old, Gene received Robert as a gift and named him after himself.
So…seems relatively normal. He’s a little creepy-looking, sure. But what’s the deal with this doll? Why is he famous?
A little background...
How exactly Gene received Robert is not completely clear. A few theories exist on this as well as to what makes Robert the Doll…ahem…special.
One theory is that he was given as gift by a young servant to Gene, who was the son of her employer. Possibly, the girl imbued Robert with a voodoo curse or hex due to her alleged mistreatment by the Otto family.
Another theory is that Robert is inhabited by the ghost of a deceased illegitimate child. Rumor had it that Gene’s father impregnated a servant’s wife, and the child died shortly after birth. Supposedly, the child’s mother then used voodoo to have child’s spirit possess the doll.
Lastly, Robert is thought to have been a gift from Gene’s grandfather, and Gene’s attachment to the doll could have “charged” him with supernatural energy. This, in the Strange Woods Podcast crews’ collective opinion, seems the most likely.
WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THIS DOLL?
Growing up with Robert...
From the time Gene received Robert, his parents found Gene’s attachment to the doll to be “unhealthy”. Gene brought Robert everywhere with him. He talked and whispered to him. Reportedly, Gene considered Robert to be real and not a doll at all.
Right away, Gene’s parents started noticing strange things happening. From downstairs, they heard Gene talking to Robert in the attic and supposedly identified two distinct voices, Gene’s and another. This was all while no one else was ever in the room with them.
Visitors and extended family began to notice these bizarre occurrences as well. They stated that Robert would change his facial expressions and track people with his eyes. Gene’s parents reported hearing footsteps running around upstairs while the doll was alone.
According to little Gene, Robert threw things around the room if he was upset. On several occasions, Gene’s parents heard Gene screaming and crying out for them from his room. When they checked on him, he would be terrified and surrounded by destruction, stating that Robert had done it. He tended to flip over furniture and mutilate dolls.
It might have been just a kid blaming a toy, but, hey, kinda creepy.
Gene
Gene Otto grew up to become a relatively well-known artist, an oil painter. He moved to New York for a time to pursue his work. He eventually married and decided to come back to his childhood home in Key West.
Of note, Gene’s childhood home is now referred to as The Artist House and can be toured and stayed in as a “haunted” bed and breakfast.
Where were we? Oh, yeah. Back to the house and back, of course, to Robert the Doll.
Home again...
Gene was reunited with Robert the Doll who had been left behind when Gene moved to New York. His wife, Anne, stated that Gene pretty much picked up where he left off with Robert as a kid. He would carry the doll around, and talk with Robert while he painted.
Anne was very disturbed by Robert. It was at her request that Robert was reportedly moved to the attic. Soon after, Robert was viewed several times in the window of the room below the attic. This was not only stated by Anne, but corroborated by passersby outside on the street. There would be no explanation for how Robert would get to this window from the attic.
Gene continued his friendship with Robert until his death in 1974. At this time, his wife became Robert’s new owner. She promptly sold the house, leaving Robert behind.
New friends and a new home...
The home was purchased by Myrtle Reuter, who became Robert’s new owner. How much she was told about his history is unknown, but she kept the doll for 20 years (1974-1994), even taking him with her when she sold The Artist House in 1980.
She donated him to the museum where he currently resides: the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, FL. On giving him over to the museum, she apparently informed them that he was haunted and was capable of moving around on his own.
Robert's Rules...
Anyone can go today and visit Robert the Doll in the Fort East Martello Museum. He is on display (as seen above) and has been gifted a small dog…lion…stuffed thing that sits with him.
Visitors report that many strange and unusual things still occur around Robert and after visiting him. Specifically, he seems to like to mess with electronics, wreaking havoc on phones and cameras.
A very important part of any visit with Robert is following his rules. And there are several.
#1 You must ask permission before taking his picture.
#2 You must introduce yourself.
#3 You must tell him where you are from.
#4 You must thank him before you leave.
#5 You must be respectful.
Failure to adhere to these results can result in punishment from Robert. The wall behind him at the museum contains dozens of apology letters sent from visitors who had bad luck or strange occurrences after not following Robert’s rules. Reportedly, he receives these letters on a daily basis.
If you’d like some more info on Robert the Doll, here’s a nice little YouTube video for you:
Robert was also immortalized in a book! If you are so inclined, you can read all about him and his history in Robert the Doll: The True Biography of Key West’s Haunted Doll by David L. Sloan (2014).
WE ALSO DISCUSSED...
Victorian mourning dolls and death kits
Jeremy brought up Victorian mourning dolls. These were a big trend in the late 19th and early 20th century. Infant and child mortality were extremely high, and these dolls were created to aid in the mourning process. They were made of wax, (life-sized for infants and just the heads and shoulders of older children)and were often dressed in the deceased’s clothing. Where possible, their hair was used to aid in creating a more realistic appearance. Yeesh.
At that time, young girls were also routinely given “death kits” to help them learn to plan, execute, and host a funeral. Kits came with black mourning clothes and a doll-sized coffin. Girls could practice all aspects of preparing for a funeral: dressing the dead, laying them out, even attending to mourners. Good Lord.
Reborn Dolls...eerily realistic
These Reborn dolls are…um…a little too real-looking for us. When ordering them, you decide if you want them to breathe, have a heartbeat, coo, or all of the above.
Oh, and a Navi baby from Avatar available on Etsy…
And a little more 'nope' for you...a freakin' doll island and village
In the town of Xochimilco, Mexico in the 1950s, there lived a man named Don Julián Santana Barrera. He was the owner and resident of a floating island area in Xochimilco called a chinampa, which is essentially a floating garden. After witnessing the drowning of a little girl in the waters of his chinampa, he recovered a doll that he assumed was the girl’s and hung it in a tree as a sign of respect.
Soon after, he was plagued with hearing whispers, voices, footsteps, and crying around the property. Believing it was the soul of the drowned girl, he continued hanging dolls from the trees in an attempt to appease her spirit. But that never happened. He continued to hang dolls all over the island until his death in 2001.
The island is now a tourist attraction and has been featured on shows like Ghost Adventures and Lore.
Remember the Japanese village in Shikoku, Japan we mentioned in the Russian Dollmaker episode? Apparently, citizens of Nagoro, Japan, have been slowly trickling out of the area for a number of years, and a local woman began making life-size dolls and placing them around town to combat loneliness. These photos show several of the dolls out in public. Super creepy!
There we go. Dolls are weird and scary and creep most people out. Certainly, Robert gives us the willies. But thanks as always for joining us. We love you guys and genuinely appreciate the support of the podcast.
So what did we learn this episode? I think the biggest takeaway is probably ‘watch out for that creepiness bell curve’. Only play with dolls when it’s age appropriate and cute. Just saying.
You don’t need to be creepy, but don’t forget to Stay Strange!
References, articles, and sources:
Peter’s wife. Registered nurse. Uber-fan of The Strange Woods Podcast.
