Robert the haunted doll...
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"A famous painter, Robert Eugene Otto, lived in a house which is located at 534 Eaton Street in Key West, Florida. It is a Victorian style which includes a turret room. The house was built at the end of the 19th century and was owned by the Otto family until the mid-1970's. What makes this haunting so different then others is that the house is reputedly haunted by the spirit of a doll.
The doll is indeed real and was owned by Robert since when he was a little boy all the way up until his death. The doll was supposedly given to Robert by a housemaid who was reputedly into voodoo. Robert named the doll after himself and whenever something bad happened he would say "Robert did it".
Robert's wife, Ann made a room in the attic and put Robert there but her husband told her that Robert was angry and demanded he be placed somewhere where he had a view and so he was placed in the turret room. Schoolchildren said they would see the doll snickering at them from the window.
The doll is now in a museum and it was claimed by a psychic that the doll's spirit was slowly dying, for his hair was already becoming a light grey.
Robert Eugene Otto's spirit has been seen in the house and his wife Ann has also been seen staring out of the turret window. "
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"The story goes that a long time ago (not sure of dates) that the owner of this plantation had an only son that was very lonely. The owner had a servant (who happened to be into Voodoo) that he had upset for some reason. This servant made the doll for the boy, yet he cursed it before giving it to him. The boy and the doll were inseparable and the boy started telling his father that the doll could walk and talk and would tell him things. I think that when the boy got older and inherited the plantation, that the doll told him to build a room for it in the attic that would be his own, even after the boys' death. After the boy died, the house was then sold, but in the will it was instructed that Robert the doll was to stay in the house in his attic room.
Many owners of the house would say that they could hear movement in the attic and every now and then would go up there and the furniture and doll would always be in different places. Not sure how the doll ended up at this museum, but they said that even now the doll will be moved in different positions and that night guards can hear it moving around and pecking on the glass. He was also told that anyone who took a picture of the doll, it would drain the camera's batteries and that they felt that the doll was "getting stronger" from the energy. My friend. of course, wanted to try it and - sure enough - after he took one picture, the camera went dead.
Now here's the REAL weird part. After he got home, he got the film
developed, and had not just the one picture of Robert that he took, but FIVE - all taken from different angles! He had no idea how it could have
happened. He still has the pictures, and let me tell you, they give me the creeps." -
"By far, this is the creepiest, as well as the most facinating object that I found on my trip. This may not look like much more than an old doll the resembles a burn victim dressed as a sailor, but it has been the object of many television shows, the most powerful story in both island ghost tours and ghost books, and is known to be one of the most active entities on the island"
"The Tale is Far From Over... - When Anne left, she left Robert locked in his upstairs room, and put in a lease agreement that 'Robert must at all times remain the sole occupant of the attic room', or the contract was void. This remained true up until her death in 1976. The first new reports were from a plumber working after Anne left. The plumber reported:
"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."
Future occupants reported hearing noises upstairs including footsteps, laughter, and crashes, and upon inspection, found that Robert had moved position from where they left him. At this time, usually he would only cross his arms, move or cross his legs, or move from chair to chair. The occupants were so disturbed by this that they locked him in a sea chest in his room -- thus staying true to the lease agreement.
After many years, Robert was finally rediscovered in storage at the East Martello Museum, and due to popular demand, was put on display. Many people have speculated that Robert was losing energy when he was locked in the chest for those many years, however, now that he once again has human contact, he is draining energy. Perhaps this accounts for the three pacemakers that have stopped in front of him, the many, many reports of new camera batteries dying in front of him, the many cameras that have stopped working in front of him (the leading authority on Robert spent 6 rolls of the film and got only a handful of shots to develop), and the increased activity of the doll. Museum curators report that Robert often changes position overnight even though he is locked behind glass in a case inside a brick museum with locked three inch wooden doors and bars on every window."