The Curse Of Robert The Doll

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I snapped a photo of Robert The Doll before reading that he puts curses on anyone who takes his photograph. Uh oh. Surely it’s just a myth, I thought. Curious, I began reading about the doll’s history. In 1903, Robert was given to four-year old Gene Otto, who lived in Key West. As Gene grew up he blamed everything bad that happened on the doll. By the time Gene was married, Robert had taken the blame for a lifetime of lies, misdeeds, and mischief.

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Robert The Doll is on display at the East Martello Museum and Fort in Key West

Some say Robert’s face had begun to change by the time Gene died in 1974, that his eyes grew more expressive. People insisted that the doll moved around and could be heard giggling behind their backs. Many who came in contact with Robert experienced bad luck, as if the doll was getting even for all the years he had been made a scapegoat. The curse of Robert The Doll grew into such a well-known legend in Key West that whenever things went wrong, locals would simply shrug and say, “Blame it on Robert.” But Robert’s real fame came when the “Chucky” horror film series (Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, etc.) came out, as they were said to have been modeled on the real-life story of Robert the Doll.

There are many theories about why Robert behaves the way he does. Some believe it is an ancient curse. Others say it is voodoo. Still others insist that Gene Otto’s ghost has returned to the doll whom he loved so much. The museum cats seem to believe in Robert’s dark powers – they keep their distance when staring up at the glass case in East Martello Museum where Robert is enthroned. People, on the other hand, tend to doubt the legend, and have suffered the consequences. Letters scattered at Robert’s feet and tacked up on an adjacent wall are testimonials from dozens of unbelievers who were cursed by Robert The Doll, such as this one:

Since our visit to the museum, we’ve been under a dark cloud.

I began to develop a rather severe toothache. Two days later, Hurricane Charly cut our vacation short and we joined the parade of evacuees leaving the islands. We were evacuated from our vacation spot three days early with my mouth in tremendous pain. My sister-in-law was also having female health issues. We were all forced to make alternate travel arrangements on the run.

My sister-in-law lives in Clearwater. After a problem laden and horrendous trip, she finally got home, only to be evacuated from there too. She packed up her two cats and headed for her parents house in Winter Haven and ended up in the middle of the storm there. They lost power for two days.

When we arrived in Miami for our flight back to Indianapolis, the plane broke and they had to “find” a different one for us. The following day, back in Indiana, I went to the dentist to learn that my tooth had abscessed and I had to have a root canal.

Last night we had a huge thunderstorm. Our house was hit by lightning – not once, but TWICE! We were unplugging things, but not fast enough. We lost three TV’s and a large satellite dish. The first hit, which sounded like a gunshot in the house, took one large TV and the satellite dish, and the second hit got two more TV’s. Again, the sound was horribly frightening.

Please do me a favor and tell Robert that we did not mean to anger or offend him and we’re sorry if we did. His photo did turn out good, so he sat very nicely for me. Would he like it back?

Yours sincerely,

Cindy Lyons

Battle Ground, Indiana

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Hundreds of letters have been sent to the Museum by visitors who beg Robert’s forgiveness and ask him to remove his curse

As for me, well, Robert and I were introduced several days ago and so far I’ve suffered no ill effects. But then, I’m not taking any chances. Like the cats, I choose to believe.

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The Curse Of Robert The Doll

1,400 thoughts on “The Curse Of Robert The Doll”

  1. DEAR ROBERT
    I am really sorry for looking at your picture and searching you on google. I am really sorry please forgive me. I did not mean to hurt you.
    Sincerely,
    Ameer

    Reply

  2. Dear Robert
    I am very sorry for looking at your picture and searching you up on google. Please forgive me , you are such an Amazing doll.

    Reply

  3. Dear Robert,

    Sorry for looking at your picture without permission. A friend mentioned your story and I thought I would look into it. You are a very handsome young man and I wish the best for you.

    Reply

  4. Hello Robert.

    We are all sorry for looking at your photographs… but you shouldn’t be so Interesting, love you, Godspeed Roberto,

    Kenny, Michele and Katie the dog.

    Reply

  5. Dear Robert,

    I’m so sorry but i hope you will forgive me i dont wish anything bout the best for you.
    the only reason i seen you was because i was looking myself up and i seen a picture of you
    please forgive me and i’m very sorry.

    Sincerely Taivyon

    Reply

  7. Dear Robert,
    I’m deeply sorry for looking at your photos that were posted online and researching about you without your permission. You look very handsome in your photos and I hope you can forgive me.

    Reply

  8. Hello Robert,

    I am sorry for searching and look at your photo. I saw a youtube video about the mentioned you and became curious about your story. By the way it is very interesting. Sorry for disrespecting you and I hope you forgive me.

    Sincerely,
    Daniel

    Reply

  9. Dear Robert

    I am very sorry Robert, I didn’t meant to offend you. I was just curious about you , and that’s why searched in the internet and looked at your photo. You look very nice in that photo. Hope you forgive me.

    Your faithfully
    Subham

    Reply

  11. Hi Robert, I just wanted to apologize for searching and looking at your pictures because of the curiosity I had developed form reading an advertisement on a website without any prior knowledge about your story. I am extremely sorry and I hope that you can forgive me for what I have done. Thank you.

    Christian

    Reply

  12. I’m sorry Robert for looking at your pictures and searching you up on google. I never knew I was not supposed to do this but I was curious and wanted to learn more. I’m sorry once again and hope you can forgive me? Thankyou 🙂
    Also you have a very interesting story.

    Reply

  13. Look Robert I am sorry for looking at your photo I am just very interested in u and would like to learn more

    Reply

  15. Robert i would like to apologize for looking at pictures of you and searching you up on Google, i should have asked first, i had heard alot about you and found you very interesting. its been good learning about you and your story, and again I’m sorry.

    Harley.

    Reply

  16. Robert I am sorry for looking at pics of you without asking first. You have a very interesting story and I was curious. I am sincerely sorry if I offended you.

    Sincerely,
    Blake

    Reply

  19. Hi Robert!

    Sorry for looking your picture. i’m just curious if your real or not.
    please forgive me. and let me search more about you.

    Thanks and God Bless your soul.

    Reply

  25. Dear Robbert.

    I am very sorry for looking at your picture. I was just curious about your story. You look very good by the way!

    Reply

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