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.
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
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.
Please forgive me Robert for looking you up without permission
Hi Robert,
Sorry for looking you up without your permission over the internet.. I beg for you forgiveness. Please don’t harm me sorry and please forgive me
Dear Robert,
Please forgive me for looking at your picture on the internet. I sincerely ask for forgiveness for not asking your permission. Please I beg of you not to bring harm to me or my family. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Dear Robert, I am sorry for looking you up and looking at your pictures without your permission. Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to offend or disrespect you.
Dear Robert,
I am sorry for unintentionally looking you up without your permission. Please forgive me and do not harm me. I ask for your forgiveness as well.
Dear Robert,
I apologize for looking up your story and
and looking at your pictures. I accidently came across them today.
Please forgive me
Dear Robert I too choose to believe forgive me for looking you up I was unaware of needing your permission please I beg your forgiveness .
Hi Robert,
I apologize for looking you up without first asking permission. I hope you will forgive me. I was already partway through the article before I thought to ask you permission. Wishing you all the best and hope to come visit you someday in the museum.
Thank you.
I too am sorry for looking you up Robert. I hope also to one day visit you in the museum. Awesome sailor hat by the way!
Dear Robert
I’m sorry for looking at photos of you and reading your story, please forgive for I did not know I needed to ask for permission first. From now on I will always ask permission first before viewing any photos, articles and videos about you
-scencerly Andrew
I’m sorry for looking u up. I didn’t realize I needed permission. I didn’t understand and apologize
i’m sorry robert for reading seeing photos about you i didn’t realize it would hurt your feelings please forgive me
Dear Robert,
I’m incredibly sorry for invading your privacy by reading articles of you online. I did not know that by looking at images of you online or by reading articles about you was not allowed.
I respect your decision to choose and I hope you can forgive me.
Sorry Robert for reading a movie description about you.
I am sorry, Robert, for viewing your story and image without permission. I didn’t realize what I was clicking on when I chose this article. Please forgive me.
sorry robert
Dear Robert,
Im very sorry that I saw your story and photos online without your permission,
Please forgive me, as no harm was meant as I didn’t realise.
One day I would like to visit the museum you are in, where I would ask before taking your picture.
Great that you are being looked after, thank you Robert
Dear Robert,
When I first read and saw you, I did not know to ask permission.
Please forgive me as I did not mean to offend you at all.
Thank you and please forgive me.
Robert haunt in india
Robert If you are there so pls try to come in india and meet me pls
I would also like to apologize for looking at videos about you online. Your story was very interesting to me, but I assure you I mean no disrespect. I hope you can please forgive me for all of this. I never meant any harm to you or offense.
Dear Robert,
I am truly sorry my curiosity about you lead me to research you online. I did not mean to upset you by reading about your story or looking at your photos. Please forgive me.
I’m sorry Robert for stumbling upon your picture without your permission I’ll never do it again, please don’t hurt me or my family or any of my true friends.
Sorry for looking at your picture and your story I was curious to learn about you and I hope you have a good day
Sorry
Sorry Robert, I did not mean to look you up. I was curious to read more about your story. I learned about the ghost story in Key West. I will be sure to never do this again.
Sorry
Dear Robert I am sorry for obsessing over you and unintentionally mocking within my mind. I ask for forgiveness and wish that nothing bad happens to me.
i am so sorry robert that i looked you up without permission.
i am sorry and i ask for your forgiveness.
Dear Robert,
I would like to apologize to you for watching videos about you, reading articles about you and looking at pictures of you. You see, I didn’t know about your existence until yesterday when I came across a video on a French Youtube channel (they talked about you in the video), and I found your story so interesting that I wanted to know more about you. And so I looked you up several times yesterday and today. Please forgive me Robert, I thought I only had to ask permission to take a picture of you at the museum and I didn’t mean to upset you by looking you up on the internet. I promise you that I will never ever do so again, and if I ever see or hear anything about you again, it will be an accident and I will cover my ears and/or close my eyes right away. Robert, I don’t know if the lady who gave you to Gene otto is still alive (I highly doubt that she is, but who knows…), but all I can say is I find it truly horrible how she’s been treated by the Gene family especially Mrs Gene. The poor woman didn’t deserve this, not even after what happened with Mr Otto (I hope I understood that correctly, she did have Mr Otto’s baby that died after two months, right?). I hope that she is happy now wherever she is. If you are able to communicate with her, could you please let her know that wish her all the best?
Again, I am really sorry for looking you up on the internet, reading articles, looking at pictures, and watching videos. I absolutely didn’t mean to upset you or to invade your privacy. I believe everything that is said about you and I highly respect you. Please forgive me for what I’ve done Robert. Please do not hurt me, my family or the people I care about. Please forgive me.
Sincerely,
Lorraine from Switzerland