The Curse Of Robert The Doll

by

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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1,426 thoughts on “The Curse Of Robert The Doll”

    • Dear Robert, I am so sorry for looking at your picture without your permission, please do not ever curse me or my family,
      Omar

      Reply

  3. Dear Robert, I’m deeply sorry for looking at your picture without your permission. I hope all is well with you, and thank you for reading this.
    Sincerely, Asher

    Reply

  5. Dear Robert,

    I am sorry for looking into your eyes and looking at a picture of you without permission. Please do not curse me or my family and friends.

    Patrick

    Reply

  6. Dear Robert,
    I am very sorry for looking at your picture without your permission. I hope that you can forgive me I did not mean to disrespect you by looking at these photos. I hope that all is well with you.

    Reply

  9. dear robert,
    im sorry for looking at you i didnt know they would post a picture of you. Please dont curse me my friends or my family.

    Reply

  10. Dear Robert,

    I am very sorry for looking at your pictures online. I shouldn’t have even searched them up. I hope you find this apology sincere and forgive me for what I’ve done.

    – enrique

    Reply

  13. Dear robert, I am deeply sorry for looking at your pictures online.
    I hope that i can be forgiven for viewing your pictures and reading about you

    Reply

  14. Dear Robert,
    I didn’t mean to look at your picture without your permission. I’m so sorry. Please don’t curse me or my family or friends.

    Reply

  15. Dear Robert. Paul and I are sorry for looking at your picture online without permission. Please do not curse us or our loved ones.

    Reply

  16. Dear Robert I am sorry for searching up your picture I was just trying to learn more about haunted objects please do not curse me or my loved ones

    Reply

  17. Dear Robert I’m sorry for looking at you or in your eyes without your permission please do not curse me

    Arieanna Ouellet

    Reply

  19. Dear Robert,

    I am sorry for looking at your picture online, especially without your permission. I sincerely hope the best for you, and hope all is well. I ask for your forgiveness, please.

    -Aziel

    Reply

  20. Dear Robert

    Iam sorry for looking in your i w,as trying to so what sorry don’t look into your eyes without permission means pleas don’t cures me or my friends.

    Reply

  22. Dear Robert,

    I apologize for looking at a picture of you, i did not search you up intentionally, i was searching for something else.

    Reply

  23. hello dear Robert
    I was watching Sam and Colby’s video and did not remember your name I accidentally called you Noah a apologize for that and also for looking at your picture without your permission and not introducing myself and not saying goodbye before leaving
    please please please don’t curse me I did not mean any disrespect I am still a teen, please

    abhay

    Reply

  24. Dear Robert,

    I am very sorry for looking into your eyes and searching for pictures of you.

    I was watching a video about you from the YouTubers Sam and Colby and they did not show your face at the beginning, so I searched up a picture of you. I later found out that you did not like when people did this.

    I am very sorry if I offended you or made you made. I am still a child and didn’t know what was going to happen. I hope you know how truly truly sorry I am.

    Please don’t curse me. I didn’t mean to offend you or upset you in any way. I thought you were very cool and interesting.

    Again I am truly sorry. Please do not curse me or do anything bad to me. I didn’t mean to and I am hopping you will forgive me.

    My deepest apologies, Living

    Reply

  25. Dear robert ,

    Im deeply sorry for lookijg into your eyes, i was just trying to find more information about you please don’t curse me or my friends and family

    Anne

    Reply

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