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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1,434 thoughts on “The Curse Of Robert The Doll”

  1. Sorry Robert for looking at you I was just so curious and your pic comes up when I googled you last night. No disrespect to you I’m sorry,

    Sincerely Humberto

    Reply

  3. Dear Robert,

    I’m sorry if i have offended you of any sort. I did not mean to. I am sorry that I did not ask for your permission before looking at your photos, I really didn’t knew.

    Sorry

    Reply

  5. Dear Robert,
    We sincerely apologize for looking at your photo without your permission we hope we did not upset you in any way. We did not mean to. I hope you can forgive us. Please.

    Reply

  8. Dear Robert I am sorry for looking at your picture without your permission I wanted to know your story and now I understand please forgive me, Carlos

    Reply

  9. Dear Robert,

    I sincerely apologize for seeing your picture without your permission. I hope you can understand that it was a complete accident, and I meant no disrespect to you at all; it is a reality that Google searches show images at the very top of the search bar. Please forgive me, and don’t curse me or those whom I love. I humbly bow to you in deference. Winter will be here soon–may you be warm!

    Sincerely,

    Andrew

    Reply

  10. dear Robert,

    Robert i’m so sorry for looking at your picture with out permission. i respect you in all kind of ways.
    i hope you can forgive me
    Thank You

    Reply

  15. A doll can not curse you for just looking at him or just his pictures. You can’t ask a dead thing for forgiveness and you can’t fear something that does not live, you must only fear God, not a doll that people say is possessed by something. Yes a demon can control the doll but it can’t harm you just by looking at it. Your life may not be as you wished but is as God planned it to be. May God bless you and help you all through your life.

    Reply

    • Oh the irony of a person who believes in an imaginary and mythical being berating others for apologising to an imaginary and mythical being. Is this a moron vortex? Please. Grow up! No, seriously, I mean it, actually grow up. I hope you’ve all been good boys and girls this year lest Santa leaves a lump of coal in your stockings or worse still, the boogieman (Robert’s dad who lives in your closet and vacations under your bed) gets you.

      Reply

    • facks I bont think so nether alla only god is the grates of us all you go chene respect from a muslim, sup rodert hows the museum not an insalt just so you know bye bye take care robert and chene respect.

      Reply

  17. Please forgive me Robert. I respect your privacy , I beg for your forgiveness , I was very interested in learning more about you , please do not curse me I send my most sincere appoligies and so do my family , I wish you all the best . R.i.p

    Reply

  19. Robert, sorry for looking at your picture, i was only researching about a book about you and stumbled upon your picture in the process.

    Reply

  21. I’m sorry Robert for looking at your pictures and watching your YouTube videos without permission I was just curious please do not hurt anyone or haunt me or anyone in my family. Won’t happen again. niko

    Reply

    • I am so sorry Robert for looking at your pictures without permission. Please don’t haunt me or hurt my family. Please. I just wanted to find out more information about you. But I will never look at your pictures again if that’s what you want. Please forgive me, and I’m very sorry

      Reply

  23. Dear Robert,

    Please forgive me for looking at your pictures and searching about your history without your permission. Didn’t mean to cause you any distress.

    Hope you have a peaceful rest.

    Reply

  24. The doll looks nice for a collector, but I don’t believe that a doll can curse you. I believe Bad things that happened to you are simply because of God’s will and has nothing to do with Robert.

    Robert please curse me if you can! lol

    I like your article though, nice.

    Reply

  25. Dear Robert,

    I am sorry to have looked at your pictures too. Like most of us here in this page, Google shows us some of your pictures when we search your story and arouse further curiosity. Please do not cursed me and the others who had stumbled upon your pictures like me. Google is the culprit, they are the ones who had not asked your permission and show us your pictures. And they had also challenged that no one can ever hack into Google, henceforth please put the curse if you want, on Google instead. Please kindly bless us with your supernatural power 🙂

    Reply

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