Few things can capture the imagination quite like a good ghost story, and this is one such tale.
During turn of early 20th century, a boy named young boy named Robert Eugene Otto was gifted a strange-looking doll by his family's maid, one that is rumored to have shared an uncanny resemblance to Robert himself — he gave his doll the same name. Soon after, strange occurrences began plaguing the family and their neighbors, and while Robert claimed that the doll had caused the activity, he refused to let the doll go.
An account of the alleged incidents, via Atlas Obscura:
“As rumor has it, the Ottos and their servants would often hear Gene in his bedroom, having conversations with himself in two entirely different voices. Furthermore, the Ottos would wake up in the middle of the night to Gene’s screaming, only to find the frightened boy in bed, surrounded by overturned furniture. Gene would blame Robert the Doll for messing up the bedroom, while Robert would glare at Gene from the foot of the bed.”
The doll stayed with Robert well into adulthood and until his death, after which time it was donated to the Key West Art and Historical Society. To this day, museum staff report strange goings on, with Robert reportedly moving himself across the room and startling visitors and staff.
"It was like a metal bar running down my back," recalls Solares Hill reporter Malcolm Ross of his first encounter with Robert. "At first when we walked through the door, the look on his face was like a little boy being punished. It was as if he was asking himself, ‘Who are these people in my room and what are they going to do to me?'"
Hear Robert's haunting history below.
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