CREEPY DOLL STORIES In the East Martello Museum, located in Key West, Florida, resides a doll that has been dubbed by some as the original Chucky. Robert the Doll's previous home was in what is now known as the Artist House Bed & Breakfast where he lived with his owner, Gene Otto. Robert was given to Gene by a Bahamian girl whose exact relation to the family remains one of the doll's many mysteries. By most accounts, she worked for the Otto family as a servant and was practiced in the dark art of voodoo. The girl was mistreated and abused by Gene's parents, but she dearly loved the boy and gave him the doll as a gift. Three feet tall and made of straw, Robert was said to be a replica of young Gene. The doll soon became the boy's constant companion. He even dressed it in his own clothes and was content to spend hours in the nursery with no companion other than Robert. It was not long after the doll's arrival that strange things began to happen in the house. Objects would go missing and turn up broken. Gene began sneaking out of his bedroom window to wander the grounds at night, the doll always clutched tight in his hand. If he were caught in some mischief, he would always proclaim, "Robert did it!" The unusual events were dismissed by most as the product of a rambunctious child, but close friends of the family began to suspect that it was, in fact, Robert who was somehow to blame. The doll could be heard giggling in Gene's room, and some claimed to have seen his strange little visage at the turret-room window. As time went by, the doll became increasingly bolder. Soon, Gene's company was no longer needed for Robert to move about the house at night, and the servants would often awaken to the patter of footsteps on the stairs. None of them wanted to clean Gene's room, and no one dared turn their back on the doll. Years later, his parents dead, a grown Gene occupied the house alone with the doll until he met and married a local socialite. Robert was put away in the attic, but eventually brought back down. Almost immediately his influence was felt by Gene. The strange events that began happening in the house and to her husband greatly disturbed Mrs. Otto, and she soon proposed they return the doll to the attic. Gene flew into a rage at the suggestion and demanded that Robert be given his own room where he could see down to the street. Finally, after many unexplainable events, Gene agreed to put Robert away again, but the doll had other ideas. According to the servants, Robert often left the attic on his own. Mrs. Otto herself once spotted the doll darting up the attic stairs and later heard the sound of tapping feet on the attic floor above her. When she went to investigate, she found Robert sitting in one of Gene's old rocking chairs rather than where he had been placed. When she confronted her husband, he replied cryptically, "Robert did it." Demonic giggling and strange singing often interrupted the couple's quiet evenings at home. When Gene died in 1972, most believed his absence would put an end to the disturbing activity. But sightings of the enchanted doll continued even when the house stood empty. Robert could often be seen at the turret window making faces at school children as they passed by on the street. When the house was bought by another family, Robert was found in the attic by the youngest daughter who promptly claimed him for her own, unleashing a terrifying chain of events. From the moment she brought him downstairs, the ten-year-old was plagued by nightmares, and more than once, she awakened to find the doll sitting on her face, attempting—she believed—to suffocate her. It was obvious that Robert didn't take to his new owner, nor to her other dolls because they were found mutilated. When the child's dog became mysteriously entangled in a Venetian blind cord in the nursery, Robert was once again relegated to the attic. After the family moved away, the home was converted into the Artist's House. Robert was donated to the East Martello Museum where he was quickly up to his old tricks. Museum workers began to report strange activity after the doll's arrival, and one volunteer was terrorized when Robert—still dressed in his white sailor suit and clutching his stuffed lion—apparently began to follow her around. The doll was eventually placed in a display case, but that didn't seem to stop his pranks. A museum employee left for home one evening, shutting off all the lights and locking the doors behind him. When he arrived the next day, several lights, including the one near Robert's case, were on. Stranger still, the bottoms of Robert's shoes were coated in fresh dust as though he'd been walking around the museum. More than once, employees have reported hearing a sound like someone tapping on a window as they pass by Robert's case. Turning, they see his little hand pressed against the glass. Every October, the doll is taken to the Historic Custom House where he is placed on display. Visitors often wonder about the peppermints left in his case. It seems that the doll loves peppermints and providing a fresh supply will keep him from roaming at night. Skeptics may scoff at this practice, but both museum and Custom House staff have reported finding empty peppermint wrappers littering the bottom of his case. Robert can be visited at the East Martello Museum and, in October, the Historic Custom House in Key West, Florida. As for the youngest daughter who was terrorized by Robert, she steadfastly claims—more than thirty years later—that the doll was alive and wanted to kill her. She is still deeply traumatized to this day. Click here for more creepy doll stories! 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