The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - The True Story of Robert The Haunted Doll

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

This is the terrifying true story of Robert the doll. A haunted doll that has been the source of paranormal activity for nearly 100 years. We'll cover the origins of this creepy doll, talk about his owners over the years, hear stories about his exhibition in a key west museum and explore the haunted artist house that he once called home. This is a story of curses, rock stars and haunted houses that you won't want to miss. Do you have a supernatural story to share? Drop me an email at [e-mail] You can check out The Tape Library in video form at www.youtube.com/thetapelibrary Stock footage and additional audio courtesy of Envato Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. 00:00 The Most Haunted Doll In The World 01:58 A Haunted Doll 07:52 Eugene Otto 10:14 Myrtle Reuter 13:19 Fort East Martello Museum 16:19 The Curse Of Robert The Doll Music and Footage courtesy of Archive.org, Storyblocks, Ghost Hack Be sure you say sorry to Robert.... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is one creation in the world that is said by many to be the most haunted object of all time. A doll with the supernatural ability to haunt households, cursed families and destroy lives. A doll with such a malevolent power that thousands of people find themselves having to apologize for doubting it. A doll that is said to be so haunted that delving into his story puts us all at risk of encouraging, incurring his wrath. It is said by some that even seeing an image of that doll's eyes can be enough to curse those who find themselves curious about him. This is the terrifying true story of the most famous haunted doll in the world. The origins of this strange toy and the haunting legacy is left.

This is the story of Robert the Dole. Where Robert originally came from is, as is the case with many of these tales, a story of conflicting origins. Some say it was a present from a family member who had been travelling and wanted to bring the young boy a gift from their time in Europe. Others say that a maid who worked in the mansion that Robert would soon call home was caught practicing voodoo rituals. When this was discovered, the maid was instantly fired. But just before she left, she would give a gift to the young man of the house. That young man was Eugene Otto, and that gift, in either version of events, was the doll that would soon come to be known as Robert.

But at the age of four, when the doll came into his possession, Eugene wasn't referred to as Eugene at all. That was his middle name. His actual name was Robert. It would appear that according to experts, the doll is one-off, potentially created for a window display in Germany. The doll stands at four feet tall and famously wears a white and blue sailor outfit, with a toy dog next to him. Some have suggested that the scarily life-like hair on the doll's head may, in fact, a human hair. When given to the youngest of the Otto siblings, the doll would have basically been life-sized. a new child for the family.

Robert loved his new toy, and the pair almost instantly became inseparable. This attachment quickly took a strange turn, however. A few weeks after receiving the doll, Robert said that the doll also wanted to be called Robert, but that name couldn't be shared between the two of them. Instead, the boy wanted to now be referred to as Eugene, while the doll would take his actual Christian name. A change that he stuck to for the remainder of his life.

Now known as Eugene, the young boy made sure that Robert the Dole was treated as part of the family. The boy began sharing his clothes with Robert. In fact, the sailor outfit that Robert still wears today is thought to have belonged to Eugene or so. Robert would even have his own seat at the family dinner table. Wherever Eugene went, Robert would be there. But then things started to get odd. Eugene would shut himself away in his playroom with Robert for hours at a time. The family would hear the normal sounds of their son playing with his toys.

But it was when he was playing with Robert specifically that they noticed something peculiar. They would hear his normal, youthful voice talking to Robert. But then would hear replies coming in a much deeper voice. No one else was ever in the room of Eugene. just the boy in his toys. And the family were never able to get Eugene to recreate the voice in front of them. And he would be adamant that he wasn't creating the deeper voice himself. He had been talking to Robert, and Robert had been talking back to him. Both visitors to the house and family became convinced that the expression on Robert's face would change slightly when they weren't looking.

Nothing drastic, but just something off about the face, making it appear different than it did moments before. He was also said to move, but again only when there were no eyes directly on him. It became a source of amusement for the family, as they began to convince themselves they were just paranoid and imagining things. It was just a dull after all. One night Eugene's parents were awoken by panicked screaming coming from his room. They rushed only to discover that every item of furniture in his bedroom had been placed upside

down. Eugene pointed to the doll on his bed and told his family that Robert did it. This was just the beginning of the apparent paranormal activity in the home. Glasses would be broken, furniture moved. The strange noises would echo around the large home. Eugene would always be there when these things happened. But of course, as they were never apart, so was Robert. And Eugene blamed all of these strange occurrences on his doll.

In one incident, one of Eugene's favourite toys was found destroyed. The boy pleaded with his parents as they told him off that he wasn't to blame for it. was one of his favourites. He loved that toy. But Robert didn't. The family had enough. They still assumed that they had let their imaginations run wild in regards to any paranormal occurrences. But it was undoubtedly true that Robert seemed to encourage bad behaviour in Eugene. His parents decided it was time to separate the two. For what wouldn't be the last time, Roberts was banished to the attic. Something that despite all the trouble Robert seemed to be getting the in, Eugene protested greatly. He had become worryingly attached to the toy and was

completely distraught at the fault of being apart from him. Locking Robert away didn't seem to stop the strange events however. Over the years, servants who would come to work at the estate would often quit promptly after joining with no explanation. Despite his banishment, the Osso family were said to hear Robert the Dole moving frequently around the upstairs portion of the house, with his footsteps said to echo throughout areas of the property that were completely empty. He was even said to giggle in the middle of the night. Others claim to catch glimpses of something white moving around the house late at night, but it would move so fast they would never get a clear look at what it was they were seeing.

Most disturbingly, there are some reports that the person who took Robert up to the attic was the boy's aunt, who would shortly become the first recorded victim of the supposed curse of Robert. The legend goes that just one night after separating the boy from his best friend, she was found dead in her bed. And that feels like where the story should end. Eugene grew up and Robert stayed locked away in the family's attic. The strange noises would often be heard throughout the house over the years, but nothing that felt too unexplainable. As an adult, Eugene moved away to Paris to pursue his passion of becoming a painter. He would only return to his family home after the death of his mother.

His older siblings signed over the estate to Eugene and his new wife Annette, and the pair would return to live in the large mansion in Key West Florida. Now he was home, however, and strangely, after so many years had passed, one of Eugene's first actions was to head to the attic and find his beloved child companion. The bond had not been broken after all these years. The pair immediately picked up where they had left off and became inseparable once again. Eugene started having furniture commissioned for Robert, who would bring the doll everywhere with him and would refer to him as though he were a real person. Eugene's wife Annette claimed to have never seen Robert do anything strange directly,

but she was not keen on the doll. He gave her weird vibes and clear. had a strong effect on her husband whenever Robert was near. Even as an adult, when Eugene would do anything that could be considered abusive or cruel to Annette, he would place the blame on Robert. An understandable attempt at deflection when he was a child maybe, but that fact appears much more sinister as an adult. Eventually Annette was sick of Robert and asked Eugene to put him away somewhere. Eugene reluctantly took Robert to his childhood bedroom. and placed him in the window so he could look out onto the street. A fact that clearly affected the locals

as children reportedly started taking different routes to school to avoid walking past the Otto House and come under the glare of Robert. It has been suggested that the room Robert was kept in was requested by the doll himself so he could have a view. Eugene spent a good chunk of the next 40 years of his life in that room, painting and talking.

talking to Robert. In 1974, Eugene passed away, and the first thing his widow Annette did was put Robert back in the attic. The Dole clearly had a very strong impression on her, and something about it made her want to get away from it as quickly as possible. Later that year, Annette sold the Otto estate, leaving Robert behind to become the problem of the new owner, one Myrtle Reuter. All started to hear strange noises inside her new home, footsteps and giggling late at night

as she lay in bed. After some time and investigating, she began to realise that these sounds were coming from the attic. It didn't appear to be anything strange up there to begin with, and if it wasn't for what she was certain was the sound of laughter, she may have just chalked the incident up to rats. But then she found an old dusty trunk that had seemingly been left there by the previous owner. She carefully unlocked it and inside found Robert. Mertl's immediate reaction to the appearance of Robert wasn't one of fear. She found the doll charming. She brought the cute-looking doll down with her in the strange hope that this would make Robert happy and keep him from causing a disturbance any longer. But of course, bringing Robert into the main house just amplified

his apparent abilities. Mertl said that any time she or any visitors ever said anything negative about Eugene Otto, Robert's facial expression would change. Whatever the strange relationship between Eugene and Robert might have been, it appears that love for one another went both ways, and that Robert clearly still thought fondly of his previous owner. Mertl would find Robert in different positions or places around the house. But despite these strange occurrences, Mertl seemingly was not scared of Robert. In fact, much like he had with Yossos, Robert became a permanent fixture of her home,

keeping him around for 20 years. While Robert appeared capable of mischief and strange behaviour, it would seem that those close to him would form a strong bond with the doll, and seemingly, Myrtle and Robert's relationship was mostly positive. That was, until everything changed. In 1994, Myrtle moved out of the Otto house and took Robert with her. But Robert seemingly did not want to leave his old home.

A few days into being in her new property, Myrtle awoke in the night. She walked to her bedroom door to go get a glass of water. But much to her confusion, she could not open the door. Myrtle struggled and struggled with the handle. But despite not being locked, She was seemingly trapped in the room. The remainder of what happened that night in Myrtle's new home has not been disclosed.

But whatever took place this evening clearly was enough for Myrtle. The very next day she donated Robert to the Fort East Martello Museum. Not long after this, Myrtle would be found dead. The details of her death have not been made public. Again, there are conflicting stories about how much Myrtle informed the museum's assistant director about Robert. Some reports suggest that she introduced him as a member of the Otto family, and that he was haunted, and she just couldn't handle him anymore. Intrigued by the history, the museum director agreed to take Robert in. Others have said that Myrtle hadn't made it clear

to the museum what they were accepting when they agreed to house Robert. To them, it was just an interesting artefact from the turn of the century and a piece of local history. There wasn't really space in the museum for Robert when he first arrived, so to begin with he was kept in a back room. But Robert seemingly didn't want to be kept locked up again. Workers in the museum claimed to see what they described as a white blur at times around the storeroom. Many of those who interacted with Robert found the dull unsettling, but while he was stored or way, his legend was growing in the wider community. Visitors would come to the museum and request to see Robert. Reluctant museum workers would then bring him out of storage so that the

interested parties could meet the supposedly haunted doll. These requests became more and more frequent, until the museum decided it was worth giving Robert his own display. The curator of the museum dismissed her co-worker stories about a possessed doll running around the museum. That was until late one night when she was working alone, prepping the exhibition area for Robert to be displayed. Whatever happened to her that night she has refused to speak about publicly. But something scared her that evening, to such a degree that witnesses claimed she came running out of the museum, screaming at the top of her lungs. Weeks later, another employee was the last one at the museum, so it was their responsibility

to turn off all the lights and lock up for the evening. As they walked across the darkened car park to their car, they were shocked to see all the lights in the building turned back on, simultaneously. Eight different switches controlled the lights throughout the building. It would have been impossible for a single person to achieve this. Robert has become a source of fascination and fear for the workers at the museum. One suggested that maybe they should show Robert respect by giving him his own display case and his own toy, a small stuffed dog to keep him company. But this didn't seem to have the desired effect.

While the stories about Robert's past are sketchy, it isn't until this point in his story, where people actively started claiming that Robert was capable of cursing anyone who gazed upon him, or at least, anyone who didn't ask his permission first. To begin with, visitors would report strange occurrences when they tried to take photos of Robert. Digital camera batteries would die in his presence and then begin working again once outside the museum. Photos would come out blurry, blank, or entire memory cards would be wiped of images. Or in some cases, the total opposite would happen. One visitor claimed they took a couple of photos of Robert. only to return home, develop the photos, and discover that every single one on the reel was of Robert.

The museum decided to put out a set of guidelines for any guests interacting with Robert. Every visitor must introduce themselves politely. If they want a photo, is important to ask permission first, and then thank Robert for his time before departing. Interestingly, as Robert's legend has grown, these acts of respect seem to have also grown outwards from just Robert's actual exhibition. Just head to any article or YouTube video on the topic and you will see countless people thanking Robert or more often apologising for having looked at images of him without his permission, ignoring these rules either in person or even while just looking at images of Robert can cause him to take great offence, and there have been some

traumatic events that have been blamed on the wrath of Robert. Robert's exhibits is now surrounded by letters, letters from those who have disrespected him and lived to regret it. This began in the 90s and still continues to this day. Thousands have been sent to Robert throughout the years from all across the globe. The letters are all begging the doll to forgive them for any past discretion that may have offended Robert. Many due to people not believing the true extent of Robert's powers, making jokes in his presence, and then heading home to find out they had in fact welcomed in the curse of Robert to their home. Some are mild inconveniences that the writer has attributed to Robert's displeasure.

have seen their entire lives fall apart in the aftermath of their experience with Robert. Robert even receives gifts as a way of payment for showing him disrespect in the past. One of the stranger but more well-known people who have had a disastrous encounter with Robert, is Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who blamed the doll for his disastrous year he had after coming into contact with it, suffering pneumonia, undergoing surgery. and being diagnosed with Parkinson's. While we have heard some reports of people meeting unexpected fates after dealing with Robert in the years before his arrival at the museum, it appears to have ramped up significantly

since he arrived there. Could this be due to the museum playing into his legend and more people becoming aware of Robert? Or maybe, Robert isn't too keen on his new home. His behaviour seems to have turned particularly sour since leaving the Otto house. Maybe he longs to be back there, back where he spent many happy years with Eugene. Interestingly, despite his removal from the home nearly two decades ago, paranormal activity is still regularly reported in the old Otto home, with strange sounds, moving items, and

even reports of an apparition of a woman being experienced. Regular ghost tours still take place at the house, which is often referred to as the artist's house due to Eugene's later career as a painter. While there have been many strange reports during investigations over the years, this one is one of the more interesting ones, in my opinion. A seance that took place in the home in 1997 saw psychic suggests that the spirit of Robert was still very much active in the home, even if the doll itself might not be here. The investigation for most of the evening hadn't thrown up much in the way of evidence. That was until the group decided to head up into the attic, where Robert was kept for so many years. It reported hitting a wall. Some kind of invisible force

were stopping them from entering the attic, not the first time we have seen such an occurrence in this story, with a similar thing happening to Myrtle in her bedroom. When they finally did manage to push through the hatch, they witnessed albs of light shooting around the attic and leaving the building from all different directions. One of the psychics who was downstairs while this was happening claimed they experienced the spirit of Robert walking through them. suggesting that Robert somehow has the ability to return to the Otto home when he so chooses, although based on other reports, he may not be the only spirit that resides there.

Many have researched the history of the Otto family to try and figure out who or what may have latched itself onto Robert the Dole. But despite claims of voodoo rituals, jilted lovers, and illegitimate children, no concrete theories have ever come forward. So to this day, Robert remains in his case at the museum, terrifying and fascinating visitors in equal measure, and seemingly impacting the lives of the thousands of people who decide to test themselves against his curse.

Now that you've heard the story of Robert the Dole, it's very possible that from his home in Florida, his eyes are trained on you in some way. Many people have heard this story over the years, but every now and then, he seems to single out someone who takes an interest in him. If this ends up being you, I am very, very sorry.

Just to be safe, it might be worth asking Robert for forgiveness, as so many others have done. That's all for this entry into the tape library. As always, if you've enjoyed this episode, then please do give it a like and subscribe. Until next time. Pleasant Dreams.