INDEPENDENT FIELD ARCHIVERobert the Doll
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Key West, Florida, USA · Key West local legend
Robert the Doll
Told, never investigated
AI illustration · imagined scene, not an evidence photograph A handmade doll in a sailor suit, 40 inches tall, made around the turn of the twentieth century and named after its owner, Robert Eugene "Gene" Otto, who as a boy is said to have blamed it for his own misbehaviour. After Otto died in 1974, tenants and visitors to his house told of footsteps in the attic and the doll moving on its own, and in 1994 Myrtle Reuter, who had bought the house, gave it to the Fort East Martello Museum, saying it was haunted. Letters still arrive at the museum addressed to the doll, apologising for disrespect or asking its forgiveness.
Earliest written source not verified
Key West Art & Historical Society, "Robert the Doll"
Tradition · not evidence