IS IT A MYTH OR THE TRUTH
We've all experienced it: That eerie feeling that something or someone was watching us; that an inanimate object had, in actuality, come alive. In, many have not only experienced that feeling but have also witnessed it when viewing the famous toy – Robert The Doll.
The dates back to the early 1900's when a young boy named Eugene Robert Otto was given a one-of-a-kind handmade doll by a servant that worked for his parents in his home. Eugene,
The home where Eugene lived, now called the Artist's House, is located at 534 Eaton Street and was built between 1890 and 1898. It was here that Eugene was given Robert The Doll and was a friendship that lasted throughout his lifetime... and beyond was forged. While he seemed like an ordinary cloth doll, it wasn't long before Robert was involved in strange and somewhat terrifying events. The first hint that something out of the ordinary was happening was one night when Gene, who was only ten years old, awoke to find Robert the Doll sitting at the end of his bed staring at him. Moments later his mother was awakened by his screams for help and the sounds of furniture being overturned in her son's bedroom. Gene cried for help, begging his mother to rescue him. When she finally was able to wrench the locked door open, she saw poor Gene curled up in fear on his bed, his room in shambles, and Robert The Doll sitting at the foot of the bed.
"Robert did it," were the only words Gene could get out – the same words he would later use, many times throughout his childhood when something strange, mysterious, or destructive would happen.
Gene Otto died in 1974 and when a new owner moved into the house on Eaton Street, their ten-year-old daughter was delighted to find Robert the Doll in the attic. But her delight ended soon when she claimed that Robert was alive and that the doll wanted to hurt her. She awoke often in the middle of the night screaming in fear and told her parents that Robert had moved about in the room.
It wasn't long before Robert the Doll was given away – and today he lives in the East Martello Fort where visitors from all over the world come to see him.