When you catch your nanny practicing voodoo, a typical response might be to fire her. For Mrs. Otto, that’s precisely what she did. What she didn’t anticipate was the nanny giving her son a doll, a doll your son would come to love and cherish. A doll he would name after himself: Robert the Doll. A doll that would become the inspiration for Chucky, and the Childs Play movies.
April, 1900, The Otto family lived in a large mansion in Key West Florida. Mrs. Otto, being 4 months pregnant, needed help, and sent her husband to the Bahamas to find her four servants, including a woman to take care of the baby. The trip took longer than it should have and when Mr. Otto returned, the nanny-to-be was pregnant.
Unhappy with who the father was, Mrs. Otto locked the young Bahamian girl in an outhouse in the backyard where she was to spend the next 9 months of her life. There, she was given bread and water once per day. When her own child was born, it survived only 2 months.
The young woman, having lost her child, began to take care of Mrs. Otto’s baby, Robert Gene, as though he were her own, even breast feeding him. Things went well for the first 4 years, but then Mrs. Otto spotted the four servants, including the nanny, in the backyard on a full moon night. They were performing Santeria – a mix of Voodoo, Catholicism, and animal sacrifice. She watched until she saw the four cut the head off of a live chicken.
The following morning, she demanded they all pack their bags, ready to ship them back to the Bahamas. The nanny begged her to not separate her from Robert. But Mrs. Otto wasn’t about to change her mind. The nanny made a parting gift for Robert, a three foot tall doll, with black buttons for eyes and cloth skin.
The doll become Robert Gene Otto’s best friend and only playmate. Residents would see him walking up and down the street, talking to the doll. Being the only child, whenever anything was wrong or out of place, Robert Gene would be blamed. His mother would say, “Robert Gene Otto!” and he would stop her and say, “Don’t you ever call me that again!” He would then point at the doll and say, He is Robert, and I am Gene. Every time he was blamed for something, he would say, “I didn’t do it, Robert did it!”
One night when Gene was 10, he 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. He cried for help, but she couldn’t open the door, and when she finally did wrench it open, she found Gene, curled up on his bed, the room in shambles, and Robert the Doll, sitting at the foot of the bed. “Robert did it,” were the only words Gene could mutter.
Gene’s parents reported hearing their son upstairs talking to the doll on numerous occasions, and the boy getting a response back, in a completely different voice. They reported seeing the doll speak and watching his expression change. They would see Robert run up the stairs, or stare out the upstairs window, or even hear strange giggling.
At age 19, Gene is a man, and still walking up and down the street with Robert. At this point, the family decides to move to France. They pack up the house, leaving Robert the Doll behind, in a trunk in the attic. In France, Gene without Robert, becomes less awkward and more sociable. He meets a woman and the two get married.
As a wedding gift, Gene’s parents give the couple the house in Key West, where Gene had grown up. The couple moves and settles in, and one day, Gene goes up to the attic and comes across a trunk. Not knowing what’s inside, he is surprised to find Robert the Doll. He begins to carry the doll around and talk to it, as he had done years before.
Ann, his wife did not like Robert, or Gene talking with him, so she asked him to keep the doll upstairs, in the turret part of the house. Gene agrees, and begins spending more and more time up there. He liked the light for his art better, and of course, Robert was there.
After a few years, Gene became abusive and would sometimes beat Ann. At one point, he even locked her in the outhouse in the backyard – the same one the nanny had been locked in. She was there for three days, but Gene didn’t do it. Robert did it.
Gene Otto died in 1972, and the house was sold. The new owners moved in, and their 10 year old daughter was delighted to find Robert the Doll. That is until she claimed Robert was alive and the doll wanted to hurt her. She woke often in the middle of the nights creaming in fear, saying Robert had moved around in the room. It wasn’t long before they gave Robert away.
Robert the Doll now resides at the East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. He has been placed inside a glass case, as museum staff have found him causing mischief. If you go to visit, don’t try to take a picture of Robert without asking his permission first. Nothing good has ever come from taking a picture without permission.
So you’ve heard of Robert the Doll, and likely Annabelle too. How about Okiku?
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