Evil ‘Chucky’ Doll Locked Up After Rock Star’s Decline, Americans Plead for Mercy

With a scarred face, tattered sailor suit and grotesque toy dog, Robert the Doll looks like a nightmare come to life.

Locked up in a Florida Museum, his shoes sit frayed around the edges, and his hands disproportionately large. 

Matted hair and ghostly skin greet anyone taking a peek, and his otherwise honorable uniform looks like it has been fading under a brutal sun – or fluorescent lighting – for decades.

But even beyond his horrifying features, many have come to believe Robert hosts a malevolent spirit, just waiting to take its next victim. 

Legend has it a spiteful maid cursed Robert with voodoo before he was given to a young boy. Robert’s terrifying reputation grew so strong that he inspired the Chucky franchise. 

Now, top psychics are issuing warnings about the 120-year-old doll’s evil powers.

Under supervision at the Fort East Martello Museum, Robert is said to curse anyone who dares to photograph him, with victims reporting injuries and sending apology letters.

Even the late rock icon Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t safe in 2020, claiming a visit to the museum left him cursed by Robert, which he said contributed to his declining health.

For medium Matt Fraser, the warning is clear: Robert isn’t merely a creepy doll, he is a vessel of ‘dark and ritualistic energy,’ and approaching him risks serious consequences.

‘Most people think hauntings begin with a place, but in reality, they often begin with an object. Dolls are powerful symbolic vessels, and when a spirit becomes attached, the object gains attention,’ Fraser exclusively told the Daily Mail.

He warned that negative entities feed on attention and grow stronger when people interact with them.

The safest approach, he said, is to keep the object secured, protected and away from the public. 

Before the doll arrived at the museum in 1994, he belonged to Robert Eugene ‘Gene’ Otto of Key West, according to the Robert the Doll organization. 

A birthday gift from Otto’s grandfather, the doll was likely a Steiff Company display – the same company that claims to have made the first teddy bear. 

Once he joined the Otto household, the doll became little Gene’ constant companion.

The boy dressed Robert in his own clothes and carried him everywhere, whispering secrets and stories to the doll as if he were alive. 

‘What people really remember is what they would probably term as an unhealthy relationship with the doll,’ Cori Convertito, curator of the museum, explained in 2020.

‘He brought it everywhere. He talked about it in the first person as if he weren’t a doll, he was Robert – as in, he is a live entity.’

Otto’s parents reportedly woke one night to their son screaming, surrounded by overturned furniture. 

Then, mutilated toys began appearing around the house, and the boy would cry, ‘Robert did it!’

‘Spirits do not suddenly jump into dolls for no reason,’ Fraser told the Daily Mail. ‘The only times I have seen this occur are when someone intentionally does something dark or ritualistic, creating an opening for lower energies.’  

As Otto grew up, he took Robert with him, installing him in a special room in the attic of his home, known as the Artist House, complete with furniture, toys and even a teddy bear of his own. 

Otto’s wife, Anne, however, was far less enthusiastic about the doll’s presence. She insisted that Robert remain locked away, fearing the eerie energy and unsettling stories that seemed to follow him. 

The doll reportedly ‘resisted’ and situated himself in a chair facing out of an upstairs window, where he could be seen by passersby.

Locals swore Robert’s gaze followed them, and visitors claimed to hear footsteps and objects moving mysteriously throughout the home.

‘I have seen rare situations where someone’s home became suddenly and intensely haunted, and they had no idea where the energy was coming from,’ Fraser said.

‘When paranormal activity appears out of nowhere, it can very often be traced back to something that was recently brought into the home. 

‘This happens more often than people realize… These objects can cause nightmares, anxiety, emotional disturbances, streaks of bad luck or unexplained hauntings.’ 

After Otto died in 1974, Myrtle Reuter bought the Artist House and became Robert’s new caretaker. 

Reuter reportedly took Robert with her when she moved in the 1980s. 

In 1994, she donated the doll to the Fort East Martello Museum, claiming he was haunted. 

Almost immediately, museum staff reported their own bizarre experiences. 

‘People often ask why these dolls are not simply destroyed,’ Fraser told Daily Mail. ‘The answer is that you cannot destroy them without harming the spirit that is bound to them. The spirit must be contained, not attacked.’

‘That is why Ed and Lorraine Warren kept certain objects secured and out of public reach. Their goal was to stop the spirit from influencing or attaching to new objects.’

His comparison to the famed Warren couple is inevitable: The paranormal experts are best known for locking up the ‘demonic’ Annabelle doll, ensuring the infamous doll could not terrorize the public. 

Annabelle has her own twisted history, from allegedly physically attacking someone to rumors of a man dying in a motorcycle crash after taunting her. 

But the chilling history didn’t stop comedian Matt Rife from purchasing the Warren’s home and Occult Museum in August, becoming the legal guardian of the doll.

Paranormal investigator Zak Bagans previously featured Robert in an episode of Deadly Possessions, where it was brought to his Las Vegas museum. 

The show centered on Robert’s alleged curse and included an interview with one of his supposed victims seeking help from Bagans. 

Still, visitors line up at the Fort East Martello Museum, sending letters to Robert – some seeking advice, and many apologizing for perceived slights and begging for forgiveness. 

Many have claimed misfortune if they ignore Robert’s rule: Always ask permission before taking a photo. 

‘He gets probably one to three letters every day,’ Convertito said in 2020. 

That was also when Robert unnerved Ozzy Osbourne, who blamed a replica for cursing his life after first encountering the doll at the Florida museum. 

‘That thing is bad luck,’ he said on Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour in 2020. ‘The guy who runs the museum told us people buy the replica dolls of Robert then send them back because things start to go bad.’

Still, Ozzy and his son Jack brought the doll home – they claimed chaos followed immediately.

‘It started as a joke,’ Jack said on the episode. ‘But then it took on a life of its own. You have to be polite with Robert – ask if you can take a picture with him, and if you disrespect him he’ll curse you.’ 

Although Ozzy had survived drug addiction and a serious quad bike accident, his health reportedly worsened after encountering Robert, including pneumonia, multiple spinal surgeries, chronic pain and a 2020 Parkinson’s diagnosis. 

‘The whole thing freaked him out and he thinks there’s something in the curse,’ Jack said on the show. ‘I’m not so sure, but I did get divorced soon afterwards.’ 

Ultimately, Ozzy hauled the Robert the Doll replica to a mine, wired it with explosives, and blasted it to pieces.