Old scary dolls
Robert was most likely never intended to be sold as a toy-a Steiff historian told the museum that Robert was probably part of a set fabricated for a window display of clowns or jesters. As in he is a live entity.”Īfter some digging, the museum traced Robert’s origins to the Steiff Company, the same toy maker that first manufactured a Teddy bear in honor of Theodore Roosevelt. “He brought it everywhere, he talked about it in the first person as if he weren’t a doll, he was Robert. “What people really remember is what they would probably term as an unhealthy relationship with the doll,” says Convertito. Courtesy Key West Art & Historical Society The Steiff Company, which manufactured Robert, thinks he started life as part of a set of dolls fabricated for a window display of clowns or jesters. Otto’s relationship with the doll continued into adulthood. (Yes, the doll and the owner had the same name, but the boy answered to “Gene.”) Robert was a childhood birthday gift from Otto’s grandfather, who bought the doll during a trip to Germany. The museum still gets regular reports of evils attributed to the doll.*īefore Robert came to the museum in 1994, he was the property of Robert Eugene Otto, an eccentric artist and member of a prominent Key West family. But the comfortable new digs-complete with humidity control and UV-filtering glass to preserve the artifact-do not seemed to have reformed Robert. Robert is now 117-years-old and lives at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida, in a new display case which was recently donated by someone “who is a fan of Robert’s,” says Cori Convertito, curator of the museum. Here are some other things that people also agree is true about Robert: That he’s haunted and that he has caused car accidents, broken bones, job loss, divorce and a cornucopia of other misfortunes. Clasped in his lap he’s holding his own toy, a dog with garish, popping eyes and a too-big tongue lolling crazily out of its mouth.
He is covered in brown nicks, like scars. His nub of a nose looks like a pair of pinholes. Ostensibly a little boy in a sailor suit, his careworn face is only vaguely human.
From creepy animatronic barrels that steam and bubble to pneumatic horror devices that spook your guests with sudden blasts of air, The Horror Dome can help you take your event to the next level.Here is something that most people would agree is true about Robert the Doll: He’s terrifying.
Our spell speaking witch combines lights, animation, and voice together to add an eldritch air to your event. When incantations are in the mix, you need a proper representative to be there should the darkest of ghouls arrive. Want to add a little macabre playtime to your home? Everyone knows that creepy children are the best spine-tingling terror around, so why not include our swinging decrepit doll and swinging skeletal boy sets to your front yard swing? While a stationary prop can certainly add a degree of spook to a room, nothing gets screams like having an animatronic zombie bursting out of your front yard graveyard at passing guests. While decorations and props are certainly the first steps to creating a phantasmagorical Halloween experience, nothing says terror like breathing a little life into your event with Halloween animatronics.