Robert the Doll: Legend, History, and Haunting with Bobbie Curtis Lee of Oddities on Elm Street

Bobbie Curtis Lee (0:01)

This is Rewind.

Harini Bhat (0:07)

Every day, letters pour into a museum on the edge of Key West, Florida, most of them are apologies. Sorry for the photo they took without asking, sorry for the joke they made, sorry for laughing, except the recipient isn't able to read. He's 40 inches tall, he weighs six pounds, he's stuffed with wood shavings, and has two black buttons for eyes.

He's been blamed for car crashes, divorces, broken bones, and worse. His name is Robert. People have been afraid of him for a very long time.

I'm Dr. Harini Bhat and this is Hidden History, a rewind original powered by PAVE Studios. On this show, we're exploring some of the most mysterious events from history that have yet to be fully explained and examining all the different theories from science to the supernatural and everything in between.

From vanished civilizations and doomsday prophecies to paranormal experiences and unexplained phenomena, I'm looking at it all and I want you to join me. Before we begin, I'd love it if you could rate, review and follow Hidden History. Your support allows our community to grow and for other people to discover the show. We're also on YouTube with full video that brings each episode to life. Just search at Hidden History Pod and subscribe. Today's episode is all about Robert the Doll. A 120-year-old toy sitting in a glass case in Key West, Florida that thousands of people believe can curse you. Was he hexed by a mistreated servant like the legend says? Did a lonely little boy pour something into him that never came back out? Or did we build this monster ourselves, one retelling at a time? I'm going to kick off spooky season by telling you all about the most famous haunted object in America, Robert the Doll. With how creepy the story is, I had to bring on Bobbie Curtis Lee from Oddities on Elm Street to talk about it.

Bobbie Curtis Lee (2:04)

Thank you so much for having me, Harini. I am so excited to dive into this.

Harini Bhat (2:09)

Bobbie, you're way braver than me. You explore all these haunted places and you did an incredible video about Robert the Doll on TikTok. I have heard that you actually live in a very historical house, possibly haunted.

Can you give us a little bit of backstory and context to this? Is this actually the case?

Bobbie Curtis Lee (2:29)

Yeah. I am the fifth generation that lives in the home that I'm at right now.

I moved back around 2020 and started documenting my journey online as the fifth generation moving in here. The home was built in the 1800s and a lot of the previous residents that lived here before my family came along, just kind of left all of their stuff in the basement and it's never really been gone through. And so I really took an interest to kind of piecing together the history of my house and my family and how all of that correlates. We found a lot of very unique and very creepy things in the house like a Ouija board in the drywall of my bedroom closet. We have found a dagger with a goat head on it buried in the dirt of the basement floor.

Harini Bhat (3:20)

So just very strange things that's just really crazy to me. So do you know the history of your house? Is there a reason why other members of your family or generations back feel like this house was haunted or that they need protection against it?

Bobbie Curtis Lee (3:35)

I mean, we have so many stories like within our family, just this crazy family lore. And like one of the biggest ones was that we had like a crazy aunt who was locked in this room in the basement and was like chained to a wall.

Harini Bhat (3:50)

Oh my God.

Bobbie Curtis Lee (3:51)

But I think that a lot of the antique items we have in the basement, piecing them together kind of gives us a little bit of a glimpse into the history behind the house. And so that's it's been interesting. It's been a journey.

Harini Bhat (4:05)

Yeah, I think interesting is one for it. It's like at the very least. Today, I'll go through the background and historical and scientific aspects first. Then, Bobbie, you'll come back to walk me through the things about Robert we just can't explain.

Bobbie Curtis Lee (4:19)

Okay, let's do it.

Harini Bhat (4:24)

When you picture Key West, you probably think of sun, sand, and lots of margaritas. But back in 1900, it was far from the tourist hotspot we know today. This was before any bridges were built to the island, so Key West was reachable only by boat, sitting closer to Havana than to Miami. The whole town smelled like tobacco and saltwater, and a beer cost a quarter. But there was still money to go around. At 534 Eaton Street, there was a brand new house, a Queen Anne Victorian with a wraparound porch and a three-story turret. The Otto family moved in during the summer of 1900, and that October, a baby boy was born in the second-floor bedroom at the back of the house, the youngest of four kids. His name was Robert Eugene Otto, but eventually, everyone called him Gene. When I tell you why later on, you won't believe it. His father, Thomas Osgood Otto, was a physician, but doctors back then treated patients whether or not they could pay, so medicine wasn't the most reliable way to get by. Like a lot of doctors at the time, Thomas made his real money as a drugist. He owned two pharmacies selling medicine, various goods, and crucially for our story, paints, oils, and artists' brushes. That's almost certainly where little Gene picked up his first paintbrush. Family journals claim he was painting before he could talk. As for Gene's mother, her name was Minnie. She was a white Bahamian whose family came to Key West when she was a little girl.