Robert the Doll

Hello everyone! I hope you're having a great start to 2020. 😁

You may have watched a film or two over the years that were inspired by the particular doll I am writing about today. He was the inspiration for several films and characters, but the most famous is Chucky in Childs Play. Recently there was a series of movies made about Robert himself which started with the film called Robert in 2015. 

You may have heard some of the stories in this post before, but I am going to share what I have found with you, so I hope you enjoy. 😊

Who is Robert? Where did he come from?

Robert the Doll. Image credit: Cayobo @ Flickr

Robert stands at around 40 inches tall and is stuffed with wood wool. He wears a sailor suit that was said to have once been worn by Gene as a child and has beady black eyes. He now has his own stuffed dog toy that sits on his lap in his case at the Fort East Martello Museum.

Robert was a gift to a young boy called Robert Eugene Otto, but he went by Gene for short. Robert was an ordinary-looking doll made of out cloth, but when he arrived at their home strange things started to happen.

There are two stories about how Robert ended up the property of Gene, and the stories go as follows:

1. The spookier story of the two is that Robert was a gift to the young boy from a servant that worked for his parents. Allegedly they mistreated her pretty badly, and to get her revenge she cursed the doll using voodoo and black magic to punish them.
   
2. The realistic and less spooky version is that his grandfather got the doll as a gift for Gene when he visited Germany. It has also been proven that the doll was actually made by the Steiff Company in Germany.

So, what were the strange things that started to happen when Robert arrived?

Strange Events

"He brought it everywhere, he talked about it in the first person as if he weren't a doll, he was Robert. As in the doll is a living entity."

The strange things started happening when Gene was 10 years old. One night he woke up to find Robert sat at the end of his bed staring at him.  His mother awoke to screams from her son's bedroom and the sound of furniture being overturned.

When she managed to get inside the room she found Gene curled up on his bed absolutely petrified. His room was a mess and Robert was still sitting at the bottom of his bed.

Genes' parents also noticed that he would speak to the doll, but they would hear a different voice replying. They also reported seeing Robert's expression changing, hearing him giggle, and that they witnessed him running up the stairs.

People also said that Gene's other toys were being mutilated by Robert and that he would blame any strange behaviour on the doll. Some suspected that Gene may have been blaming his own bad behaviour on the doll.

Robert remained with Gene when his parents passed away, when he got married, and when his wife Anne moved into the house. That is when Gene decided to give Robert his own room overlooking the street.

Not long after Anne asked Gene to move Robert into the attic, but apparently, Robert was not impressed at all. Then the neighbourhood kids reported seeing Robert at the window upstairs and said that he was mocking them. Gene checked the room and discovered that he was at the window. This happened multiple times when he was meant to be in the attic.

When Gene passed away in 1974 a new family moved into the house and their daughter found Robert in the attic.

At first, she was delighted to find the doll, but that soon changed when she realised he was alive and trying to hurt her. She also recalled Robert moving around the room on his own. She started having night terrors and finding her toys mutilated, and said that on several occasions Robert tried to kill her and the family dog.  

Scared for their safety, Robert was donated to the Fort East Martello Museum in 1994, and that is where he resides to this day.

Recent Events at the Museum

Robert the Doll at Fort East Martello Museum. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Since being at the museum he has had many visitors, and allegedly Robert still scares and taunts people to this day.

He dislikes having his photo taken, and there is a notice that visitors must ask permission before they take one. Many people have reported their cameras would stop working when they tried to get a photo, and then start working as soon as they left.

In addition to cameras not working in his presence, people also believed Robert to be the cause of:

• Car accidents
• Broken bones
• Job loss
• Divorce

As a result, the museum has received thousands of letters addressed to Robert apologising for upsetting him and asking for his forgiveness. Some people have even sent in boxes of candy.

Final Thoughts

As much as I would love the first story full of magic and voodoo to be true because it would explain everything and be pretty cool, I do think the more believable of the two stories is that his grandfather bought him the doll.

However, this doesn't explain why the young girl experienced almost the exact same things as Gene did when he was a boy. Is it purely coincidence or did she hear about Robert from other people that lived in the area when she moved in? 

What are your thoughts on Robert the Doll? Do you think he is cursed or this was all created by a mischevious young boy? Please share in the comments!

Edward Theodore Gein is one of the most famous serial killers in the USA and he went by the name "The Butcher of Plainfield". He inspired many books and movies and became immortalised as the character Norman Bates in Psycho. He was also the inspiration for the following characters in horror movies:

• Leatherface - Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
• Buffalo Bill - The Silence of the Lambs. 

Attention! The content of this article or section may seem obscene or offensive to some readers.

Ed's Early Life

Ed Gein was born August 27th 1906 and was the second son of George and Augusta Gein. Gein had one older brother called Henry, and they all lived together on a farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin.

Augusta kept her sons away from outsiders, and only let them leave the farm to go to school. If Ed tried to make friends with anybody he would be punished. Ed was bullied a lot at school, and he developed a tic that made him laugh impulsively.

She was very religious and preached to the boys regularly. She would tell them about the evils of alcohol and women. She told them that all women were prostitutes except her, and when she caught Ed masturbating she scalded him with hot water. She would read the bible to them daily and would choose verses about death, murder, and divine retribution.

His father George was an alcoholic, and in 1940 he died because of his alcoholism. After their fathers' death, the two boys started to do odd jobs to help pay the bills. Ed's older brother started to question their mother, and he made it clear he wanted to date. 

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

In May 1944 Ed and his brother were working in the fields when a fire broke out. After the fire was extinguished they realised Henry was missing. They created a search party to find him, and when they did he was laying face down dead in a field. At first, it was thought he had died of heart failure because he had no burns, but after closer inspection, they noticed bruising to his head. The police suspected foul play but they had no evidence to prove it.

This left just Ed and his mother alone at the farm, but after two strokes her health deteriorated and she died in December 1945. When his mother died he was devastated and became a hermit. He boarded up all of the rooms she would use to preserve them like a shrine and lived in the kitchen and a living room. This meant those rooms were immaculate, and the rest of the house fell into squalor.

Ed's Crimes

Ed was arrested after a hardware store owner went missing called Bernice Worden. He was the last person seen with her before she disappeared. The police went to the Gein farm to make enquiries, but then decided they needed to search the property. 

When they searched the farm they found the body of Bernice decapitated and hanging upside down. Gein had shot her and mutilated her body. When they searched the rest of the property, what they saw shocked them to their core. They found the following inside the house:

• Human bones and fragments.
• A basket of skin.
• 9 masks made of skin from female heads. Some had lipstick on and had been treated with oil.
• Skulls on his bedposts.
• A belt made of female nipples.
• Bernice's head in a burlap sack.
• Bernice's' heart in a bag.
• Lips used as pulls on a window shade.
• Lampshades and bowls made of skin.
• Human skin covering chair seats.

When questioned Gein admitted that he visited graveyards and would exhume bodies. He would dig up the graves of women that looked like his mother. He also admitted to two murders, and again that he targeted women that resembled his mother. He denied all cannibalism allegations made against him. 

It was also discovered that Ed was creating a woman suit made out of human skin so that he could become his mother. He wanted to be her because of the power she had over men.

Ed's Trial

Gein was put on trial in November 1957, and he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.  He was also diagnosed with Schizophrenia and sent to a maximum security facility called the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

He was not put on trial again until he was fit to participate in his own defence. This would not be until November 1968. However, Gein was deemed insane and committed to the same hospital for the rest of his life.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Gein died on July 26th 1984 aged 77. He was buried with his parents and brother in a now unmarked grave. It did have a gravestone, but unfortunately, people would take pieces of it as a souvenir and in 2000 it was actually stolen.

Final Thoughts

I knew a little bit about Ed Gein before I researched this post, but I had no idea he had inspired so many characters in horror. Each character is inspired by different aspects of Ed and his life.

He had a very unhealthy relationship with his mother. Ed was devoted to his mother but she was a very dominating woman and would emasculate her sons regularly. When she passed away he was left alone. He had no friends and felt more comfortable around children due to his lack of social skills. 

However, this does not excuse what he did. The farm was a thing of nightmares, and what he did to the bodies at his farm is horrifying.  So much so that it affected the police officer that found the body of Bernice Worden.

What are your thoughts on Ed Gein and his crimes? Please share them in the comments! 

The tale of Sawney Bean inspired Wes Craven's 1977 horror movie The Hills Have Eyes. The Hills Have Eyes earned 25 million dollars and there have been sequels and remakes since the original was released. The movie became a franchise and there are graphic novels and merchandise available too.

So, who was Sawney Bean? Sawney Bean was the leader of a clan in Scotland. His clan was a good size and it had 45 members in total. They were active in the 16th century and were executed for the mass killing and cannibalisation of around 1000 people.

It's not known if Sawney Bean ever existed as there is no documentation to prove it, but it's a well-known story in Edinburgh and has become part of the tourism.

Attention! The content of this article or section may seem obscene or offensive to some readers.

The Tale of Sawney Bean

Alexander "Sawney" Bean was born in East Lothian, Scotland. His father was a ditch-digger and Bean tried to follow in his father's footsteps. However, he lost interest in labour and realised it wasn't for him.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

He met and fell for a woman called Agnes Douglas who had been accused of being a witch by the locals. The couple left, began robbing and cannibalised one of their victims.

On their travels, they found a cave on the coast and decided to live there. In their 25 years living in the cave, they had 8 sons, 6 daughters, 18 grandsons and 14 granddaughters. Various grandchildren were products of incestuous intercourse between the children and their parents.

To feed their growing clan they would ambush people at night to rob them, and then take the bodies back to their cave to eat them.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

The locals noticed people were disappearing and body parts were washing up on the coast. They would leave body parts to be found so the locals would blame it on a beast. This meant that they had no idea that the clan lived so close.

Several searches took place to find the person or animal responsible for the murders. They found the cave but they never searched the cave because they didn't believe anyone could live there. Some locals even believed it was a goblin-like creature. As a result, several innocent people were accused and killed, but the murders didn't stop.

They were discovered one night when they attacked a young married couple. Unfortunately for them he was skilled in combat and fought them off with a sword and pistol. His poor wife was not so lucky, and when she fell the clan attacked her.  Before they could finish off the husband a group of people from a fayre nearby appeared, and the clan had to flee.

Sawney Bean's Cave. Image credit: Mary and Angus Hogg

Now their existence was known they were hunted. 400 men with bloodhounds searched for the clan on behalf of the king. The eventually found the cave, and when they got inside they found a horrifying scene. They found human remains hung and dried, the cave reeked of decay, and there were barrels of pickled and salted body parts. They also found stolen goods which consisted of gold, silver, watches, rings and weapons. 

What Happened Then?

The ending of this chilling story has 2 versions, and it's unknown which of them is true. 

Version 1:

This version tells how the clan were captured alive, and they put up no fight. They were taken to jail in chains and executed without trial. The clan showed no remorse for what they did.

Sawney and the other males had their genitalia removed and thrown into a fire. They then had their feet and hands severed and were left to bleed to death. Sawneys last words were:

"It isn't over, it will never be over."

Agnes and the girls watched the men die before they were burnt at the stake for their crimes.

Version 2:

In this version, the cave entrance was blown in using gunpowder. This left the Bean clan to suffocate inside with no way to escape.

Final Thoughts

Cannibalism is horrific but has been around since prehistoric times. However, this does not excuse what this clan did. This tale is gruesome from beginning to end, and I have never been one to enjoy movies that involve cannibalism, such as The Hills Have Eyes.

I had never heard of this tale before, but I found it very interesting to read about! Even though there is no proof the clan actually existed.

What do you think of this tale? Do you think it could be real or is it just a myth? Please let me know in the comments!