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Artist House
The Artist House in Key West, Florida gets its fame from a haunted, wooden doll named "Robert". The former owner, Robert Eugene Otto was given the doll when he was a child. Afterwards, an unusual life-long relationship developed and the doll appeared to take on a life of its own. Robert Eugene Otto gave the doll his first name of "Robert" and then started going by his middle name of "Gene" (short for Eugene). He would carry on long conversations with the doll and when strange misfortunes would occur, Gene would say, "Robert did it!". Demonic giggling could be heard from the doll and supposedly it could move about on its own, appearing in different places throughout the house without anyone having placed it there; many have witnessed the doll staring outside through one of the Turret room windows. When Gene became an adult and got married, the doll was moved into the attic. But, Robert's mischief never let up. The eerie giggling continued and during the night, the sound of footsteps could be heard in the attic.
Although the doll no longer resides in the home, some people say that spirit of the doll has returned or never left at all. If you want to visit Robert, you can go see him now at the Martello Museum in Key West.
Besides Robert, the Artist House is also supposed to be haunted by Anne Otto, Gene's wife. It is said that she resides in the Turret room. Her apparition has reportedly been seen staring out one of the windows and strange sounds have been heard, as well as unusual electrical occurrences.
On Sunday night, October 15, 2006 we
stayed in the Turret Suite at the Artist House and were lucky enough to have the
entire home to ourselves. There were no other guests that night and the
Innkeepers don't stay on the premises. So, we there entirely by ourselves.
Regardless of how many pictures and how much video footage was taken, the most interesting is the photo above. If you look just below on of the Turret room windows, you will see a glowing orb of light; this is not a street light or house light, nor is it a reflection. To the right is a close up and enhancement of the anomaly.
I did get a chance to visit Robert's old room in the attic; but, as creepy as it was, nothing unusual was captured with the camera and nothing unusual happened here. I must confess, though, I did not stay there too long.
I took numerous EMF readings throughout the house; the highest levels came from the Turret Suite--more predominantly over each bed. Even when the air conditioner, fans, and lighting were turned off the readings always seemed to measure between 2-3 milligause. I guess this could of course somehow be related to the old wiring in the house, but it is still odd how the readings were always higher over the beds rather than near the walls where one would expect.
Finally it was time to turn in. My wife stayed in the downstairs part of the Turret Suite, while I slept upstairs in the main Turret room itself. Although I did not experience anything out of the ordinary, my wife did. She told me the next morning that as she was going to sleep, she heard a whisper in her right ear say that I did not belong up there (meaning the Turret room). I'm sure, however, that it is only a coincidence that I came down with the Flu late that night.
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