Dolls. Are you one of those people who thinks they’re cute? Or are you of the group that thinks they’re creepy as fuck?
Today, we’ll talk about a man who thought of them…as his children.
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Dave: Dolls.
00:00:00
Are you one of those people who think they're cute, or are you
00:00:04
of the group that thinks they're creepy as fuck?
00:00:05
Today, we'll talk about a man who thought of them as his
00:00:09
children Also.
00:00:11
Stay tuned after the main story for a surprise bonus.
00:00:14
I'm Dave Jarri, garrett.
00:00:17
Uh, garrett, where are you, garrett
00:00:42
WhBoy, I'm Dave Jari, and I'm all by myself for this one.
00:00:44
And why is that?
00:00:46
Good question?
00:00:47
I'll tell you.
00:00:48
As a lot of you know, I mentioned that shortly after
00:00:50
coming back from my vacation this summer, I received a
00:00:53
promotion at work, and with this promotion, I've been given a
00:00:56
new work schedule.
00:00:57
Now, after completing about a month's worth training on day
00:01:00
shift throughout July and August , I've been assigned to a new
00:01:04
shift that is the total opposite of the shift Garrett Casey and
00:01:07
I had been working on.
00:01:08
Now not just opposite hours, opposite days off as well.
00:01:13
So while Garrett is working, I'm off, and when I'm working,
00:01:16
garrett is off, so it makes it pretty near impossible for us to
00:01:19
schedule some time together to get into the studio.
00:01:21
So what does that mean for Criminal AF?
00:01:24
You may be wondering.
00:01:25
Nothing long-term, but it will be a little different for a time
00:01:29
.
00:01:29
Not sure what that time frame will be, but I've been told it
00:01:32
could be anywhere from a month to six months and considering
00:01:35
I'm now into month two of this new job, it's looking more
00:01:39
likely the latter.
00:01:40
But now that my training is done and I'm settling into my
00:01:43
new role and schedule, I'll be putting out some episodes for
00:01:46
the time being until we can all get back together on the same
00:01:48
schedule.
00:01:49
And we all know Garrett brings a little extra flavor to the
00:01:52
show.
00:01:53
I'll do my best to keep that same energy, though it'll never
00:01:56
be the same without my little gear bear being here.
00:01:59
So here we are with Criminal AF Presents Fast as fuck boy.
00:02:04
These episodes will just be me spewing some quick stories about
00:02:08
some random shit and things I find particularly interesting.
00:02:12
Some stories may not exactly be true crime, but it'll be
00:02:15
provoking, to say the least.
00:02:17
Now I do want to personally apologize to our faithful
00:02:19
listeners and Patreon members.
00:02:21
I know we've lost a few of you while this whole transition was
00:02:24
going on, and you know I can completely understand that.
00:02:27
Why would you want to financially support a show that
00:02:29
hasn't put out any new episodes?
00:02:30
No hard feelings, we get it.
00:02:32
We wouldn't want to do it either, you know.
00:02:34
So just know that, gary and I, we love you all the same.
00:02:37
For those that have stuck around, we fucking love you too,
00:02:41
and you are all amazing and we all owe you so much.
00:02:44
With that being said, we are going to make a slight change to
00:02:47
our Patreon to make it a little more simpler for our listeners.
00:02:50
We will now be offering only two tiers for our amazing
00:02:55
friends of the show.
00:02:56
There will be a $2 general support tier where you can
00:02:59
contribute less than a cup of coffee from donkeys a month just
00:03:02
to say thanks.
00:03:03
And then we'll have our $5 tier where you can get everything
00:03:06
associated with Criminal AF Add free episodes, bonus episodes,
00:03:10
whatever else we put out.
00:03:11
So anyone who is currently in the higher tiers can resubscribe
00:03:15
to one of the two tiers mentioned.
00:03:18
So alright, with this being Fast as fuck boy, we're just gonna
00:03:23
jump right into this fucked up story about a man from Russia
00:03:26
who took doll collecting to the extreme.
00:03:28
How extreme, dave.
00:03:29
Well, so extreme.
00:03:31
He ended up having 29 total life-size dolls in an apartment
00:03:35
he shared with his parents.
00:03:36
He had names for these dolls ages, backstories, you name it,
00:03:46
you name it.
00:03:47
So kick off your shoes, sit back, relax, get all snuggled in
00:03:48
and tell your kids the Tooth Fairy ain't bringing any money,
00:03:49
unless they go to fuck the bed, because it's time to fuck this
00:03:51
episode in the mouth.
00:03:52
So we're going to begin with a man named Anatoly Moskvin.
00:03:56
He was born in Nizhny Novgorod Say that three times fast it's
00:04:03
Russia's fifth largest city.
00:04:04
He was the only child of his parents, elvira and Yurim, and
00:04:08
he was born on September 1st 1966.
00:04:11
From a young age, it was apparent that Anatoly was, to
00:04:14
put it nicely, different.
00:04:16
He kept to himself, had trouble socializing with other children
00:04:21
and was often bullied.
00:04:22
He was also extremely intelligent, earning top grades
00:04:25
in his class, and many throughout his life considered
00:04:27
him a genius.
00:04:28
Those who have studied him believe he was and is on the
00:04:32
autism spectrum.
00:04:33
He would spend whatever money he had earned as a child and buy
00:04:37
himself books and by doing so, taught himself multiple
00:04:41
languages.
00:04:42
Around the age of eight, anatoly would experience a traumatic
00:04:45
incident that is said to have changed him and taught him that
00:04:48
the world he lived in could become very dark and cold.
00:04:50
On his way home from school, he was beaten and raped by an
00:04:54
adult male and came home covered in bruises.
00:04:56
According to Anatoly, on March 4th 1979, when he was 12, he had
00:05:02
a strange experience that significantly changed the course
00:05:05
of his life.
00:05:05
Anatoly was participating in a school project.
00:05:09
It was sort of a challenge for the students like who can
00:05:12
collect the most recycling.
00:05:13
So this led to a number of the children traveling outside the
00:05:16
comfort of their own neighborhoods, including Anatoly
00:05:18
.
00:05:19
During one such endeavor, anatoly found himself alone in a
00:05:23
neighborhood he was unfamiliar with.
00:05:24
He passed a home and went into the yard to gather up their
00:05:28
recycling when he stumbled upon a group of 13 people holding
00:05:31
candles in what appeared to be some sort of ritual.
00:05:34
In one version of the story they wore suits.
00:05:37
In another version they wore black robes.
00:05:39
As he looked closer, he saw a coffin in the center of the
00:05:43
group.
00:05:43
It was open, but he couldn't see inside from where he was
00:05:47
standing.
00:05:48
The group noticed Anatoly and he turned to run away, but one of
00:05:52
the adults grabbed him and steered him inside the house.
00:05:54
This is when he learned the group was holding a funeral for
00:05:59
11-year-old Natasha Petrova, who had died accidentally from
00:06:02
being electrocuted in her bathtub.
00:06:04
The girl's mother approached to frighten Anatoly and urged him
00:06:09
to kiss the corpse of the young girl.
00:06:10
His mother approached to frighten Anatoly and urged him
00:06:12
to kiss the corpse of the young girl, which he refused.
00:06:13
However, the mother kept insisting and eventually forced
00:06:16
his face close to Natasha's until he had no choice but to
00:06:19
kiss her forehead again and again and again.
00:06:22
By the third time he kissed her , he found that he had actually
00:06:26
enjoyed the experience, as if in a bizarre fairy tale.
00:06:30
The mother then produced two brass rings, one of which she
00:06:34
placed on Anatoly's finger and the other on Natasha's.
00:06:37
There she proclaimed now you are married.
00:06:41
He was then made to promise he would not tell anyone of this
00:06:45
ritual for 40 days, and then was sent away with coins and fruit.
00:06:50
Now there are countries that practice posthumous marriage
00:06:53
ceremonies.
00:06:54
It's known as dichrogyny.
00:06:56
Although Russia has not won, it's most commonly performed in
00:06:59
China in the form of ghost marriages, in which one or both
00:07:03
of the parties is deceased.
00:07:05
Now, how did this affect Anatoly?
00:07:07
Well, he later reported that, following this bizarre encounter
00:07:11
, natasha visited him in his dreams nightly, where she would
00:07:15
torment him and urge him to return to the cemetery in which
00:07:17
she was buried and perform black magic rituals.
00:07:20
Anatoly refused to ever return to that village and night after
00:07:24
night, for days and weeks on end , natasha would return to his
00:07:28
dreams, urging him to visit and perform black magic.
00:07:31
Eventually, anatoly did visit the cemetery again and acted out
00:07:41
the rituals as Natasha had described in his dreams.
00:07:42
The dream stopped For a while.
00:07:48
Anatoly eventually told his parents of the marriage ritual
00:07:49
and that Natasha would visit him in his dreams nightly.
00:07:51
Confused and concerned for their son, Elvira and Urim would
00:07:54
bring Anatoly to a doctor who diagnosed these reoccurring
00:07:58
dreams as being caused by puberty.
00:08:00
He was prescribed a sedative to help him sleep and sent back
00:08:03
home.
00:08:04
Not long after, the nightly visits returned, with Natasha
00:08:08
now demanding that Anatoly procure a tooth from another boy
00:08:12
and place it under his pillow.
00:08:13
She would then collect it, tooth fairy style, and attach
00:08:18
herself to the tooth's owner.
00:08:19
Somehow, anatoly managed to get another boy's tooth, did as he
00:08:24
was instructed and was finally left in peace by Natasha.
00:08:27
He still made an annual visit to her gravesite, hoping to keep
00:08:32
her spirit at rest.
00:08:33
Following this incident, anatoly developed a macabre
00:08:37
fascination or obsession with death, burial practices and
00:08:41
cemeteries that would consume him for the rest of his life.
00:08:43
He loved strolling through cemeteries, studying the
00:08:47
gravestones and enjoying the serenity studying the
00:08:49
gravestones and enjoying the serenity.
00:08:50
In fact, he coined the term necropolis, meaning expert on
00:08:55
cemeteries, to refer to himself.
00:08:58
After secondary school, anatoly enrolled in the Gorky Institute
00:09:02
of Foreign Languages, where he earned a degree in philology,
00:09:06
which is the study of languages.
00:09:08
Anatoly was a polyglot, speaking 13 different languages,
00:09:11
many of which he had taught himself.
00:09:15
As an interesting side note, this is the age late teens,
00:09:17
early to mid-twenties at which symptoms of schizophrenia, such
00:09:21
as delusions and hallucinations, usually are diagnosed.
00:09:24
Just keep that in mind.
00:09:26
Now.
00:09:27
Anatoly earned a PhD from Moscow State University, specializing
00:09:31
in Celtic history.
00:09:31
He was a linguist by profession , writing scholarly articles and
00:09:36
books, including dictionaries, and teaching languages.
00:09:38
A nerd's nerd, you could say.
00:09:40
It was around this time that he took a deeper interest in the
00:09:44
black magic and the occult and found some like-minded people
00:09:47
joining a group of Luciferians.
00:09:49
Perhaps he was influenced by the rituals he had supposedly
00:09:53
performed at Natasha's behest.
00:09:54
His beliefs would become increasingly bizarre, prompting
00:09:58
him to engage in some truly sinister activities.
00:10:02
After completing his studies at Moscow State University, anatoly
00:10:06
would work there as a lecturer, but it didn't take long for his
00:10:09
peers and students to realize his eccentric beliefs and his
00:10:12
awkward and sometimes uncomfortable demeanor.
00:10:14
He was very difficult to work with, so he was let go from the
00:10:19
university.
00:10:19
Not long after, in 2003, he began a relationship with a
00:10:23
woman named Yalia.
00:10:24
They never consummated the relationship as this was against
00:10:28
Anatoly's oath of celibacy.
00:10:30
However, they wanted a child together, but Anatoly's parents,
00:10:34
whom he still lived with, were totally against the idea.
00:10:37
Anatoly and Yalia went through the necessary steps of adoption
00:10:41
anyway and they attempted to adopt a baby girl, but because
00:10:45
of Anatoly's living situation the fact that they weren't
00:10:48
married and didn't earn enough money they were denied.
00:10:50
Obviously, the relationship fell apart shortly thereafter.
00:10:54
This is believed to be the tipping point between reality
00:10:59
and fantasy for Anatoly.
00:11:00
Since he couldn't have a child of his own, he would give
00:11:04
someone else's child another chance at life.
00:11:07
As we will soon learn, in 2005, anatoly began work with a fellow
00:11:12
academic to help write a catalog of area cemeteries.
00:11:15
Countless records were destroyed during the Cold War
00:11:18
and Anatoly had explored a total of 752 cemeteries in less than
00:11:22
three years, noting the information on the gravestones.
00:11:25
Not surprisingly, he loved this job and was as happy as a
00:11:29
proverbial pig in shit.
00:11:31
He was quoted as saying I am attracted to cemeteries like a
00:11:35
magnet.
00:11:36
He would come to know everyone's names, the dates they
00:11:41
were born and died and the cause of their deaths, all by
00:11:44
memory.
00:11:44
He didn't take any food or water with him during his long
00:11:48
hours of documenting gravestones , often opting to drink out of
00:11:51
puddles.
00:11:51
He even slept in the cemeteries , either on benches, the grass
00:11:56
or in one case, he was found by a group of gravediggers sleeping
00:11:59
in a coffin which had been scheduled to be buried.
00:12:02
He found the accommodation cozy .
00:12:05
People began noticing this strange man occupying the
00:12:10
cemeteries at all hours of the night, including by the
00:12:14
undesirables of the villages.
00:12:15
Anatoly was beaten and robbed several times while he was
00:12:20
researching these graveyards To help make ends meet while doing
00:12:25
this project, anatoly would accept per diem jobs working
00:12:28
with children as a language tutor.
00:12:30
He would help these children with any number of the 13
00:12:32
languages he was fluent in.
00:12:34
His mother, elvira, said Anatoly was happiest when
00:12:38
working with children.
00:12:38
Oddly enough, this love of children would ultimately lead
00:12:44
to his demise.
00:12:45
He began developing very macabre habits during this time.
00:12:49
Perhaps it was something he learned while practicing black
00:12:53
magic or as a Luciferian.
00:12:54
Anatoly began sleeping on the graves of children, particularly
00:13:00
the graves of young girls, and soon, he would later say, the
00:13:04
children began to talk to him.
00:13:05
They would visit him in his dreams as he slept on their
00:13:09
graves, and would only sleep on the graves of children who liked
00:13:12
him.
00:13:12
Using his knowledge of local history, he would ask these
00:13:17
children questions to decipher if they were actual spirits or
00:13:21
demonic beings acting like children.
00:13:23
And, of course, the children knew the answers to all of
00:13:27
Anatoly's questions, probably because he wanted the children
00:13:30
to be real.
00:13:31
I mean, let's face it, around 2009, strange occurrences were
00:13:36
happening around a number of these cemeteries.
00:13:38
Some visitors noticed that the graves of their loved ones had
00:13:41
been tampered with, some appeared as though the soil had
00:13:44
been disturbed, while others found letters or cards placed on
00:13:48
the graves.
00:13:48
One night in 2011, police patrolling a cemetery noticed a
00:13:53
man who appeared to be painting a gravestone.
00:13:55
They asked for his identification and found that he
00:14:00
was none other than 43-year-old necropolis extraordinaire
00:14:04
Anatoly Muskin.
00:14:05
For one reason or another, anatoly agreed to take police
00:14:10
back to the apartment he shared with his parents, and what the
00:14:13
officers found would shock and horrify them.
00:14:17
Before even entering the apartment, the police were
00:14:20
assaulted by the sickening smell of human decay.
00:14:22
Once inside, they found that every surface of the small
00:14:26
apartment was covered with clothes, newspapers, anatoly's
00:14:30
collection of 60 books and, most disturbingly, numerous
00:14:35
life-sized dolls, all female.
00:14:39
The dolls ranged from toddler size to adult size and were
00:14:43
clothed in a variety of outfits bonnets, dresses, boots, jackets
00:14:47
, hats and scarves.
00:14:48
Some appeared to be wearing makeup.
00:14:51
They were everywhere perched on the furniture, sitting on the
00:14:56
floor or lying randomly about.
00:14:58
When Anatoly's parents, who appeared to be oblivious to the
00:15:02
smell, were asked about the dolls, they replied that their
00:15:05
son always had an interest in lifelike dolls.
00:15:07
We knew it was a hobby to make big dolls, said his mother.
00:15:10
When one officer moved a doll, he heard music and discovered
00:15:16
that Anatoly had placed a music box inside of it and placed a
00:15:20
music box inside of it At the same time, police came to the
00:15:23
realization that these were not dolls but mummified human
00:15:30
remains.
00:15:32
At the police station, anatoly spoke freely.
00:15:33
He said that he had been robbing the graves of newly
00:15:35
deceased females since 2003, when he got the idea to adopt
00:15:39
them as his own when his own adoption application was denied,
00:15:44
he said that he would go to the cemetery in the middle of the
00:15:46
night where he would dig up the freshly interred corpse and
00:15:55
begin the preservation or mummification process.
00:15:58
First, he wrapped them in a mixture of salt and baking soda,
00:15:59
then stuffed rags inside of them and wrapped nylon tights
00:16:02
around their heads and legs.
00:16:02
For their face, he took the plastic or porcelain from an
00:16:05
actual doll face and fit it carefully over their skull.
00:16:08
Eyes consisted of paint or buttons, because the girls had
00:16:13
to be able to see, so that they could watch cartoons with
00:16:16
Anatoly.
00:16:17
He made sure to record their vital statistics from the
00:16:20
headstones so that he could celebrate their birthdays, at
00:16:24
which they would be presented with gifts.
00:16:25
He talked to his girls in their own language.
00:16:29
There was a total of 26 bodies in the apartment, with an
00:16:35
additional three bodies in the garage, those who had somehow
00:16:38
fallen out of favor with their creator, like.
00:16:42
Had they misbehaved?
00:16:43
Did they stink too much Like?
00:16:45
Why were they in the garage?
00:16:46
Now, the human dolls.
00:16:49
They ranged in age from 3 to 25 .
00:16:51
The oldest one in terms of seniority had been with Anatoly
00:16:55
for 9 years.
00:16:58
Not surprisingly, news of the ghoulish professor and his
00:17:01
macabre menagerie of human dolls spread quickly.
00:17:03
Anatoly was given the nickname the Lord of the Mummies and was
00:17:08
charged with 44 separate criminal counts, including
00:17:11
desecration of graves.
00:17:12
In 2012, he was given a psychiatric evaluation and found
00:17:17
to be unfit to stand trial, having been diagnosed with
00:17:20
paranoid schizophrenia.
00:17:21
He has been in a psychiatric facility since that time and, as
00:17:26
of last report, was not considered well enough to be
00:17:29
released.
00:17:29
So you're probably wondering what the fuck is wrong with this
00:17:35
guy Now.
00:17:36
Anatoly was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is defined
00:17:39
as a serious mental illness marked by being out of touch
00:17:42
with reality.
00:17:43
Although it can't be cured, it can be regulated with medication
00:17:46
.
00:17:46
Now, looking at his history, we can see that Anatoly exhibited
00:17:50
many signs of schizophrenia, and it's interesting to note that
00:17:53
nobody has been able to verify the existence of Natasha Petrova
00:17:57
, let alone the events of her funeral.
00:17:59
Was this all a delusion, a figment of Anatoly's imagination
00:18:04
?
00:18:04
Probably, never know.
00:18:05
He reported that he only unearthed bodies who told him
00:18:10
that they wanted to be rescued and live with him.
00:18:12
He laid on the ground above their specific grave and if he
00:18:16
heard a voice saying that they wanted to come out, he would
00:18:18
oblige.
00:18:19
Auditory hallucinations or magical thinking.
00:18:23
Again, no way to know.
00:18:25
The reason he was not punished by law is that his mental
00:18:29
disease or defect made him unable to appreciate the
00:18:31
wrongfulness of his acts.
00:18:32
He said that while he was aware that grave robbing was illegal,
00:18:35
he felt the need to rescue the girls from their graves was more
00:18:39
important.
00:18:39
He stated that he meant to keep them until he could figure out
00:18:43
a way to reanimate them, either through magic or science.
00:18:46
In court, he expressed no remorse, telling the girls'
00:18:51
families you put them in the ground, I brought them home and
00:18:56
warmed them up.
00:19:00
So what are your thoughts on Anatoly and his dolls?
00:19:02
Do you think he was out of touch with reality?
00:19:03
Can you imagine his parents sharing an apartment with a
00:19:06
bunch of decomposing humans and remaining clueless?
00:19:09
Or did they choose plausible deniability, like they knew, but
00:19:14
they pretended not to know?
00:19:15
You know, I don't know.
00:19:16
If my kids brought home death and I smelt it, I would 100%.
00:19:22
No, you know, I'd be like what the fuck is that?
00:19:25
So leave us a comment about your thoughts regarding the
00:19:28
story on our social media or on Spotify.
00:19:30
All comments are welcome, even the ones that call us douchebags
00:19:33
, because, hey, algorithms work the same, it doesn't care if
00:19:36
it's good or bad.
00:19:37
A comment is a comment.
00:19:38
It shows that there's discussion happening, so let's
00:19:41
hear them Now is a comment.
00:19:42
It shows that there's discussion happening, so let's
00:19:43
hear them Now.
00:19:43
Shout out goes to Debbie from True Crime University for
00:19:45
writing and sharing this story with me.
00:19:46
She knows how insanely hectic it's been, so I can't express my
00:19:50
gratitude enough Now.
00:19:52
I promised a bonus to this episode and since we're on the
00:19:55
topic of dolls and it's nearly Halloween, let's talk about
00:19:59
arguably the most haunted doll on the planet.
00:20:02
No, we're not talking about Annabelle, although she is a
00:20:05
fucking freak of a doll.
00:20:06
We're here to talk about Robert .
00:20:12
Now, a good part of this story comes from the website
00:20:14
GhostsandGravestonescom, with some added tidbits sprinkled in,
00:20:17
so go check out that site and many more regarding Robert the
00:20:19
doll.
00:20:20
Now, the story of Robert goes like this In the early 1900s,
00:20:25
when a young boy named Eugene, robert Otto, was given a
00:20:28
one-of-a-kind handmade doll by a servant that worked for his
00:20:30
parents in his home, eugene, who everyone called Robert, also
00:20:35
named the doll Robert and told everyone now my name is Gene,
00:20:40
I'm Gene, the doll is Robert.
00:20:46
Now, gene and Robert quickly became attached and were now
00:20:47
best of friends.
00:20:48
The home where Eugene lived, now called the Artist's House,
00:20:50
is located at 534 Easton Street.
00:20:53
It was built between 1890 and 1898.
00:20:56
It was here that Gene was given Robert the doll and where a
00:21:00
friendship that lasted throughout his lifetime and
00:21:03
beyond was forged.
00:21:05
While he seemed like an ordinary cloth doll, it wasn't long
00:21:13
before Robert was involved in strange and somewhat terrifying
00:21:14
events.
00:21:14
The first hint that something out of the ordinary was
00:21:16
happening was one night when Gene, who was only ten years old
00:21:18
at the time, awoke to find Robert the doll sitting at the
00:21:21
end of his bed staring at him.
00:21:23
Moments later his mother was awakened by his screams for help
00:21:26
and the sounds of furniture being overturned in her son's
00:21:30
bedroom.
00:21:30
Jean cried for help, begging his mother to rescue him.
00:21:34
When she finally was able to wrench the locked door open, she
00:21:38
saw a poor Jean curled up in fear on his bed, his room in
00:21:41
shambles and Robert the doll sitting at the foot of the bed.
00:21:44
Nobody knows for sure why or how this child's plaything could
00:21:49
actually wreak havoc on a child's bedroom or do anything
00:21:52
at all.
00:21:52
After all, it's just a toy right.
00:21:54
But the weird and inexplicable didn't stop at that one
00:21:59
occurrence.
00:21:59
Gene's parents would often hear their son upstairs talking to
00:22:03
the doll and then hear a response back in a totally
00:22:06
different voice.
00:22:06
They reported seeing the doll speak and witnessing his
00:22:11
expression change, giggling, and sightings of Robert running up
00:22:15
the steps or staring out the upstairs window were also
00:22:18
reported.
00:22:20
Now Robert continued to live with Jean throughout his
00:22:22
lifetime and after Gene's parents died he moved back into
00:22:26
their home with his wife, anne.
00:22:28
Gene decided that the doll needed a room of his own and
00:22:32
placed him in the upstairs room that had a window overlooking
00:22:35
the street.
00:22:35
Now Anne, you know, she felt uneasy with Robert in the house
00:22:39
and, although she couldn't put her finger on it, she wanted
00:22:42
Gene to lock the doll up in the attic where he could do no harm.
00:22:45
Now Gene conceded and, as one could imagine, robert the doll
00:22:50
was not happy with his new living arrangements.
00:22:52
Soon visitors to the home heard footsteps in the attic, the
00:22:57
sounds of someone pacing back and forth and devilish giggling.
00:23:00
Neighborhood children reported seeing Robert watching them from
00:23:04
the window in the upstairs bedroom and told accounts of the
00:23:07
doll actually mocking them as they walked to school.
00:23:09
When Gene heard this, he immediately went to investigate,
00:23:13
knowing that he had locked Robert in the attic and there
00:23:16
was no way he could be sitting by the window of the upstairs
00:23:18
bedroom.
00:23:19
But to his complete shock, when he opened the door to the
00:23:23
bedroom, there was Robert sitting in a rocking chair by
00:23:26
the window.
00:23:27
Gene locked Robert back up in the attic several times, each
00:23:31
time discovering him again sitting by the window in the
00:23:33
same upstairs bedroom Now Gene Otto.
00:23:36
He died in 1974, and when a new owner moved into the house on
00:23:40
Eaton Street, their 10-year-old daughter was delighted to find
00:23:44
Robert the doll in the attic.
00:23:45
But her delight soon ended when she claimed that Robert was
00:23:49
alive and that the doll wanted to hurt her.
00:23:50
She awoke, often in the middle of the night, screaming in fear,
00:23:54
and told her parents that Robert had moved about in the
00:23:57
room.
00:23:58
Solaris Hale's newspaper reporter, malcolm Ross, visited
00:24:02
Robert at the artist's house and had a very eerie experience
00:24:05
with the doll.
00:24:06
When Malcolm and a friend entered the room with the doll,
00:24:10
robert's face had an expression of concern, as if to ask who are
00:24:14
these people and why are they here Now?
00:24:17
The friend told Malcolm Robert's backstory and pointed
00:24:20
out the children's furniture that had been purchased by Jean.
00:24:22
It was at this moment that Malcolm noticed a change in the
00:24:26
doll's expression, as if he was following the conversation.
00:24:29
One of the men in the room made a comment about what an old
00:24:32
fool Gene Otto must have been to build all this furniture for a
00:24:35
doll.
00:24:35
Again, robert's expression changed, this time to one of
00:24:41
anger, as Malcolm later stated there was some kind of
00:24:46
intelligence there.
00:24:47
The doll was listening to us.
00:24:52
Now Myrtle Reuter, the woman who bought the artist's house after
00:24:55
Gene Otto had passed, kept Robert for 20 years, even taking
00:24:58
him to her next home in 1980.
00:25:01
But she grew tired of his antics.
00:25:04
She donated Robert to the Fort East Martello Museum in 1994,
00:25:14
and Myrtle died a few months after donating him.
00:25:15
But Robert still continues on to this day.
00:25:16
Many believe that the origin of Robert's evil lies in the one
00:25:19
who originally gave him to Gene Otto, the servant who worked for
00:25:22
Gene's parents.
00:25:23
This woman was supposedly mistreated by her bosses and to
00:25:27
punish them, it is believed that she cursed the doll with voodoo
00:25:30
and black magic.
00:25:30
That might explain the many mysterious and frightening
00:25:34
experiences people have had with Robert the doll, but if so,
00:25:40
wouldn't the haunting end when the owners died?
00:25:41
Nobody really knows for sure.
00:25:42
But one thing remains Robert Dadaal continues to taunt and
00:25:47
scare those who come to view him , especially guests at a Fort
00:25:50
East Martello museum who attempt to take his photo without
00:25:53
express permission.
00:25:55
Many have reported their cameras becoming inoperable when they
00:25:58
try to take a picture of Robert, only to begin working again
00:26:02
when they left the museum, and others experienced life-altering
00:26:04
hardships after leaving Robert de Dahl, like divorces, loss of
00:26:13
employment and even deaths.
00:26:14
This led to people writing letters or returning to the
00:26:16
museum to ask for Robert's forgiveness for taking his
00:26:17
picture without his consent.
00:26:18
Now this is an actual real thing.
00:26:20
People really write letters to this Robert de Dahl, and one
00:26:24
such letter reads Dear Robert, I just want to apologize for
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taking a photo of you before I ask permission.
00:26:29
I must not have heard the instructions correctly before I
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photographed you.
00:26:34
Since our meeting, I've suffered a series of heartbreaking
00:26:37
misfortune.
00:26:37
Please forgive me Again.
00:26:40
Please accept my sincere apologies and, if you see fit to
00:26:43
forgive and end the bad luck, I would appreciate it, as would
00:26:46
my family.
00:26:46
Thank you, your friend and admirer, james.
00:26:49
Now Robert the doll still sits inside a glass case and you can
00:26:54
still see him today, but the glass doesn't seem to stop him
00:26:58
from inflicting fear and discomfort to museum staff and
00:27:01
visitors.
00:27:01
So be warned if you do go to visit Robert at the Fort East
00:27:05
Motel Museum, please afford Robert the respect he requires
00:27:09
and ask him for permission to take his photo.
00:27:11
You could be in for some very hard times if you don't.
00:27:17
All right, that'll do it for the Puppeteer by Criminal AF Fast
00:27:20
as fuck, boy.
00:27:21
Let us all know what you thought of this episode.
00:27:24
Comment on Good Paws or Spotify , or leave a review on Apple
00:27:27
Podcasts.
00:27:27
Thank you all for hanging out with me.
00:27:29
Head on over to criminalasfuckcom to ask us
00:27:32
anything you'd like via our mail call tab, or if you'd like us
00:27:35
to give our shitty advice on any situation that's plaguing you.
00:27:37
Well, you know, hit us up on the Dear Deucebags tab.
00:27:39
Signing off from Studio Chloroform.
00:27:42
Keep your head on a swivel and stay safe till next time.
00:27:45
See ya Now.
00:27:48
Give me our theme music.
00:27:49
Thank you, bye.