Horror movies Real-life terror inspiration!
It was a question that instilled fear in the hearts of the pluckiest adults across the globe: “Hi, I’m Chucky! Wanna play?”
What’s even more terrifying is that Chucky, the notorious serial killer doll from the 1988 film Child’s Play, was based on a real-life toy. Legend says the haunted doll was given to a little boy called Robert Eugene Otto in 1906 by a disgruntled former servant at the family home in Key West, Florida, US. What the family didn’t know is that the maid, a young Haitian girl, happened to be well versed in the art of voodoo. Gene, as the boy was known, named his doll Robert and quickly became attached to him.
His parents thought the bond was cute until they started hearing their son talking to the doll and a scary voice responding.
Then Gene started waking in the night, screaming. His parents would find furniture knocked over and broken. “Robert did it,” Gene would cry. Just like in the movie, neighbours reported seeing a strange-looking boy walking, laughing and peering out the windows of the house when the Otto family were out.
But despite all his devilish deeds, Gene refused to get rid of his beloved doll.
When he died in 1974, a new family moved into the home and their 10-year-old daughter also took a shine to Robert.
Her parents thought nothing of it until they woke in the middle of the night to hear a bloodcurdling scream.
Their daughter claimed Robert the Doll had run across the room and tried to kill her, just like evil Chucky in the movie.
To this day, Robert continues to terrify visitors to the East Martello Museum in Key West, and he has occasionally been on tour to other museums.
While he’s locked away in a glass case, it’s said he’s tapped on the glass to scare people and, if you take a photo without his permission, he’ll curse the photographer and their family for eternity.