The Toy

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries

Laurah Norton

Paranormalpodcast, History, True Crime, Paranormal, Mystery

4.6 • 763 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A mannequin with human hair became a doll, and lifelong companion and/or scapegoat, for an eccentric Floridian artist. The rest is (haunted? possessed?) history, and it's exactly as unsettling as you might guess. And then some. One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines. Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive Pre-order Laurah's book, LAY THEM TO REST: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/laurah-norton/lay-them-to-rest/9780306828805/ Hosted by Laurah Norton Researched by Bryan Worters and Maura Currie Written and Produced by Maura Currie Script-edited by Laurah Norton Engineered by Brandon Schexnayder Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/ Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OSTPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607 Interested in advertising on our show? Contact Glassbox Media: https://glassboxmedia.com/contact-us/ Copyright One Strange Thing Podcast LLC 2023 Scott Eyman, "The Legend of…" The Palm Beach Post, 1989. NA, "Doll with a spell," The Miami Herald, 1996. NA, "The doll who lived," Fort Lauderdale News, 1985. NA, "Artist Robert Eugene Otto," The Miami Herald, 1974. NA, "Ghost No. 3," The Palm Beach Post, 2000. Ellen Creager, "Doll is part of…" The Tampa Tribune, 2007. Jill Schensul, "In Key West, beware…" The Naples Daily News, 2014. Brad Bertelli, "A Halloween Story: Robert…" The Reporter, 2016. Shirrel Rhoades, "'M3gan' is familiar…" The Key West Citizen, 2023. NA, "Doll taking chills…" The Miami Herald, 2008. Robert the Doll's online shop

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Lauren Norton, and this is one strange thing,
0:08.5	the show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained. Now, strangers, we've described some truly unpleasant things to you over the course of this entire show,
0:32.5	and we like to think that we usually undersell them, that we couch the terrifying and some dry humor,
0:39.2	and it all comes out in the wash. We pride ourselves on having pretty strong stomachs for this
0:45.3	sort of thing. Give us your body parts preserved in jars, your weird blobs, your haunted objects,
0:52.0	and you'll mostly be met with serene Mona Lisa smiles. After all,
0:56.9	it's all in a day's work for those of us who've made this our hobby, and that's why we're
1:02.2	pleased to gather the stories from forgotten papers and bring them to you, like little journalistic
1:08.1	elves or goblins, whichever you prefer. So all this to say,
1:15.0	it's rare when we see a photograph in a newspaper archive and have a visceral reaction. But the
1:23.0	subject of today's story got us there. We exclaimed. There were expletives. There were furrowed
1:31.7	brows, double and triple takes, jaws on the floor aghast at what had appeared before us.
1:39.8	Listeners, this was our reaction to a picture of Robert the doll.
1:45.8	Robert the doll is allegedly haunted, and to see him is too well.
1:51.4	Believe that that's probably true.
1:53.9	Our previous foray into the haunted toy area was a classic baby doll,
1:59.4	and ostensibly we understand the notion that it might have
2:03.1	one time appealed to, well, someone, but we cannot understand Robert. There is simply no denying
2:12.7	the fact that Robert is put generously, very creepy.
2:18.4	And put less generously, well, he's horrifying.
2:22.6	He's one of Florida's most gloriously awful exports,
2:26.4	and his story starts around the turn of the 20th century.
	...

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