I'm Lauren Norton, and this is one strange thing,

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,

and we like to think that we usually undersell them, that we couch the terrifying and some dry humor,

and it all comes out in the wash. We pride ourselves on having pretty strong stomachs for this

sort of thing. Give us your body parts preserved in jars, your weird blobs, your haunted objects,

and you'll mostly be met with serene Mona Lisa smiles. After all,

it's all in a day's work for those of us who've made this our hobby, and that's why we're

pleased to gather the stories from forgotten papers and bring them to you, like little journalistic

elves or goblins, whichever you prefer. So all this to say,

it's rare when we see a photograph in a newspaper archive and have a visceral reaction. But the

subject of today's story got us there. We exclaimed. There were expletives. There were furrowed

brows, double and triple takes, jaws on the floor aghast at what had appeared before us.

Listeners, this was our reaction to a picture of Robert the doll.

Robert the doll is allegedly haunted, and to see him is too well.

Believe that that's probably true.

Our previous foray into the haunted toy area was a classic baby doll,

and ostensibly we understand the notion that it might have

one time appealed to, well, someone, but we cannot understand Robert. There is simply no denying

the fact that Robert is put generously, very creepy.

And put less generously, well, he's horrifying.

He's one of Florida's most gloriously awful exports,

and his story starts around the turn of the 20th century.

...