Annabelle:
This doll was famous before the Conjuring series came out, thanks to the late couple Ed and Lorraine Warren. However, that movie series really shot her into the mainstream and is now famous beyond the occult community. That being said, the fictional glass doll’s real Raggedy Ann counterpart might be a little bit more terrifying. Especially given the fact that a lot of the stuff that happened in the original home was caused by a Raggedy Ann.
In 1971, a nurse named Donna had received Annabelle as a birthday gift from her mother. (Something to note is that this particular Raggedy Ann was purchased secondhand at a hobby store.) Not long after Annabelle began living with Donna and roommate Angie, weird things started to happen. The doll would be seen sitting up or appearing outside a room door after being placed in a completely different room, things like that. One of the girls’ close friends, Lou, became weary of the doll and didn’t take long to suspect that it was possessed by something evil. Donna and Angie took longer to suspect anything was off.
The roommates started finding notes written on parchment paper, which they never kept in the apartment. The notes read things like “Help us!” or “Help Lou!”
One day, when Donna came home, she found Annabelle’s hands covered in blood. To the nurse, it appeared that the blood was coming from the doll itself. This event led to Donna and Angie inviting a medium to come into their Hartford, Connecticut, home. This medium connected with the spirit living inside the doll and found out some interesting information.
The building that Donna and Angie lived on was allegedly built on grounds that contained the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle (hence the name of the doll). Annabelle was around seven years old when she passed away. When Raggedy Ann came into the apartment, the spirit decided to take up residence. The girls felt so much sadness towards this apparent tragic story and decided to try to treat the doll well. And things seemed to calm down a little bit for them.
However, there still seemed to be a big problem. Lou was treated horribly by the doll whenever he was there. It was thought that maybe she didn’t like this man for at least one potential reason. She perhaps had it out for him because she didn’t like men or because Lou saw her for what she really was - an evil entity. A friend of Donna and Angie recommended the Warrens from Monroe, Connecticut, but they didn’t contact the couple immediately. It wasn’t until Lou’s unsettling experience that they called Ed and Lorraine.
One night, Donna wasn’t home and Angie and Lou were just hanging out. There was movement from Donna’s room and Lou went to check it out. Instead of being on the bed, Annabelle had moved to the chair. Lou went towards the doll when he suddenly felt this burning sensation. When he checked out where it was coming from, he saw that he had several scratches on his chest. These marks healed incredibly fast and had completely disappeared in a few days.
This incident led to the roommates finally reaching out to Ed and Lorraine and a priest. The Warrens believed that the spirit inside the doll was actually a demon and tricked the medium (and in turn the two girls) into thinking this spirit was more or less “innocent.” The priest decided to exorcise the home and the couple took the doll with them to their museum, where she lives today.
Ed and Lorraine were worried that Annabelle would cause chaos for them, too, so they took back roads in case of an accident. However, that didn’t stop the various car troubles on the way back. Their power steering and breaks failed (though not necessarily at the same time) and at some point the car stalled. To remedy this, Ed sprinkled holy water over Annabelle, and it seemed to work. At least enough to allow them to get home. But it didn’t stop. When they got home, they would see her levitating around the house. They did try to call a different priest, but their concerns weren’t taken seriously. So they took the matters into their own hands and locked her in a glass case with the warning that reads, “DO NOT TOUCH.”
The priest who performed the apartment exorcism also had car troubles. But this time in the form of a bad accident. While he did unfortunately sustain horrible injuries, he ultimately survived the crash.
Technically this isn’t the end of her story. If anyone has been keeping up with the news, you might already know that Annabelle went on tour recently. When she stopped in New Orleans, ten inmates escaped from jail and a plantation caught fire. And her handler on the tour tragically passed away. (Though, I do have to acknowledge that it’s likely that the Raggedy Ann had nothing to do with the escapees, fire, or death. But it is hard to deny the coincidences.)
To top it off, comedian Matt Rife recently became the owner of the Warrens’ home and museum for at least five years. So who knows what other things might happen in that time.
***
Robert
While Annabelle’s story could potentially be a lot of legend, Robert seems to have an official and unofficial start. So let’s start with the legendary side of it.
It all started in the early 1900s when Robert Eugene “Gene” Otto was given a doll as a gift from one of the Ottos’ servants. The servant was allegedly well-versed in black magic and voodoo and had gifted this doll to curse the young boy for the wrongdoings the servant felt like she faced. (Other legends state that she was fired for stealing or being caught doing black magic and wanted to take revenge.) But whatever legend you look into, it seems to be agreed that strange things started to happen.
It started with Robert (the human) giving the doll his name. Which might not seem that unusual. But the boy then insisted Robert was the doll’s name and to refer to himself as Eugene or Gene, his middle name. Eventually, Gene would start talking to Robert. Again, this doesn’t seem too strange as a lot of kids have imaginary friends and talk to themselves all the time. But his mom would hear a voice talk back that seemed to be too deep for Gene to be using.
Gene also began to notice Robert moving around and wreaking havoc. At night, he would see the doll at the edge of the bed, just staring at the boy. Whenever there was a mess, Gene would say, “Robert did it.”
The whole family would hear the doll moving upstairs. The parents would hear the doll talking and reported that they saw its facial expressions change. Neighbors would even say that they could see the doll moving through the window.
Of course any family would want to get rid of such a doll so they locked Robert up in the attic and Gene seemed to go back to normal despite still going by his middle name. Years would go by and Gene would get married and move back into his family home. He found Robert the doll again and almost immediately became attached to the doll again. And yet again strange things started to happen.
As far as the more official story goes, it is a lot more tame. The doll was reportedly manufactured by German company Steiff Company. Gene’s grandfather had bought the doll on a trip in 1904 and brought it back with him to give to the boy. Robert the doll remained in the Otto home until 1994 when it was sold to the current owners.
As of 1994, Robert lives at the East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida in a glass box. Though he’s confined to this box, he still causes mischief. Employees of the museum say that they aren’t allowed to close by themselves. Robert is often seen in different positions in the morning when they’re opening up. People have reported seeing the doll move and change expressions. You also have to politely ask to take a picture with him. Visitors do tend to write to Robert, occasionally adding some candy in the letter, asking for forgiveness because they didn’t ask to take a photo or were otherwise not-so polite.
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Micah James
Fiction, true crime, tattoos, and LGBT+ are my favorite things to write about.
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19 Urban Legends to Creep You Out
999 phone charging myth. This legend originated in Britain. Supposedly, if your phone is low on battery, just dial 999 (or your own local emergency number) and hang up; your phone will then be charged. The British police have actually come out and said that this is very untrue, that it is strictly an urban legend. If your phone is really running low and about to die, just find a place to plug it in and wait a few minutes rather than calling the emergency line. Alexandria’s Genesis. This legend started to be passed off as “true” around 2005. It is a genetic mutation marked by purple eyes. Those who have it are apparently “perfect” humans. Beyond the eye color, those who have this mutation have extremely fair skin that doesn’t get sunburned, dark brown head hair but no other body hair, no menstrual cycle yet don’t suffer infertility, strong immune systems, don’t gain weight, always look five to ten years younger than their actual age, and a lifespan of 150 years. The very first person to allegedly have Alexandria’s Genesis was all the way back in 1329. The person was a woman from London named Alexandria Augustine. However, according to Snopes, the actual first occurrence and/or mention of this mutation was in Daria fanfiction from 1998. Buckley family. While the legend itself isn’t true, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. As the story goes, Susan and John Buckley had planned a Halloween prank where they would chop off the head of a dummy. However, they changed their minds and decided to behead their own mother. When the deed was done, Susan and John took a picture with their decapitated mother before disappearing. The photo that is connected to the story started off as a regular family photo of two kids with their mother. Artist Edward Allen got his hands on it and turned it into an art piece titled “Midwestern Matricide.” Cropsey. This is a classic boogeyman story that is based on real life kidnapper and child killer Andre Rand. The legend circulated mainly in the 70s and 80s in Staten Island. The story says Cropsey was an escaped mental patient who would snatch kids off the street late at night. Occasionally he is described wielding an axe or a hook hand. Death Number 999-9999. The Thai legend states that if you call this number after midnight, you are able to wish for something. But this wish does come with a hefty price: your death. It is said that plenty of people have called and met their demise while others haven’t died at all. Although, many have not been able to make the call as they are too frightened to find out if they’ll really die or not. Elevator Game. This is a popular ritual legend that originated in South Korea. You have to go to a building with at least ten floors. You press the buttons in a certain order. At some point, a woman will enter the elevator with you, but you need to pay her absolutely no attention. At the end of the first journey, you will end up in an alternate universe. To get back home, you need to press the same exact buttons, just in the opposite order. Frozen Hill People. This urban legend dates back to the 1880s in Vermont. The US was facing a pretty intense storm, and Vermont wasn’t fairing well. A farming family, like many others that winter, were really struggling. In one version of the legend, the family found a way to make some of the older and infirm members of the family go into a hibernation to help with the dwindling food supply. A man by the name of Uncle William witnessed the group drug six family members - four men and two women. When the sex were unconscious, they were dragged outside so they could freeze up. Following this process, they were then buried for the next four months. When the hibernation was complete, these family members were warmed back up, seemingly unharmed by the winter. In the Air Tonight legend. Phil Collins released a song called In The Air Tonight in January 1981. Not long after, an urban legend began to build around it. People started saying that it was about a man drowning out at sea. Allegedly, Collins didn’t help because he simply couldn’t help as he wasn’t close enough to save the man. The singer denied the legend and rumors during a BBC World Service interview, stating that he was going through a divorce during the time he was writing it. Killer in the Backseat / High Beams. A woman is driving home from work, a party, a friend’s house, or just simply being out (depending on the version of the legend you read). She is being followed by a truck that keeps flashing their high beams. When she finally arrives home, the driver lets her know that there was a man in the backseat of her car and it seemed as if he was trying to kill her. Snopes claims that it may have been inspired by a similar real life case. In 1964, an escaped murderer hid in the backseat of a car and ended up being shot by the car’s owner (a police detective). Love Rollercoaster Scream. The legend revolves around the song Love Rollercoaster by the Ohio Players. There's a scream heard around the 1:24 mark on the single version and around the 2:32 mark. People have said that it's the scream of someone who was being murdered while the tape was rolling. However, the truth is more mundane than that. It is apparently the screech of Billy Beck, much like that of Mariah Carey when she goes an octave higher. Mowing Devil of Hertfordshire. A pamphlet from 1678 details the account of a farmer who seemed to have a visit from the Devil himself. The Hertfordshire farmer refused to pay the laborer for the duty of mowing the farmer's lawn. He even claimed that he'd rather have the Devil do it. That same night, it was reported that his lawn was up in flames. The next morning, the grass seemed perfectly cut. I personally couldn't find a “real” version of the story, but it wouldn’t be hard to believe that a fire did breakout somehow on a farmer’s lawn and a legend and/or rumors to start. Niles Canyon ghost. This is a variation on the vanishing hitchhiker urban legend. It is said that a young woman died in some kind of automobile accident on February 28th (year differing by story) and is seen walking around the area she died every February 28th. Whenever a driver stops to pick her up, this girl gives them an address across a bridge. Upon reaching the start of the bridge, the hitchhiker disappears. Red Room Curse. This Japanese legend revolves around a pop up on your computer. It starts with a red pop up with a question, roughly translated to, “Do you like | ?” When you close the window, it will pop up again and again until it reads (again roughly translated), “Do you like the red room?” The most common variation of the legend says that the screen will then turn completely red. The victim will feel a mysterious presence behind them before losing consciousness. Later on, they will be found dead in their room with the walls painted red with blood. Siren Head. A Canadian artist by the name of Trevor Henderson drew up a character that people eventually have claimed to see in real life. Siren Head is described as twelve feet tall, having a skeletal frame, covered in dried mummified flesh, and has skin the color of rusted metal. Its head is in the shape of a siren, of course. It can make various sounds, both natural and man-made such as sirens, radio broadcasts, white noise, and even human voices. Snuff Films. The legend of snuff films has been around since the 1970s. Supposedly, these are videos (which are meant to be profited off of) that show real murder. Victims are lured by the “filmmaker” under false pretenses before being, well, snuffed out. The “film” is then sold to buyers. There are beheading videos and other videos where you see someone die, but these are usually shown as propaganda or the murderers own gratification rather than for profit so they can’t be classified as snuff films. I couldn’t find any evidence of actual snuff movies, though that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If they do, I do not recommend trying to find any. Mercritis. This legend originated in Mississippi. According to the legend, Mercritis is a disease that came over from Europe that ravaged the south. Men who suffered from the illness would emit an odor that, when inhaled, would cause women to go into a homicidal rage. Doveland, Wisconsin. The small town supposedly disappeared at some point in the 1990s. Although, there is not much evidence that Doveland has ever existed. That being said, there are people who claim that they have been there, even saying that they have various merchandise (shirts, mugs, etc) with ‘Doveland’ written on them. There are even some who have claimed that they had family living in the small town. Because there has been no mention of Doveland, Wisconsin before 2015 and only memories of some traveling to or through the town, it’s hard to prove that it ever actually existed. The babysitter and the man upstairs. There are many variations of this tale, but the one I’ve heard most often has been as follows: A girl, anywhere between 13 and 16, is hired to babysit two children. It is a relatively easy job as the kids are already out to bed, so the girl studies and/or watches television when the phone rings. “Have you checked the children?” the voice asked. The girl hangs up, but the phone rings again. So she calls the police and they tell her to try to keep the other person on the phone for 60 seconds so they can trace the call. As it turns out, the call was coming from inside the house. The story ends with either all three being killed or getting out safely before the person gets them. This story was turned into a movie called “When a Stranger Calls.” There was even a case where a babysitter was killed in the 1950s. Many people believe that this is where the legend began. Humans can lick too. A kid has a dog that he loves dearly, and every night the dog would sleep next to the kid’s bed and lick the boy’s hand. One night, the kid hears a dripping sound from the bathroom. He thinks it’s just the faucet but is still nervous. So he hangs his hand over the edge of his bed and feels calmer when he feels a lick. In the morning, the boy goes to the bathroom and is greeted by a horrific fright. He sees his dog hanging from the shower head with the words “Humans can lick too” written in what appears to be the dog’s own blood. The ending always varies, but the ending I grew up with was the one where the killer was never found.
By Micah Jamesabout a year ago in Horror
Comments (1)
I've heard of Annabelle but not of Robert. That was soooo creeepppyyyy! I've followed you on Instagram hehehe