EVER WALK ALONG A BEACH AND LOOK FOR SHELLS??? WELL WHAT IF YOU COULD WALK ALONG A BEACH AND LOOK FOR GRAVES????

Have you ever heard about bodies being buried on a beach???? I know!!!!!  Me neither!!!!  But guess what Key West have one.  We were on this little trolley that was taking us out to the Museum where Robert the Doll was and along the way we pasted this beautiful beach and the tour guide kinda said in a nonchalant way... and over there on that beach underneath the sand is several graves!!!!  WAIT!!!!!!!!! WAIT WHAT????????????? I'm like STOP this trolley!!!!!!!!!!   I have to check this out!!!!!!!!!  But as you can see from the pictures all we did was drive by.

Anyway, here is what I found out about this beach.  Also, here is a link that gives much more detail of  the cemetery and how it came to be and how it is today.

 http://www.academia.edu/4349925/Cemeteries_at_South_Beach_Key_West_Florida

There's nothing but sand there today, but 140 years ago, nearly 300 Africans were buried on what is now Higgs Beach, victims of slavery, the "cruel trade in human misery."

It was 1858, and U.S. warships had been ordered to enforce the anti-slave trade laws.

Five ships patrolled the Florida Straits, where slave merchants for the tobacco and sugar fields of Cuba and Puerto Rico maintained a vigorous commerce for human cargo with several African coastal states and principalities, including the king of the African state of Dahomey.

At least 3,119 African men, women and children headed for Cuban ports were intercepted by Navy ships in 1860 alone. Most were eventually returned to Liberia, a country peopled largely by recaptured Africans, said Tom Hambright, historian at the Monroe County Library.

But not all were returned to Africa.

In 1860, three slavers, as the ships were called, were captured with 1,400 Africans, who sang, cheered and clapped their hands when the Navy freed them and brought them to Key West.

While most would sail back to Africa 80 days later, 294 of them would not, never realizing that Key West, their new land of liberation, would be the last place they would ever see.

They all would die of typhoid fever and dysentery and lie buried, unnamed, in an unnamed cemetery that became a public beach.

The few historical references to the old burial ground have been gleaned by Gail Swanson, a 20-year resident of Grassy Key.

She gave a brief talk on the buried slaves Saturday as part of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum and Key West Maritime Historical Society's first Florida Keys Maritime History Conference.

Her research as a writer of historical wrecks is what first sparked her interest into the wreck and capture of slave ships off the Keys.

She plans to ask the county, which owns Higgs Beach, to remember the sacrifice of the 294 buried Africans with an eight-foot polished black stone in the shape of Africa, shaded by a garden of African flowering trees.

The Wildfire was one of the clippers running slaves that ended up in Key West waters. Built in Philadelphia in 1855, it sailed from New York on Dec. 16, 1859, with an American crew, made a run to St. Thomas, then sailed for the Congo River, said a Boston Post article on May 15, 1860.

The captain of the USS Mohawk wrote a letter June 8, 1860, after capturing the Wildfire, and described what he saw:

"The Negroes are packed below in as dense a mass as it is possible for human beings to be crowded; the space allotted them being in general about four feet high between decks with little ventilation.

"These unfortunate people...pass their days, nights amidst the most horribly offensive odors of which the mind can conceive under the scorching heat of the tropical sun, without room enough for sleep; with scarcely space to die in. The passage to the West Indies varies from 40 to 60 day...and their sufferings are incredible."

As to what the people faced when they arrived in the Key West of 1860, a town of 3,000, Swanson provided a quote from the Congressional Globe:

"Both on account of a deficiency of water and provisions, and its exposure to the yellow fever, Key West is one of the worst spots for an African Negro depot, which could be found on the coast of the U.S."

A more stark realization of the ultimate ending for the 294 was discovered by Swanson at the Islamorada library.

A copy of a receipt dated Key West, Sept. 11, 1860 bears mute testimony.

The receipt was "for making coffins and burying 294 deceased African Negroes from the cargoes of the barques, Wildfire, William and Name Unknown by order of F.J. Moreno, U.S. marshal, at $5.50 each, for a total of $1,617 and signed by Daniel Davis."

George Born, archeological historian for the Historic Florida Keys Foundation, confirmed that the Higgs Beach site was also the original Key West Cemetery.

But after the 1846 hurricane washed it away (some bodies were found in trees), what did not get destroyed was moved to the present city cemetery.

Further confirmation of the location came from writer John Viele, of Cudjoe Key, who found a map of Key West, dated 1861, which shows a site labeled "African Cemetery" near where Higgs Beach is now.

ROBERT THE DOLL-DON'T TEST HIS RULES AND NOT ASK PERMISSION TO TAKE HIS PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Within a couple of weeks of returning home it started with my kitten suddenly dying, my bank account being fraudulently used twice, losing a substantial amount of money, having my bird die, my son falling and fracturing his skull, the hotel we stayed at on vacation set on fire, lost my job and now on the verge of being laid off of my new job, being forced out of my home, and my husband and I have separated".(Letter sent to museum)

"There was constant noise coming from the room.  Sometimes, it was like little kids laughing and other times like someone rummaging around.  When it first started happening we would go upstairs to check it out, but always found nothing.  It was only after a half dozen times that we realized that the doll had moved.  At first we blamed each other and laughed it off as a practical joke.  Sometimes the doll's head would be looking in a different direction, other time's its arms were propped up around the chair, and once its legs were even crossed.  It started happening with greater frequency and we realized this was no joke." (previous renter of The Artist House)

Standing 40.25 inches, wearing a faded white sailor jacket with light blue and bright red markings, black eyes like endless black tunnels, and an almost expressionless face.  His blonde and brown hair barely visible from underneath the little sailor hat that Robert wears so proudly.  His face is like no other I have ever seen.  His face made of tattered cloth that hides SOMETHING......SOMETHING.......... VERY AWARE that you're there!!!!

Seemly innocent, Robert sits quietly on a rocking chair with the most unlikely friend......a small stuffed lion that sits on Robert's lap watching your every move.....as if to warn........."NOT TO CLOSE"!!!!!!!

Robert sits quietly in a room alone with nothing but an old hearse to look at directly in front of him.  Encased by walls of very thick glass, with dim spotlights shinning down on him causing reflections of himself  from every angle.  The walls are lined with letters from visitors that are BEGGING for Robert's forgiveness and ask that he PLEASE lift any curse or negative energy he may have bestowed on them.

Can this doll they call Robert REALLY have such power?  Can he really place curses on visitors for simply not asking permission to take his photo???  Do you tempt fate???  Take his picture without asking and not saying "thank you"?????  BEFORE you say this isn't real.....and you'll do whatever you like...............take a moment...........read the letters on the wall that surround this mysterious, one-of-a-kind doll.  If not, I may be reading your letter..... NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So how does such an innocent, unseemly doll get to be known as one of the MOST HAUNTED DOLLS IN THE WORLD????

Lets start from the beginning.

There are a couple stories as to how Robert came to belong to Robert Gene Otto.  First, let me just clear this up, Robert Gene Otto GAVE the doll his first name...Robert and then he started going by his middle name Gene. 

Story 1- One of the Otto's Bahamian servant's that practiced black magic and voodoo felt that they were being mistreated by the family and gave a "cursed doll" to young Robert to get even with them.

Story 2-Which probably is closest to the truth, was that Robert's grandfather gave the doll to him as a birthday gift after a trip to Germany.  Now both stories seem to have some "truth" and facts that seem to support both, but I think probably Story 2 has the most historical records to back up this claim.

Growing up Gene would talk to Robert as if he were a real person.  Often, when Gene would get in trouble, he would say "I didn't do it, Robert did it!".  His sister recalls Gene waking up several times in the middle of the night, screaming in fear...and when Gene's parents would enter the room...it would be torn apart....like furniture turned upside down and the doll would be on top of Gene and Gene would be screaming "he's choking me...he's choking me"!!!!!!!!!!!!  Many of Gene's friends would describe Gene and Robert's relationship...at best "an unhealthy relationship."

Gene went on to become a well known artist in Key West and eventually married a delightful woman who would not be "to fond" of Robert.  When she and Gene returned home to Key West after traveling on behalf of both of their careers, she and Gene would settle in the family home that had been handed down to Gene.......one little problem...... she learned that Gene had a special room built JUST FOR ROBERT in the attic complete with children's furniture for Robert.  He had saved several of his childhood cloths just for Robert.  This was a problem for his wife but she just accepted as part of "Gene's past".

Otto died in 1974 and the house was purchased by Myrtle Reuter which would become Robert's caretaker  for the next 20 years.  She claimed that Robert's face would change if someone came in the home and badmouthed Otto.  She said he would move around on his own.  She would constantly hear laughter and footsteps coming from the upstairs attic where Robert would stay.  After 20 years, she donated Robert to the East Martello Museum.  After Robert's arrival, of course, the museum started reporting unusual activity with Robert moving on his own.

The museum reports 3-4 letters a day to Robert asking for his forgiveness and to remove any curses he may have placed on them.  The museum states that if you are going to take a picture of Robert you must ask his permission first and say thank you when finished.

Now, I took tons of pictures of Robert and video to.  Do you think I asked permission?????

I can tell you this, I have heard about Robert the Doll for most of my adult life and have always wondered about him, but when we went on a cruise to Key West last month for my boyfriends birthday.....there was only ONE THING I WANTED TO DO......yep...you guessed it....SEE ROBERT!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, after seeing Robert here is my most honest opinion I can give. I am completely infatuated with him!  There is something soooo creepy about him.....but at the same time sooooo mesmerizing  that you can't help but stare and want to be a part of his world. So, I could NOT stand it any longer.....I HAD TO HAVE ROBERT.....I WANTED TO OWN HIM.................so that is EXACTLY WHAT I DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought Robert the Doll!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok...This is just a replica of Robert of course.

I didn't buy the REAL Robert the Doll, he is still in

his home in Key West.  But this was the next best thing. lol

Welcome to the family Robert.  Meet your sisters.

On the ride home.

This is a MUST SEE if you are ever in Key West and don't forget your manners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   

CAPTAIN TONY'S IN KEY WEST OFFERS MORE THAN JUST DRINKS...HOW ABOUT SOME DEAD PEOLE TO GO WITH YOUR MARGARITA!

 

So we just got back from vacation and we went to the coooolest place!!!!! You know sometimes you just run across a place that "totally was made for you"!!!!  Well, guess what???  Captain's Tony's you can have a drink and walk around and see tombstones below your feet or have a seat under a "hanging tree"!!!  Man....now that's cooooollllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josie Russell opened Sloppy Joe’s on Greene Street in the 1930s, and in 1938 when the rent was raised by a dollar a week, the bar moved to its more famous location on Duvall. The building that was once Hemingway’s watering hole went through several incarnations before finally being purchased by Captain Tony Tarracino and Captain Tony’s saloon was born.

The building itself has a long and macabre history, stretching back to the 1850s. Visitors will notice that inside the bar is a large tree that the bar is built around. Now a delightful natural centerpiece, in the 1800s it was used as the town hanging tree. At least 75 people were hung here for piracy.
In its storied past, the building saw time as a morgue, a bordello, a telegraph office, a speakeasy and a cigar factory. During refurbishing work in the 1980s, the floor boards were taken up to reveal the bones of between 15-18 people. Among them, a gravestone for a young woman named Elvira Edmunds was discovered. Miss Edmunds left the world in 1822 at the tender age of 21, her tomb marker now sits beside the pool table for eternity, or at least presumably until the bar changes hands again.
Another gravestone in the bar underneath the old hanging tree belongs to Reba I. Sawyer, a Key West native who lived from 1900 to 1950. Upon her death, her husband found scandalous letters between his wife and another man. The letters detailed their trysts, and how they would arrange to meet at Captain Tony’s Saloon. The widowed husband dragged his cheating partner’s tombstone from the cemetery into the bar, placed it under the tree, and supposedly said “this is where she wanted to be, so this is where she will stay”.

 Can you find what I "left behind" in the
Picture above??????

  

 I LOVED Key West and can't wait to go back and stay like a week!!!  The whole town is vey haunted so a great place for people like us....ghost hunters to be!

ROBERT THE DOLL-ONE OF THE MOST TERRIFYING DOLLS IN THE WORLD!!!

 Behind the World’s Most Terrifying Haunted Doll

5Robert the Doll, in close up. (Photo:

There is something soooo fascinating about this doll to me!  I am extremely drawn to all the stories about this doll...Robert.  So to make it even MORE exciting...we are headed to Key West in June and can you guess where the first place I will be visiting?????  If any of you have SEEN ROBERT the doll, I would LOVE to hear what you thought about him???Anything creepy happen???  The one thing I do know about Robert is that many feel he is responsible for many car accidents, broken bones, job loss, divorce and other misfortunes.  Why is that??? Because Robert is haunted...and to so many people...TERRIFYING!!!! Here IS THE STORY ABOUT ROBERT THE DOLL.

Story written by Andy White.  Robert is 111-years-old and lives at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. Before that he was the property of Robert Eugene Otto, an eccentric artist and member of a prominent Key West family. (Yes, the doll and the owner had the same name, but the boy answered to “Gene”.) Robert was a childhood birthday gift from Otto’s grandfather, who bought the doll during a trip to Germany. Otto’s relationship with the doll continued into adulthood. 

Haunted, right? (Photo: Courtesy Key West Art & Historical Society)

“What people really remember is what they would probably term as an unhealthy relationship with the doll,” says Cori Convertito, curator of the museum and Robert’s caretaker. “He brought it everywhere, he talked about it in the first person as if he weren’t a doll, he was Robert. As in he is a live entity.” 

After some digging, the museum traced Robert’s origins to the Steiff Company, the same toy maker that first manufactured a Teddy bear in honor of Theodore Roosevelt. Robert was most likely never intended to be sold as a toy—a Steiff historian told the museum that Robert was probably part of a set fabricated for a window display of clowns or jesters. 

“Which is kind of adorable,” says Convertito, “Especially with his impish behavior it kind of suits his personality really well.”

Robert’s little sailor suit was not supplied by the company; it was probably an outfit that Otto himself wore as a child.

More Robert. (Photo: Courtesy Key West Art & Historical Society)

According to legend, young Otto began to blame mishaps on the doll. While this could have been laughed off as childish storytelling, adults also started noticing odd occurrences, especially as Otto and Robert grew older. As an adult, Otto lived in a stately home he called “The Artist House”, where Robert could be seen positioned at the upstairs window. Schoolchildren swore that he would appear and reappear, and they avoided the house. Myrtle Reuter purchased the Artist House after Otto’s death in 1974, and also became Robert’s new caretaker. Visitors swore they heard footsteps in the attic and giggling. Some claimed Robert’s expression changed when anyone badmouthed Otto in his presence. Rueter said Robert would move around the house on his own, and after twenty years of antics, she donated him to the museum in 1994.

But far from banishing Robert to obscurity, his arrival at the museum marked a turning point for the doll.

Since Robert arrived, visitors have flocked to the museum to get a look at the mischievous toy. He has appeared on TV shows, he has had his aura photographed, he is a stop on a ghost tour, and he’s inspired a horror movie. He has a Wikipediaentry and social mediaaccounts. Fans can buy Robert replicas, books, coasters and t-shirts. And they can—and do—write to him.

“He gets probably one to three letters every day,” says Convertito. But they aren’t typical fan letters; they’re often apologies. Many visitors attribute post-visit misfortunes to failing to respect Robert (or even openly disrespecting him) and they write begging forgiveness. Others ask him for advice, or to hex those who have wronged them. Convertito says they have received around one thousand letters, which they keep and catalog.

Where Robert lives. (Photo: Courtesy Key West Art & Historical Society)

Robert also receives emails and homages. At some point, it became known that Robert had a sweet tooth so people leave and send him candy. Just recently he received a box containing eight bags of peppermints, a card, and no return address. (Exercising caution, the museum staff does not consume treats sent to Robert.) Guests leave him sweets, money and, occasionally, joints.

“It’s completely inappropriate,” says Convertito. “We are still a museum.”

Convertito is Robert’s caretaker—once a year she administers a check-up, taking him out of the case and weighing him to assess whether the humid Florida weather has adversely affected his straw-filled body. She is also his proxy, receiving and reading all his emails and letters and running his social media feeds.

HAUNTED PRISONS!!! WOULD YOU SPEND THE NIGHT IN ONE???

OMG!!! I have missed you guys!!!  We have been on vacation for about 10 days and have not had internet connection.  Can you believe I survived???  So, if you emailed me or IM'ed me I am just now responding to all your emails and notices.

I hope you all had a GREAT Labor Day.  I wanted to talk about haunted prisons.  Who doesn't love a  good ol' haunted prison right???  Anyway, check out these for the CREEP FACTOR!!!!

Alcatraz — San Francisco, California

Arguably the most infamous state penitentiary in US history (its inmates included notorious mobsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly), this historic structure was once the site of many real-life horrors — over decades in operation, its name eventually became synonymous with violence and cruel, brutal prison conditions… but both before and after its shutdown in 1963, it has also developed an ominous paranormal reputation. Indigenous peoples of the area once believed it to be occupied by dangerous sprits; early explorers reported feeling uneasy upon reaching the island; and it’s now reputed to house the vengeful ghosts of abused and wrongly-convicted inmates, of those murdered at the hands of their fellow convicts and/or sadistic guards, and even soldiers who died during the Civil War, when Alcatraz was the site of a massive military fortress (the foundation of which is still beneath the prison itself).

The paranormal accounts are too many to list here, but some of the earliest rumors began among inmates and guards, who claimed to hear strange cries, screams and whispers from empty cells, experienced cold spots, observed ghostly lights and saw faint human forms walking the corridors. One infamous story involved an inmate who was terrified by red eyes in the darkness, and was found dead in his cell the next morning, apparently strangled. Since the prison’s closing and conversion to a historic monument, tourists have reported many of the same frightening phenomena once encountered by the inmates and guards, as well as some disturbing new ones — including the sound of harmonica and banjo music (Capone was known to have played the banjo while imprisoned there). The most intense and frightening of the unexplained occurences seem to take place around “The Hole,” a notorious solitary confinement cell.

The National Park Service has disavowed all claims of paranormal phenomena in and around Alcatraz, so there are no officially sanctioned ghost tours of the grounds… but paranormal tourism is a major draw, so they do allow groups to conduct their own ghost tours and investigations, many of which have been featured on episodes of Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted, and the Travel Channel documentary HAUNTED ALCATRAZ, to name just a few.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Eastern State Penitentiary — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Just one look at this immense gothic structure (which includes gargoyles guarding the entry gate) will put you in a haunted frame of mind. Considered by many to be the world’s most haunted prison, Eastern State has been the subject and location of numerous ghost hunts and investigations, as documented in several books (Philadelphia Haunts, Ghostly Tales from America’s Jailsand many more) and TV shows (Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted, Ghost Hunters, American Paranormal, etc.). In the 142 years before the prison’s closure in 1971, over 1,200 inmates died within its walls; most succumbed to the diseases of the time (particularly tuberculosis), but several died at the hands of other inmates. Horrific punishments handed out to prisoners included frostbite and constriction of limbs (which often led to amputation), and just like Alcatraz, the most feared penalty was “The Hole.”

Accounts of strange and unexplained phenomena began long before the prison closed, and hundreds of paranormal claims continue today: guards, inmates and tourists over the past century have reported seeing terrifying disembodied faces, and hearing mad laughter and screams. One of the most repeated and unsettling accounts originated around 20 years ago, from a maintenance employee who claimed an unseen force in one of the ancient cells grabbed him so tightly that he was unable to move.

Like Alcatraz, there is no official stance on any hauntings of Eastern State, but their tourist materials (which include an audio walk-through narrated by actor Steve Buscemi) do mention many stories of mysterious phenomenon reported by guards and inmates, as those rumors and legends are considered an integral part of the prison’s dark and ominous history. The prison also hosts an annual Halloween haunt entitled “Terror Behind the Walls,” which obviously makes good use of these terrifying legends to spook patrons.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Missouri State Penitentiary — Jefferson City, Missouri

First established in 1836, Missouri State was once the largest prison in the US, and the brutality and deaths that took place within its walls earned it the title of “Bloodiest 47 Acres in America” according to TIME magazine. 40 gas-chamber executions, inmate violence, suicides, and a massive, bloody riot/fire in 1954 definitely carved this prison’s name in infamy, and it’s no surprise that claims of horrific paranormal activity have come in the wake of the prison’s closing in 2004.

Many of these claims involve “A Hall,” the oldest still-standing structure on the grounds, which once housed Civil War prisoners; Housing Unit 1, which once held female inmates; and Housing Unit 3, the site where the 1954 riots began. Among the most repeated tales is the story of “Fast Jack,” the nickname given to an alleged resident spirit with a tendency to pop through walls and open locker doors in the blink of an eye. Jack has been sighted many times by prison staffers working in Housing Unit 1, who describe him as wearing a lab coat and carrying a clipboard; some say he is the ghost of a former infirmary employee. Other accounts include visitors suddenly feeling anger and anxiety in Housing Unit 3, and a few tourists reported physical contact with an unseen entity, including shoving and hair-pulling.

The penitentiary has now totally embraced its haunted legacy: not only do they conduct both historic and ghost-themed tours, but since 2011 they’ve offered ghost-hunting seminars and classes for aspiring paranormal investigators.

Image Credit: Browsing the Atlas

Ohio State Reformatory — Mansfield, Ohio

While it’s most famous for being featured in the award-winning film THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, based on Stephen King’s acclaimed non-horror novella, Ohio State Reformatory also has a spooky reputation befitting some of King’s more horrific tales.

The Reformatory is allegedly swarming with malicious presences, with the highest concentrations of haunting phenomena centering on the solitary confinement cells (every historic prison has some terrifying version of “The Hole”), where several suicides occurred. The main cell blocks, the former site of multiple murders, are also reportedly haunted by very noisy ghosts, and the chapel — believed to have originally been a place of execution — has been the site of some particularly intense visual and auditory anomalies. Even the attic and administrative offices are said to house some particularly nasty entities: in particular, the wife of former warden Glattke, whose gunshot death was reported as an accident but believed by some to be foul play, is said to haunt the administrative suites, and visitors have smelled her perfume wafting through the empty rooms. Throughout the grounds, stories and legends include detailed accounts of sudden temperature drops, intense feelings of nausea, and luminous floating shapes.

The Reformatory doesn’t officially conduct ghost tours, but their historic guided tours provide all the chills you need. Nevertheless, Halloween scare-seekers can also attend their annual “Haunted Prison Experience,” which adopts a different theme each year.

Image Credit: Samantha Sunne

West Virginia State Penitentiary — Moundsville, West Virginia

Built during the peak of the Civil War, this prison began with a fairly respectable reputation, but over the years conditions declined to such an extent that it would eventually make the U.S. Justice Department’s list of most violent correctional facilities. Corruption, overcrowding and rampant violence grew out of control, three dozen murders took place within its walls, and allegedly hundreds more deaths occurred over the prison’s 120-year tenure. 94 executions were conducted within the prison, and in 1986 it became the site of one of the most violent prison riots in U.S. history, when a group of 20 inmates took several guards hostage over a period of two days. Charles Manson once requested to be transferred to Moundsville, because members of his notorious “family” lived nearby (the request was denied).

As with any location with a blood-soaked past, tales of hauntings and unexplained phenomena run rampant at Moundsville, some dating back as early as the 1930s, when guards reported alarms being tripped for no apparent reason. The most infamous and consistently reported paranormal phenomenon is that of the “Shadow Man,” a featureless shape which visitors have seen lurking in various cells and corridors, camouflaged in areas of unnaturally deep darkness. Those who claim to have sighted the Shadow Man report feeling a sense of extreme, intense terror.

The penitentiary hosts their own popular Halloween haunt tour, “Dungeon of Horrors,” which draws over 10,000 visitors a year. The site is also the setting for the popular Left 4 Dead video game campaign “Moundsville Slammer.”