Haunted Key West: Robert the Doll and 8 Haunted Places to Stay
A doll in a sailor suit who is said to curse anyone who photographs him without asking, and the Victorian guest houses of Old Town where wreckers, cigar barons and their widows are said to linger. These are Key West’s most haunted places.
Key West has been a wrecking port, a cigar town, a navy base and a writers’ hideaway, and its ghost stories fill a few square blocks of Old Town. Its most famous haunted resident lives in a Civil War fort on the beach: Robert the Doll, at Fort East Martello Museum. Almost everything else on the island’s ghost walks is a guest house or hotel you can actually stay in, from the house Robert lived in for 90 years to the 1926 hotel at the top of Duval Street. We have checked each place against current sources and noted where a legend is just that.
Where to look Robert's glass case and the brick casemates
Reported ghosts Robert the Doll, said to change expression and punish disrespect
Visiting Museum open daily
Hours and season Daily 10 AM to 5 PM, last admission 4:30 PM
Tickets Adults $17 ($15.50 online), youth 7 to 18 $9
Ghost hunting No; Robert the Doll experiences are run with a local ghost tour company
The U.S. Army began this brick fort in 1862 to guard Key West against a Confederate attack that never came, and abandoned it unfinished at the end of the war. In 1950 the Key West Art and Historical Society cleared it and opened it as its first museum, and it is on the National Register. Its most famous resident arrived in 1994: Robert, a 40 inch doll in a sailor suit.
Robert was made by Steiff and given to four-year-old Robert Eugene “Gene” Otto in 1904. Gene blamed the doll for every mishap, and passers-by swore it moved in the turret window of the family home, now the Artist House. Today visitors say his expression changes, and Key West lore holds that anyone who photographs him without asking permission suffers bad luck.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask Robert politely before you take a photo. Everybody else does.
Where to look The turret suite, the main staircase and the attic
Reported ghosts Anne Otto, a little girl on the stairs, the shadow of Robert the Doll
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
This Queen Anne house on Eaton Street was the Otto family home, and it is where Robert Eugene Otto kept Robert, the doll that Key West calls the most haunted object in America. Robert now sits in a case at Fort East Martello Museum, but the house he lived in is a small guest house, and the turret room where Gene and the doll spent their days can be booked.
Local lore says Gene’s wife Anne never left: guests describe a woman on the staircase and a presence in the turret. Key West historian David Sloan has written about a crying little girl seen sitting on the stairs, possibly linked to the family’s nanny. The attic, where Anne is said to have locked Robert away, has the heaviest atmosphere.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for the turret suite when you book; it is the room tied most closely to Gene and Robert.
Where to look The fifth floor, the elevators, the roof and the Hemingway Suite
Reported ghosts A busboy who fell down the elevator shaft, a wine-loving ghost on the roof
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
La Concha opened on Duval Street in 1926 as Key West’s first luxury hotel. Ernest Hemingway stayed here, Tennessee Williams is said to have finished A Streetcar Named Desire here, and at seven stories it is still the tallest building on Duval. Formerly the Crowne Plaza La Concha, it completed a $35 million restoration in late 2024 and became La Concha Key West, Autograph Collection.
Its ghost stories are darker than most. Tour guides say more than a dozen people have jumped from the roof over the years, and one is said to take glasses of chardonnay out of drinkers’ hands. A young employee is said to have fallen down an open elevator shaft after a New Year’s Eve party in the 1980s, and guests report the elevator stopping on the fifth floor with nobody waiting.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a fifth-floor room near the elevators; the restored seventh floor is now rooftop villas, including the Hemingway Suite.
Where to look Room 7, the upstairs hallways, the chandelier and the gardens
Reported ghosts Enriquetta Marrero, a playful child, an elderly gentleman
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Cigar maker Francisco Marrero built this Old Town mansion in 1890 for Enriquetta, the woman he called his wife. After he died on a trip to Cuba, his legal wife arrived from Havana, claimed the house and had Enriquetta and the children put out. The story says Enriquetta vowed to stay in the house she loved, even after death.
Guests describe lavender perfume, someone sitting on the end of the bed and a chandelier that sways when she dislikes a visitor. Today it is a 12-room, adults-only guest house with a pool and a page about its haunting on its own website, and Key West ghost tours stop outside.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 7, the room the inn links to Enriquetta, and book direct by phone if you want it.
Where to look The kitchen hearth, second-floor rooms and the widow's walk
Reported ghosts Sarah "Aunt Sally" Curry, a housekeeper folding sheets
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
William Curry arrived in Key West as a teenager in 1836 and died in 1896 as Florida’s first self-made millionaire. His son Milton rebuilt the family home on Caroline Street in the early 1900s, keeping the original stone hearth, and Al and Edith Amsterdam rescued it in the 1970s and turned it into an inn. Today the inn has 29 rooms spread across the mansion and two neighboring buildings.
Staff believe the woman seen by the old kitchen hearth is Sarah “Aunt Sally” Curry, said to have made the island’s first Key lime pie in the cookhouse. Guests on the second floor describe waking to a housekeeper folding sheets at the foot of the bed and hearing coins drop, and lights are said to move along the widow’s walk after dark.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a room in the main mansion rather than the James House across the street if you want the ghost stories.
Where to look The front porch and front rooms, the garden cistern and fish pond
Reported ghosts Dr. William Warren and his wife Genevieve
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Formerly the Eaton Lodge, this three-story Victorian on Eaton Street was built in 1886 and bought in 1913 by Dr. William Warren, a Key West surgeon who saw patients on the front porch and operated in the front rooms. His wife Genevieve, known as Miss Gen, planted the garden, and the house stayed in the family until her death in the early 1970s.
Today it is a bed and breakfast and a stop on Key West ghost tours. Guests say they dream of a doctor who matches Dr. Warren’s description, and Genevieve is usually seen near the cistern and fish pond in her garden. Older stories include footsteps, flickering lights and a sleeping guest who kept finding her blankets tucked back over her.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for one of the rooms in the original front of the house, where Dr. Warren saw his patients.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. See the event page for dates and tickets.
Where to look The Cosgrove House and the garden paths
Reported ghosts Captain Philip Cosgrove, a little girl who takes pillow chocolates
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Banyan Resort joins seven historic homes on Whitehead Street, set around the huge banyan trees that give it its name. One of them is the Cosgrove House, bought in 1871 by Captain Philip Cosgrove, whose wife Myrtle is credited with planting the banyans. Today the Cosgrove House holds five one-bedroom suites with kitchens, and the resort runs as a timeshare that also rents to nightly guests.
Captain Cosgrove is said to still walk the grounds, and visitors report seeing and hearing him near his old house. The resort’s best-loved story is a little girl who takes the chocolates left on pillows, even in locked rooms, and housekeepers have long told guests about her. Other guests describe knocking with no source and the feeling of a tap on the shoulder in the gardens at night.
Haunted Rooms tip: Request a suite in the Cosgrove House; the resort books mainly direct and through timeshare exchanges.
Reported ghosts A man said to have been murdered by his wife
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Chelsea House stands on Truman Avenue, a few minutes’ walk from Duval Street, in two Queen Anne style houses built in 1891 and 1905. It was long run as a separate inn by Historic Key West Inns and is now part of Winslow’s Bungalows, a larger Old Town property with heated pools and gardens that still lists the Chelsea House name.
Its ghost story is a grim one. Local legend says the man of the house disappeared, his wife claimed he had gone back to Cuba, and on her deathbed she confessed she had killed him and buried him under the porch. No body has ever been found and no record backs the story, but guests report a man’s apparition and pipe or cigar smoke in Room 018.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 018, the room most often linked to the smell of smoke.
Where to look Third-floor suites facing Duval Street
Reported ghosts An unknown, sighing presence
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Ocean Key sits at the very end of Duval Street, beside Mallory Square and its sunset crowds. It is not old: it began in 1982 as a time-share high-rise, became a hotel in 1989 and took its current name in 2005 under Noble House. That makes it an unusual entry on any haunted list, and the owners deny any ghost.
Still, guest accounts keep coming. They center on a third-floor suite overlooking Duval Street, with sighs, jingling keys, cold spots, a weight settling on the edge of the bed and items on the bureau moved overnight. Some think the presence belongs to the land rather than the building.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a third-floor suite facing Duval Street if you want to test the stories.
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We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Key West?
Fort East Martello Museum, home of Robert the Doll, is the most visited. Among places to stay, the Artist House, Robert’s old home, and Marrero’s Guest Mansion are named most often.
Where is Robert the Doll?
In a glass case at Fort East Martello Museum on South Roosevelt Boulevard, open daily 10 AM to 5 PM. See our Fort East Martello guide.
Can you stay in a haunted hotel in Key West?
Yes. The Artist House, Marrero’s, La Concha, the Curry Mansion Inn, Old Town Manor, the Banyan Resort, the Chelsea House and Ocean Key all have ghost stories. See our haunted hotels in Key West guide.
Do Key West ghost tours visit these places?
Most Old Town ghost walks pass the Artist House, Marrero’s, La Concha and the Curry Mansion, and tell Robert’s story.
Does Haunted Rooms run ghost hunts in Key West?
Not at the moment. See our Florida ghost hunts page, and the nearest events listed on this page.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
