#RandomHorrorFacts

Welcome to #RandomHorrorFacts! Horror has been my love since I was a child. The creepy, the witchy, the demonically inclined, possession, all of it was my go to! Ever wonder what incidents spawned your favorite horror book or movie? Well, let’s dig in and find out!

The Superstitious Friday the 13th

In Western Civilization, Friday the 13th has been a popular superstition. The occurrence happens at least once a year on the Gregorian calendar and many believe it to be an unlucky day. But what exactly spawned the superstition?

The number 13 has its roots in superstitions stemming from Norse myths. The one story in particular was where Loki, the infamous trickster god, was not invited to a dinner party. The total number of guests were 12 until he arrived. Once he was a part of the party, things started to head south as they often did when Loki was around and he soon had convinced Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe tipped arrow. Balder died and the story says that the earth went into darkness to mourn the loss of Balder. Another story plucked from myths comes from the Christian story of Jesus’ last supper that also emulates the same dinner party of 13 and Jesus dying 2 days later.

However, none of the myths and stories that situate around either the number 13 or the day Friday have the occurrence of the date being Friday the 13th. Recent studies also show that as opposed to the superstition of accidents occurring more frequently on this date, they actually occurred less frequently. The only incident that was marked and dated was Friday the 13th of October in 1307 when the Knights of Templars were rounded up for trials and executions. However, there wasn’t any superstition prior to the 19th century for the date.

Friday the 13th movie franchise

Camp Crystal Lake and Jason Voorhees have long been associated with Friday the 13th because, well, that’s the name of the movie franchise this fictional person and setting were created for. Initially titled A Long Night at Camp Blood, this 80’s slasher movie went on to make a 12 movie franchise with crossovers into other horror series such as A Nightmare on Elm Street. Based around the running plot of revenge, Jason Voorhees isn’t actually part of the first movie! It was in fact his mother taking out years of pent up anger and rage out on camp counselors that were more into having sex than watching the kids, which is why her son died years before. Or, so it seemed. At the very end of the movie, Jason comes back to take revenge for the death of his own mother. It has always remained unclear whether or not he was a ghost at first or if he had in fact survived his initial drowning, but hell hath no fury like Jason, and to hell he was sent multiple times.

What exactly does this have to do with the superstition? Well, just as it is titled, the first movie takes place on Friday the 13th. As all 80s slasher films, the movie had a message for its viewers. Its message: Don’t go camping on Friday the 13th. Don’t go camping and have sex on Friday the 13th.

Did the movie franchise help build the superstition? Maybe or maybe not. Superstitions have a way of being fabricated just like myths, fables, legends, or any other good old horror story.

#RandomHorrorFacts Robert the Doll 8/12/2021

In the franchise of horror, the most creepy and vilest of ideas usually involve children as a focal point. It’s heart wrenching to think of a child coming into danger or even possibly dying in gruesome, horrific detail. Stephen King paved the way for such scenes of horror when he wrote Pet Semetary and killed the youngest character of the book in such a way that it has even left me traumatized by the event since childhood. My husband and I were just discussing the other day how our 10 year old was now old enough to check the mail, something I had been doing since I was around 7 years old, crossing the road to do so. We have tractor trailers that go fast up and down our road so you can imagine my apprehension of letting one of my children check my mail after watching the tractor trailer run Gage over in Pet Semetary.

One other way horror writers and screenplay writers were able to get under the skin of parents were to take an ordinary doll and make it out to be a fanatical murderer possessed by the spirit of an evil felon. That is what the Child’s Play franchise presented the public with in 1988 and was soon followed by the Puppet Master trilogy. Child’s Play initiated a whole list of movies that would come to life from the bold move of one screenwriter and director. A child’s toy comes to life and tries to take over his body to become human once more. The franchise has even made it all the way into 2020 with remakes and prequels such as The Cult of Chucky and even the remade version of Child’s Play where the doll wasn’t set with any safety features taking the paranormal aspect out of the equation.

However, what sparked the original story behind Chucky? Was it really inspired by true events?

In 1903, Robert Eugene Otto was given a doll. There are many different stories about how he received the doll and even a movie that was made from this real life story aside from Child’s Play that sticks to the story of the Nanny being let go and giving a doll as a parting gift to the child of her employers. The story goes on to say that she imbued the doll with voodoo and gave it life so it could exact her revenge on the family that she claimed abused her. Whether this story was the actual story or not, it does lend information to the story that surrounds the even of Robert the Doll.

Robert Eugene Otto named the doll Robert after himself and then took on his middle name as the name her preferred to be referred to as. Things that happened around the house were soon to be blamed on the doll. Moved furniture, broken items, etc., Eugene told his parents the doll did it. Not only was the doll moving stuff around the house, but he could blink his eyes and would also speak to Robert in private. Robert grew up and moved out of his parent’s house to only return to later in life when his parents passed away and he inherited the house.

Robert, now married, reacquainted with his long lost doll friend and soon began to spend the same amount of time together that he used to when he was a child. His wife didn’t like it. She also attested to the fact that the doll moved around on its own and moved things as well. When Robert died in 1974, the house was sold to Myrtle Reuter. She made the same claims as Robert and his wife had previously claimed; the doll was possessed and moved around on its own. She later donated the doll to a museum, Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida.

Today, people still flock to the museum to see the doll. Robert the doll receives letters and even gifts from people all around. The museum has even fallen victim to its own misfortunate events that many attest to Robert being treated unruly by staff members. We could most likely attribute all doll stories that were to come after Robert’s story going public to the doll. However, it wasn’t long until Annabelle hit the scene and another doll was soon made historic by being placed in a museum as well due to paranormal activity that surrounded it. Is it an over active imagination or did these events really take place? True or fiction, they opened the eyes of horror lovers everywhere and started the killer doll/possessed doll/creepy doll stories that have entertained us since 1988.