In the early 1900's, a wealthy man by the name of Dr. Otto lived in Key West, and took several 'servants' (slaves) from the Bahamas. In what many speculate was actually an act of revenge, a Bohemian servant gave Robert Eugene Otto, a doll made of a wire frame, cloth, straw, and most likely, a soulstone (Possibly of the servant's son who passed away at the time). This type of enchantment in some voodoo practices involves a small crystal being placed into an object, thus imbuing it with power by taking a soul of its own.  Eugene's sister died at around the time he was given the doll, and immediately took to Robert the doll.  Eugene gave Robert the doll his name of Robert, and he made everyone else call him Eugene (Gene) instead.  Throughout his childhood, whenever something bad would happen or something would be blamed on Eugene, he would say Robert did it. 

More troubling were the inexplicable events that began to occur -- glassware and silverware thrown about the dining room, servants locked out while on their nightly rounds, clothing torn up and bedding in rooms long unused disturbed and crumpled on the ground.  Other beloved toys belonging to Eugene began to turn up mutilated and brutalized while deep in the night there was the sound of giggling.  Eugene could often be heard playing joyfully in his toy room one moment and then, after a solemn silence, the sound of low conversation would trickle down to the servants' ears, first in Gene's boyish voice and then in an entirely different tone.

Many viewers of the painting claimed to suffer from 'blackouts,' horrible feelings, feeling violently ill, paranormal happenings, all from just viewing the painting on the Ebay auction page.  When Bryan, a college student, first saw the painting he began to cry.  As he studied the photographs on the auction website, he claims his computer screen turned white and he felt a blast of heat coming from the monitor, "like when you open a hot oven door".  He called for his roommate, who was watching TV in the next room.