Robert the Doll Ghost Tour at Fort East Martello
Most Key West ghost tours point at buildings from the pavement. This one takes you inside a Civil War fort after dark, walks you through it, then sits you down in a room with the doll himself for half an hour. Ask his permission before you photograph him.
An indoor, seated, ticketed evening
This is not a walking tour and it is not theatre. The evening runs in two halves: thirty minutes guided through the fort itself, learning what the place was built for and why it was abandoned half-finished, then thirty minutes seated with Robert while the guide separates the documented history from the material the internet has added.
There is a VIP ticket that keeps you in the building for an extra hour after the guided portion ends, with access to parts of the fort the standard tour does not enter and a range of investigation equipment to use as you like. If you have come to Key West specifically for Robert, that is the ticket to buy.
Both tickets include a free day pass to return and see the museum properly in daylight — worth taking, because Fort East Martello holds a great deal more than the doll.
Inside the fort, then inside the room
Key West Ghost Tours Selection
Fort East Martello was begun in 1862 and never finished. Rifled artillery made masonry towers of its type obsolete while the masons were still working, the order came down in 1866 to stop, and no gun was ever mounted. It has been a museum since 1950, and since 1994 it has been the home of the most written-to object in Florida.
The seated half-hour is the part people underestimate. You are in the room with a 40-inch, excelsior-stuffed doll from about 1904 in a humidity-controlled case, with the apology letters visitors have sent pinned on the wall behind him. The guide's job is to tell you which parts of what you have heard are actually documented — and the answer is less than you would think.
- Feel a chill run down your spine as you encounter Robert the Doll
- Explore the haunted Fort East Martello on a guided ghost tour
- Learn about the dark history of the Civil War-era citadel
- Enjoy a seated experience with Robert the Doll and hear his story
- Choose the VIP option to stay after the tour for a paranormal investigation
What to Expect on the Robert the Doll Ghost Tour
Thirty minutes guided through a citadel begun in 1862 and abandoned unfinished, with the history of why it was built and why it was stopped. Doors open half an hour before the tour begins.
A seated half-hour in the room with the doll. The guide works through what is documented, what is folklore and what the internet added later — then leaves you to decide which you believe.
Visitors write to Robert to apologise, and the museum keeps them. The curator has put the rate at one to three a day, with more than a thousand catalogued. The letters are the genuinely documented part of the story.
VIP guests stay an extra hour after the guided tour, reach parts of the fort the standard tour does not, and use the operator's digital and analogue equipment to look for their own answers.
Both tickets include a free day pass to the museum. Fort East Martello holds Key West history and art galleries well beyond the doll, and the day visit is the only way to see them.
One to three letters
arrive every day
More than a thousand apologies are catalogued at the museum, most of them from people who photographed Robert without asking first. They are pinned on the wall behind him.
What each ticket covers
Included
- 30-minute guided ghost tour
- 30-minute seated encounter with Robert the Doll
- After-hours admission to the haunted museum
- Equipment for VIP investigation
- Free parking
- Free day pass to explore the museum
Not included
- Tour guide gratuity
- Transportation
Where it starts
Key West: Ghost Tour at Civil War Fort with Robert the Doll
- Meeting instructions
- Use the main entrance closest to the road, right across from the ocean. There is a large anchor and a flagpole near the door.
- On the map
- Open in Google Maps
- Operator
- Sloan's Key West Ghost Tours
Worth knowing before you book
We'd read these before you book rather than after. The details below come from Sloan's Key West Ghost Tours' own published guidance for this departure, and they are the ones that most often catch guests out on the night.
From the operator
- Check-in at least 10 minutes prior to start time
- Doors open 30 minutes before the tour
- Bathrooms are available
- Please do not arrive intoxicated
- Not suitable for children under 10 years.
- Not allowed: alcohol and drugs.
The firehouse, if you want to run the equipment yourself
The same operator runs a longer, more serious night at the 1907 firehouse on Grinnell Street. It opens with a 45-minute audio tour written and narrated by the author of the definitive Key West ghost book, then hands you spirit boxes, EMF meters, dowsing rods and the run of an air-conditioned historic building for 75 minutes.
It is capped at thirteen guests a night and costs roughly twice the fort tour. The cold cases it covers are real: the disappearance of fire chief Bum Farto, who jumped bail in February 1976 and was never seen again, and the death of Charlotte Knowles.
- Feel a chill down your spine as you explore a haunted firehouse museum
- Investigate cold cases and ghostly encounters with real ghost-hunting tools
- Listen to chilling tales of tragedy and spirits on a 45-minute audio tour
- Enjoy exclusive after-hours access to the haunted museum after dark
Want the island's wider story rather than one object? Compare the Trolley Tour, Pub Crawls, or read the haunted places guide first.
Half an hour in the room with him
From $45 per person. Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.