Key West keeps its secrets dressed in sailor’s clothes.

Long before the tourists and cruise ships, a little boy named Gene Otto whispered to a doll that seemed to whisper back. The neighbors saw it move. The servants swore it laughed. And when the boy grew into a man, the laughter never stopped.

Some stories cling like humidity—they find a corner of your mind and refuse to dry out. Robert isn’t a monster or a myth. He’s something far more ordinary: a memory that learned to defend itself.

In this episode, Florida Unearthed visits the East Martello Museum, where Robert still waits behind glass. Cameras fail. Visitors apologize to him before leaving. And somewhere between superstition and static, we find a question that Shirley Jackson would have recognized:

What happens when we give our fear a name—and it answers back?

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Episode Credits:

Written & Produced by: J.D. Patterson

Narration: J.D. Patterson

In the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys once stood a thriving island community — Indian Key. It was a place of wreckers, riches, and rising fortunes. But on one August night in 1840, paradise turned into a nightmare. The island burned, blood was spilled, and history nearly forgot the survivors who lived to tell the tale.

In this episode of The Unearthed Archives, we uncover the story of the Indian Key Massacre — a forgotten chapter of Florida history where ambition, war, and vengeance collided. You’ll hear about Dr. Henry Perrine’s unlikely path to the island, the community that rose on coral rock, and the Seminole attack that left the island in ruins.

This is not just history. It’s a cautionary tale about greed, survival, and the haunting echoes of a night that changed the Keys forever.

Welcome to the very first episode of The Unearthed Archives. We’re just getting started — and we’re diving headfirst into one of Florida’s most enduring mysteries.

For generations, stories have swirled about a massive, foul-smelling creature stalking the Florida Everglades. Locals call it the Skunk Ape. Hunters, campers, and backwoods residents have claimed to see — and smell — this elusive giant vanish into the swamp before proof could be captured.

In this debut episode, we explore the legends, the sightings, and the theories that keep the Skunk Ape’s story alive. Is it a misidentified animal? A swamp-born myth? Or something far stranger?

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