OMG! Zack and I went on the craziest Ghost Tour last night. We are down in Key West and took this tour with Ghost Mysteries. It was as good as the many other tours we've taken, but something different happened on this tour. We didn't see a ghost or anything like that, but what we learned about was this doll named Robert. It was made by a woman who worked as a servant for this family. She practiced a weird religion called, "Santaria." This all takes place in the late 1800's. Anyway, a goat, a chicken, puppy washed up on shore headless and word spread that the Santaria worshippers were in full practice. Santaria is apparently a combination of Catholicism and Vodoo (says our tour guide). So this family found out that their housekeeper was a practioner and fired her. Before her last day, she brought a doll as a gift to the family's son who she deeply loved. The doll was about the same height as the boy and he had an immediate affection for it. Why wouldn't he?
It had the same hair color as him, which as it turns out is because the housekeeper saved his hair from haircuts, and reattached it to the doll. (Yuck!) Anyways, the housekeeper told Robert that he should dress it up in the clothes he was wearing to make it look like him. He gets out of his sailor costume and puts it on the doll and the two look very much alike. The little boy loved the doll so much, he would take it everywhere with him. He would even have a chair for it at the dinner table. Well, before long, strange things start happening in the house. Robert tells his parents that he is naming his doll, "Robert" and tells them he'll be going by his middle name. Soon a book is moved, or something goes missing and when mother and father ask son why he's behaving so poorly he responds, "It wasn't me, it was Robert." Of course the parents think nothing of this and go on about their business, but one day, the father hears his son having a conversation with someone in the house. When he opens the door, he finds his son and the doll. As if this isn't strange enough, the son positions the doll in the window when he goes to school so that Robert can watch the street and won't be so lonely. Many a passerby stop and look at the doll and notice that I has a strange way of moving from window to the next. In fact the crowds grow so large that the town Sheriff has to ask the family to move the doll from the window because it becomes a disturbance of the peace. There's just one problem. When the family moves the doll, it somehow finds its way back to the window. The son begins crying in fits all night long. When his parents ask him what's wrong, he says, "Robert is planning to kill me." At this point, I would have thrown the doll out, but the son wouldn't let them. He just kept that doll with him all the time and swore to anyone that asked that, "Robert was his best friend." Well eventually the son grows old and dies at the ripe age of 70 and when the house is sold, the doll is sold with it. The new owner goes to throw it away but his daughter begs him to keep it. "There's something special about this doll," she says. And with that, the owner keeps it. Since the new owner was from that town, he knew the stories of the doll who moved from window to window. So he kept it in that room and when his family moved in something strange began to happen. He too began to hear his daughter having conversations with someone in the house and she too began to cry. Unlike the previous owner, the new owner, said, "enough." He got rid of the doll. The doll is now in the Key West museum, here's the wiki link: here.
Now, for something not scary or freaky. Let's look at how to create a beautiful French country console table. Step one- do not have a creepy Santaria doll in your home.
Materials
- Wood Console: This was Oak or Maple
- Palm Sander
- Weatherwood Stain's Light Oaking
- Weatherwood Stain's White Maintenance Oil
- The base painted with Pearl Furniture Paint, Color Brite
Directions
1.] SAND: If you're starting with a piece of furniture that's previously stained and finished, here's where you can find directions to strip the wood. Even with raw wood, you will want to begin with sanding your project. You want to use a palm sander and 80 grit sandpaper to make sure the wood is all powdery. This helps the stain to absorb evenly.
2.] STAIN: Weatherwood released a new stain that can turn oak into a beautiful driftwood gray, called Light Oaking. This product can work on any wood, so it's less complicated than some of their other products.
You're going to love our newest stain. The Light Oaking is simply gorgeous and so easy to use. I'd love to see your Weatherwood projects.
And please don't forget to give me your feedback about paint. This is going to be an amazing year!
And please don't forget to give me your feedback about paint. This is going to be an amazing year!
