GHOSTS OF THE MAGIC CITY
Prickly skin, a feeling that you're being watched or there's someone standing right behind (when there isn't) and a drop in temperature are all the hallmarks of the unearthly.
In Miami there are certain places where you're more likely to have these encounters with the other side.
"It was a dark and stormy night", the overused trope of gothic novels and low-budget films, can cause one to overlook that amongst the humming of insects, and the stillness of sub-tropical humidity the spirits of those who don't lie easy in their grave make their presence known. The Magic City has its own sordid history of murder, suicides, violence and secret burials that can provide a cast of thousands that can cause a shiver down your spine even in 80 degree weather. These are some of those places.
Alfred I. duPont Building
Before the Alfred I. duPont Building soared into the Miami skyline, the Halycon Hotel occupied the land from 1906 to 1937.
The building housed a bank and several professional offices. No doubt through the years human dramas played out within its walls. However there are some that came to public view.
In 1963, Grant Stockdale a friend of President John F. Kennedy allegedly jumped to his death from his office window on the 13th floor. This was 10 days after JFK's assassination.
Even to this day his family claim he was not suicidal.
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A maintenance man and a cleaning lady have reported seeing a mysterious man and woman who vanish at a second glance. Some of the floors of the duPont are no longer used, but there have been reports of running faucets in bathrooms. In addition, a technician repairing the air-conditioning on the second floor said that when he opened a unit, he saw a badly burnt, man’s face that soon disappeared. The man was so spooked that a written report was issued by the maintenance crew of the building.
Present day, the building is a venue for corporate events and weddings.
2. The Biltmore Hotel
In its heyday, The Biltmore played host to royalty, both Europe's and Hollywood's. The hotel counted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Al Capone and assorted Roosevelts and Vanderbilts as frequent guests.
Fashion shows, gala balls, aquatic shows by the grand pool and weddings were frequently written about in the society pages, as were world class golf tournaments. Jazz Age big bands entertained wealthy, well-traveled visitors to this American Riviera resort.
In 1929, gangster Thomas "Fatty" Walsh was fatally shot at the Biltmore over a gambling dispute. Rumor is that his ghost haunts the hotel, especially the bar, where the glasses and bottles on the shelves have reportedly shaken mysteriously.
Known as a man of indulgence who enjoyed Cuban cigars and women, Fatty is said to still wander the hotel and play tricks on staff and guests. His apparition has been seen on the 13th floor, where he was killed, and in bathroom mirrors throughout the hotel. The mysterious scent of cigar smoke, presumably a manifestation of Fatty, has been reported to follow attractive women around the Biltmore.
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But Fatty isn't the only one that continues to hang out at the hotel. In the 1930s, there were reports of a woman walking through the golf course even in the middle of the night. She could never be found, when someone would go out to investigate thinking she was a flesh and blood human.
Kitchen staff claimed to see swinging doors and inexplicable noises.
But there could be other sources for the haunting said to occur at the Biltmore. With the onset of World War II, The Biltmore was converted to a hospital by the War Department. It served the wounded as the Army Air Forces Regional Hospital. Many of the windows were sealed with concrete, and the marble floors covered with government issue linoleum. It remained a VA hospital until 1968.
It was also the early site of The University of Miami's School of Medicine.Â
In 1973, through the Historic Monuments Act and Legacy of Parks program, the City of Coral Gables was granted ownership control of The Biltmore. Undecided as to the structure's future, The Biltmore remained unoccupied for almost 10 years. Then in 1983, the City oversaw its full restoration to be opened as a grand hotel. Almost four years and $55 million later, The Biltmore opened on December 31, 1987 as a first class hotel and resort. Over 600 guests turned out to honor the historic Biltmore at a black tie affair.
Since before it's restoration in 1983, the Biltmore Hotel was known for being haunted. Unexplained noises on the 13th floor, a ghostly girl out on the golf course, and restless spirits from its time as a VA hospital, are but only a few of the ghostly stories associated with it.
3. The Deering Estate
The remote, 400-plus acre estate was first settled by Samuel H. Richmond in 1896, along the edge of Biscayne Bay. He built a home there as part of the Town of Cutler settlement. In 1900, the family opened the Richmond Hotel, which was the southernmost hotel before arriving in Key West.
In 1922, Charles Deering a Chicago industrialist and the first chairman of the International Harvester Company, built a Mediterranean Revival-style cottage known as the Stone House. Deering housed his art collection there, however he had a walk-in, bank-style vault hidden behind a bookcase door in the basement. This room was omitted from the house's blueprints. The place once housed many of Deering's art collection, as well as thousands of illegal wine bottles. Remember these were the years of Prohibition when Capone lived on a Miami Beach island. Deering died at this estate in 1927.
In 1979, a search for wood to make knife handles, led to a discovery of archaeological significance. Some of the pieces of wood were brought to an archaeologist who said they were fossil horse teeth. The discovery remained undisclosed until 1986, when an excavation could be carried out.Â
The site is located in a sinkhole on the Miami Rock Ridge and named the Cutler Fossil Site. Present day the ridge runs about 16-ft. above sea level, however in the late Pleistocene Age it was about 330-ft. above sea level and much further from the ocean shoreline.
The sinkhole measures 26-ft. by 33-ft. The sinkhole is about 13-ft. deep, well below the water table.
The fossils of about 47 mammal species were recovered, 16 which are extinct, 51 bird species, 7 which are extinct, 9 reptiles, 7 amphibian and 5 fish species.
But it wasn't only animals that frequented this area during the Pleistocene. Over 800 bones were found that had been modified by humans. Tools made from local limestone and hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock found in quarries in central Florida, were found. Projectile points have been dated as far back as 10,000 B.C.
Bones and teeth from at least five persons were recovered from the sinkhole. Some appear to have been buried in graves.
The Cutler Fossil site is the oldest site of Paleo human presence south of Lake Okeechobee. A number of Tequesta burial mounds were also found, and is believed to contain from 12 to 18 persons that were buried face-down in a spiral pattern.
No one has lived at the Deering Estate since the 1980s. During one visit, a psychic said she heard the voice of a woman begging for help to save the life of a drowning child.Â
The Richmond Cottage is believed to be haunted. It is said there are 10 to 12 spirits in the buildings that regularly interact with visitors, while spirits of Native Americans watch from afar.
4. Miami City Cemetery
Sure signs that a city is growing is the addition of a post office and an official city cemetery. So it was for Miami the Magic City, which established a municipal cemetery on 10.5 acres in 1897. The site was about 7 blocks north of the outskirts of Miami.
Central Avenue ran east to west through the cemetery. Three-quarters of the cemetery was platted for white burials and remaining one-quarter on the western side was set aside for blacks, due to the segregation that existed during these years.
Plots sold anywhere from $10 to $15 dollar.
In 1896, Edwin Nelson had founded the city's first funeral service. In 1906, Walter Combs purchased it and established Combs Funeral Home, situated 3 blocks south of the eastern entrance to the cemetery.
In the early years, many parts of the cemetery was sectioned off according to religious beliefs and race.
In the northern half, parishioners of the Gesu Catholic Church, known originally as the Church of the Holy Name purchased plots.
Members of Miami's first synagogue, Binai Zion, in 1915 bought lots at the rear of the graveyard and erected a wall around the plots.
Another section was left for indigents, and another for veterans that included burials from the Spanish-American War.
A Confederate Memorial Circle contains the tombs of 20 Civil War veterans, and others are buried through the graveyard. A two-story monument that originally stood in front of the old county courthouse was partially destroyed in the 1926 hurricane. What was left of it was brought to the cemetery to mark area of the where the Confederate soldiers were buried.
A young Englishman named Henry Branscombe was the cemetery's first burial. He was only in his mid-20s when he died of tuberculosis. Since this first interment, there have been 9,000 others throughout the years.
Many of Miami's first leaders and founders came to their eternal rest there. The body of Julia Tuttle, the "Mother of Miami", was buried in the newly-minted graveyard in 1896. She's accompanied by the founder of the Burdines department store chain, and Miami’s first and third mayors. Even notorious characters like Jack Tigertail, a Miccosukee chieftain, who was shot to death in a dispute in 1922, was buried there.
There is one especially strange grave at the Miami Cemetery; that of Carrie Barrett Miller. She had no casket instead she was encased in a solid block of concrete. This was fulfillment of a compact she made with her husband years before. Her body was to be placed in exactly the position in which she was sleeping when she died. On top of this tomb was to be a bronze bust of Mrs. Miller hidden behind bronze doors and a plate glass. It was to be opened only for friends.
Three years before, the couple who were philanthropists, had given all their worldly possessions which amounted to $1,500,000 to their church, The White Temple a Methodist church.
The White Temple had its own controversial past. A few months before Mrs. Miller's funeral in December, 1926, it held services for a Ku Klux Klan member and was known to host rallies there. The church was built in 1913, and demolished in 1970.
During the 1950s, only burials from those who had already purchased a plot were allowed in the cemetery since it had reached capacity.
The ghosts of Julia Tuttle and Isabella Peacock are said to haunt the area.
A carved-out heart of an animal was found at the base of a tree as a santerÃa sacrifice. There have been other reports of vandalism and grave robbery specifically taking bones from coffins in connection with palo mayombe, an Afro-Caribbean religion.
5. Villa Paula
Villa Paula was Miami’s first Cuban consulate for Consul Domingo J. Milord. The villa, located in Little Haiti and built in 1926 in a neoclassical style, has ten bedrooms and 18-foot ceilings. The villa currently functions as an art gallery and exhibition space. However, in addition to being known for its beautiful design, the mansion has been rumored to be among the most haunted places in Miami.
The house was named for Milord’s wife Paula, who allegedly died from complications after a leg amputation. Paula’s ghost, appearing as a one-legged woman with black hair, has been seen wandering the halls. A former owner has said he often smelled brewing coffee and fresh roses when there were none to be seen. Paula reportedly liked keeping a vase of roses in the house.
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One man said he had some bizarre experiences while he lived at Villa Paula. Once, he said, a friend came to visit and fell asleep. Upon waking from her nap, she was possessed by the spirit of Paula and talked to him about her life.
Read more about Villa Paula at Miami's One Legged Ghost
6. Pinewood Cemetery
Located in Coral Gables, Pinewood is the oldest cemetery south of the Miami River. The last known burial in the cemetery was in the 1940s, after which the site became overgrown and vandalized.
Buried here is the body of Dora Suggs, who was violently killed when she was 29 years old. According to a 1905 St. Lucie Tribune article titled Foul Murder Near Miami, Suggs had been raped, choked, and mutilated, and her head had been crushed with a heavy object. She was found in the woods near a banana tree.Â
In March 1906, Ed Brown AKA Cady Brown was indicted for the murder. On June 5 he was executed by hanging for the crime. He confessed to the murder while standing on the gallows.
​Read more about Pinewood Cemetery and the murder of Dora Suggs
