Our household is a split one. One of us doesn’t believe in ghosts, goblins and other paranormal “BS”.My spouse on the other hand is a believer.
In fact, she claims to have experienced the spirits that are supposed to frequent the Gibson Inn, one of our haunted hotels in Florida we list below. Personally, I believe she spent to much time listening to the spooky stories the bartender at the Gibson was feeding her!
In any event, the creepy stories about hotels in the Sunshine State are rampant. We pass along some of the more believable accountings.
Haunted Hotels in Florida
Biltmore Hotel – Coral Gables Haunted Hotel
If you have visited the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables Florida, you know this grand old resort has tons of history. The walls are lined with pictures of famous people who have stayed there.
Of all the stories about lively spirits at the Biltmore, the most famous is the tale about Thomas “Fatty” Walsh. The portions of the story that are true are that he was a gangster with friends like Lucky Luciano and Dutch Shultz.
Fatty had parties in the hotel on the 13th floor as the story goes, but our research shows it was the 14th floor. They always included women and gambling. It has been reported that Fatty paid the Biltmore staff handsomely to look the other way during his party nights.
Police never solved the murder of Walsh in March 1929. He was embedded in criminal activity from New York to Miami. While there were a dozen or so witnesses to the shooting, none ever admitted to whom the actual gunman was. Some were fearful of retaliation by the real murderer.
Fatty seems to be the primary spirit roaming the hotel looking for the murderer. Staff at the hotel used to relate more ghostly stories to the hotel’s official historian Linda Spitzer.
Ms. Spitzer heard about the spirits of soldiers who died at the hotel when it was used as a hospital during World War II. She heard about guests who vanished after asking for assistance from the front desk clerk. There are many more abnormal sightings.
If ghosts are at the hotel for unfinished business, the history of this grand old hostelry certainly offers many opportunities for haunting.
Loop Road, The Everglades and The Gator Hook Lodge
Spend a little time deep in the Everglades. That is creepy enough without the stories of Loop Road.
Loop Road can be described as a byway off the Tamiami Trail. That is a generous description. It is actually a semi-dangerous gravel road cut through the middle of the swamp.
Loop Road is full of alligators, swamp angels, off-the-grid people, ramshackle dwellings, and plenty of things that want to bite, sting or eat you!
The Tamiami Trail was built as part of the quest to find a quick way to Miami. It was completed in 1928. Long before the completion of the Trail, a man by the name of James Franklin Jaudon built Loop Road from an old Indian trail into the Everglades.
Jaudon had a dream that tourists and travelers along the Miami-Dade/Monroe County line would come to his community of Pinecrest along Loop Road. He ran out of money.
Loop Road eventually was traveled only by gladesmen, Indians, bootleggers and loggers. Rumors persist today that Al Capone had a speakeasy and gambling joint near Pinecrest.
Crime, deceit, lawlessness, and unmarked graves have been associated with Loop Road. One old-timer quipped, “wise men don’t travel Loop Road at night…. bears and panthers are the least of their worries”.
In the 1950s Gator Hook Lodge opened for a 20-year stint. It was a real dive bar frequented by “hunters and fishers, froggers and gator poachers, moonshiners and misanthropes”.
The Gator Hook burned down, but the stories about lost souls, disappearances, and lack of law enforcement remain. The nearest sheriff was 90 miles away in Key Largo.
Needless to say, the sounds of the Everglades at night lead to ghostly thoughts and inhuman sightings. Even the paranormal investigators shy away from the swamp.
We traveled Loop Road during the day. It is not for the faint of heart or vehicle in need of service. There are no gas stations, rest stops or stores. Cell phone service is spotty at best.
This creepy section of the Everglades is 20 miles of gravel road on the western portion and somewhat paved on the eastern side. The couple of homes at the eastern end are rustic, at best.
Our advice is to travel at your leisure and own risk!
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
