Photo courtesy of Pixabay
February in Florida: Love, like humidity, is in the air. Romance, with all of its ups and downs, is not only for the living: there are supernatural stories of devotion, ditching, and devastation found across the state of Florida.
Spectral Love in Florida
Spectral love falls into several categories. The first is the amorous romance.
We begin this category with the legendary figure of a gentleman in a three-piece suit who haunts the third floor of the original Detroit Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg. The hotel is the oldest in the city with founder John Williams building it in 1888. It is said that Williams named the hotel after his hometown in Michigan and that it was built to house working class visitors who came with the Orange Belt railway.
No one knows who he is, though it is speculated that he was a resident of the hotel. The gentleman can be seen during concerts at Jannus Live (formerly known as Jannus Landing) on a balcony on the old part of the hotel. Young women who see him report that, once seen, he smiles and flirts back. However, look away or try to get someone else to see him, and he vanishes.
Flirty Fisherman
A second figure is the “flirty fisherman” found by Bunces Pass Bridge, near Fort De Soto. Captain Bill Miller’s Tampa Bay Triangle cites this handsome-looking fellow as Doulton Gray, a man who was killed in 1994. Death does not always end the fun: he continues to manifest, fishing pole and all, to chat up the ladies.
There are two versions of the story: that he is still looking for one specific woman, the love of his life, or that he is playing the paranormal dating field. Either way, women who see him do not seem bothered by the flirting.
The Tinkerer
Years ago, when the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg, a paranormal investigative group, investigated Patty’s and Friends Antique Mall, we discovered a figure that we named “The Tinkerer” because of his affinity with antique radios.
This was one of our favorite ghosts because he could also lower the temperature in sections of the room upon request. In fact, when we did pop-up tours there, several groups of tours were able to witness this. However, he had a mischievous side, too, that had an affinity for young blonde women. Ladies on the tour sometimes felt a playful pinch or a hand stroking their hair when they were in that room. We were unable to determine who this man was in life, but in death, he left a lasting impression.
Read about the dark history of St. Pete’s Mirror Lake.
The Amber Tides Motel
There are stronger spectral interactions than mere flirting recorded in our fair county. Oddly, the now-closed Amber Tides Motel in Clearwater had a unique ghost story: There was one room within the location that hosted a very active entity, described as the “personification of sexual energy” and as the “orgasm ghost.”
There are a few story entries found online, all posted by women, who describe staying alone in the room when they feel their hands touching them. The descriptions get racier from there, but the short of it is that human lovers don’t even come close to the experience. Sadly, the hotel closed in 2017, before the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg could follow up with an investigation.
After a bit of searching, the original managers responded to a request to tell more about the story.
From Facebook Messenger with the Amber Tides Motel page: “We were the managers at Amber Tides for many years. No clue where the story came from… just showed up on the internet. It did bring a lot of phone calls and a few visitors, but no truth to the story, unfortunately.”
The Belleview-Biltmore Hotel
There are also stories of lovelorn ghosts. The former Belleview-Biltmore Hotel in Belleair also had a legend of a ghost bride. A newlywed, she learned that her husband died in a car crash, and she killed herself by jumping from the fifth floor. Her sullen ghost was reportedly seen looking out of windows on the fifth floor when the hotel was intact, and she was associated with mysterious cold spots in the building.
There are even ghosts attached to jewelry, perhaps given as tokens of love. While there isn’t anything indicating this, it does make for a sentimental ghost story. The two ladies of these stories feature Maise Plant, mother of Henry Plant, who built the Belleview-Biltmore hotel. She was said to have roamed the halls of the Biltmore hotel looking for her lost pearls.
Read part one and two of the Unitarian Universalist Church in St. Pete Investigation.
The second is a wealthy socialite who stayed at the Admiral Farragut Academy when it was still the Jungle Country Club Hotel. She lost her jewels in the hotel and now spends eternity looking for them. Never let it be said that women don’t have a special appreciation for tokens of love given in life.
So, as we conclude the month of love, just remember that supernatural and strange love apparently continues into the hereafter, so if you don’t have a significant other now there’s no need to worry: death is not the end of the dating pool!
If you have other ghostly tales of love to offer up, and remember that we covered Thomas Rowe’s story last year, and we’re saving the Lady In White at the Vinoy for a future story, please send information to admin@spiritsofstpete.com.
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