Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener, discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: I've always known I was not into the idea of
Speaker 2: provoking spirits. For one, I find it disrespectful, and secondly,
Speaker 2: if I can't see who I'm talking to, if I
Speaker 2: can barely even prove they exist, why on earth would
Speaker 2: I try to get their attention by berating them. This
Speaker 2: episode's location really drove that home for me. I first
Speaker 2: investigated it years ago on the show ghost Hunters. It
Speaker 2: was one of my first cases on the show and
Speaker 2: on national television, to be frank so, even though I'd
Speaker 2: been on many teams and had investigated for years, I
Speaker 2: was the new beat here, Which was why when my
Speaker 2: partner on the show, who was definitely just trying to
Speaker 2: have some fun with me, told the ghosts we were
Speaker 2: looking for that I wanted to burn the whole place down,
Speaker 2: I got a wee bit offensive. This was my reputation
Speaker 2: on the line here. It was also in that moment
Speaker 2: we heard slamming noises in the room with us. Whoever
Speaker 2: was there did not like the idea of this preciously
Speaker 2: historic building burning down. Nor did I, of course, so
Speaker 2: we'd gotten a response, which I suppose is what anyone
Speaker 2: could want on an investigation, especially one on reality television.
Speaker 2: But truthfully, even though I don't think there was any
Speaker 2: real ill intention, I didn't feel great about the way
Speaker 2: we'd composed ourselves. And that's why the Cuban Club in
Speaker 2: Ebor City, Florida cemented my decision to never antagonize a
Speaker 2: spirit without reason Again. I'm Amy Bruney, and this is
Speaker 2: Haunted Road. From the outside, the Cuban Club in Ebors City,
Speaker 2: Florida looks like a stately old library or museum nestled
Speaker 2: in a historic Hispanic neighborhood in northeastern Tampa. The structure
Speaker 2: is made of bright yellow brick with white trim. Two
Speaker 2: twin staircases, one on the right and one on the left,
Speaker 2: meet in front of its raised front door. The columns
Speaker 2: to either side of the entrance each stand two stories tall.
Speaker 2: They frame the door, as well as a stained glass
Speaker 2: window depicting the Cuban coat of arms. The inside is
Speaker 2: equally elegant, think tiled floors, stairways with wrought iron balustrades,
Speaker 2: a cantina that dates back to the late thirties or
Speaker 2: early forties, and a theater that can seat four hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy five people and fills two stories of the building.
Speaker 2: It has an elaborately carved priscinnium surrounding the plush red curtain.
Speaker 2: Just outside the theater. There are white ticket booths by
Speaker 2: both the main and balcony entrances. The top floor holds
Speaker 2: a ballroom with a fantastic view of the Tampa skyline,
Speaker 2: plus a terrace. All this in a four story, thirty
Speaker 2: seven thousand square foot Neo Classical Revival style building. If
Speaker 2: you visit one of its many bars or gathering spaces,
Speaker 2: it's not hard to picture people meeting here seventy or
Speaker 2: eighty years ago, smoking, drinking, eating, and having a wonderful time.
Speaker 2: Built in eighteen ninety nine, the Cuban Club was supposed
Speaker 2: to provide both fun and financial stability to the residents
Speaker 2: of Ebor City. At that time, the community was considered
Speaker 2: the cigar capital of the world. According to the National
Speaker 2: Park Service, Many of the six thousand residents worked in
Speaker 2: factories where they made cigars. Thanks to restrictions on Cuban imports,
Speaker 2: there was a high demand for American made ones Clubs
Speaker 2: like the Cuban Club, which was renamed a couple of
Speaker 2: times through its existence, popped up to offer locals a
Speaker 2: place to gather and socialize, but also it provided benefits
Speaker 2: and support that people might not otherwise get at their
Speaker 2: working class jobs. As reported by Lucy B Wayne and
Speaker 2: Lauren Krebs in a report for the US Department of
Speaker 2: the Interior, who joined the Cuban Club didn't just have
Speaker 2: a place to enjoy a drink and watch a show.
Speaker 2: They could also attend English lessons, access the library, and
Speaker 2: set up death benefits. The Cuban Club even offered its
Speaker 2: members healthcare. The organization occasionally hired doctors and operated an
Speaker 2: on site clinic. They helped their clients pay for surgeries
Speaker 2: and other care, and if someone couldn't work because they
Speaker 2: were too sick, the club would give them financial assistance.
Speaker 2: Authors Mark Munsey and Carrie Schultz described the organization as
Speaker 2: one of the first HMOs in the country. In light
Speaker 2: of all this, it's fairly unsurprising that the club was
Speaker 2: incredibly popular. In nineteen oh two, just three years after
Speaker 2: it opens its doors, it had three hundred members. A
Speaker 2: little over a decade later, in nineteen fourteen, that roster
Speaker 2: had swelled to about one thousand people. Local law at
Speaker 2: the time dictated that light skinned and dark skinned people
Speaker 2: could not congregate together, so even though skin tones within
Speaker 2: families would cover a range of human colorations, the Cuban
Speaker 2: Club was for light skinned Cubans. Another local club was
Speaker 2: for dark skinned Cubans. Despite this, residence flocked to the
Speaker 2: Cuban Club. Even a fire in nineteen sixteen couldn't dissuade people,
Speaker 2: and the rebuilt building reopened its doors the following year.
Speaker 2: The decade after that, the club's treasurer, Enrique Santa Cruz,
Speaker 2: embezzled a little over seven thousand dollars or the equivalent
Speaker 2: of one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars today. The
Speaker 2: club was still a smashing success. They hosted boxing matches
Speaker 2: and musical performances and boasted roughly forty five hundred members
Speaker 2: by the nineteen thirties. During the Cuban Revolution in the
Speaker 2: nineteen fifties, a large number of its members supported Fidel Castro.
Speaker 2: This led to some tension as Cuban refugees fleeing to
Speaker 2: the United States didn't see eye to eye with high
Speaker 2: ranking members of the club. In July nineteen sixty two,
Speaker 2: a vandal painted hammers and sickles on the building an
Speaker 2: unfurled a revolutionary banner. A month later, several leaders resigned
Speaker 2: because the organization was, according to them, communists dominated, as
Speaker 2: reported in the Tampa Tribune. Interestingly, after that summer, the
Speaker 2: club's politics seemed to mellow. They did more outreach to
Speaker 2: Cuban refugees who'd fled Castro's rule. This all happened in
Speaker 2: the midst of an anti communist wave that swept through
Speaker 2: the whole United States, not just Ebor City. The same
Speaker 2: year as the vandalism and the resignations, an embargo made
Speaker 2: it impossible for American factories to import Cuban tobacco. The
Speaker 2: cigar plants near the Cuban Club subsequently shut down. It
Speaker 2: was terrible timing, as a recent highway construction project had
Speaker 2: destroyed parts of the neighborhood, and a subsequent urban development
Speaker 2: program displaced nearly one thousand families. While people left Ebor City,
Speaker 2: fewer locals bought memberships at the club, and it began
Speaker 2: to suffer a thirty year decline. In nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 2: a non profit group bought the building and set about
Speaker 2: renovating and restoring it while educating people on Ebor City's history.
Speaker 2: According to Paul Guzo of the Tampa Bay Times, today
Speaker 2: you can rent the club as an event space. While
Speaker 2: its ultimate decline was related to finances and the US
Speaker 2: Cuban relationship, the club suffered its fair share of scandals too.
Speaker 2: It stands to reason, of course, a paston popular social
Speaker 2: club would be a pressure cooker for interpersonal conflict that
Speaker 2: erupted into violence. In nineteen twenty seven, the club's treasurer,
Speaker 2: Enrique Santa Cruz, took his own life. He was behind
Speaker 2: the embezzlement scandal I mentioned before, and when he died,
Speaker 2: he left a note confessing to the crime. Seven years later,
Speaker 2: in April nineteen thirty four, the president, Edward Valdez, made
Speaker 2: the unpopular decision to fire one of the organization's doctors.
Speaker 2: He and the other leaders held a meeting to discuss
Speaker 2: the firing. Over five hundred disgruntled members piled into the
Speaker 2: packed theater to des gust the situation. Over the course
Speaker 2: of two hours, the discussions grew more contentious. Accounts vary,
Speaker 2: but it seems that at one point one or more
Speaker 2: attendees rushed the stage, or they flocked toward President Valdez
Speaker 2: when he tried to leave. In one account published in
Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay Times, a cigar maker and member named
Speaker 2: Bellarmino Vallejo led the mob. There's some debate over how
Speaker 2: things escalated from there, but after a massive brawl broke
Speaker 2: out among more than a dozen of the attendees, a
Speaker 2: gunshot rang through the theater. Bell Armino had been shot,
Speaker 2: but nobody saw who pulled the trigger, in part because
Speaker 2: Bellarmino had somehow made his way toward the dressing rooms,
Speaker 2: which had no clear line of sight from the rest
Speaker 2: of the theater. He was rushed into surgery at a
Speaker 2: clinic across the street, but his physicians couldn't save his life.
Speaker 2: In his final hours, Bellarmino explained how he'd been murdered.
Speaker 2: According to him, two club directors removed his glasses and
Speaker 2: held him down while President Edward Valdez shot him. Just
Speaker 2: before midnight on Friday the thirteenth, bell Armino breathes his
Speaker 2: last breath, but his testimony apparently wasn't strong enough to
Speaker 2: convict anyone of his murder. The police never charged anyone
Speaker 2: with the crime. There are allegations of another homicide that
Speaker 2: happened in the club, presumably around nineteen seventeen, but I
Speaker 2: haven't been able to find any sources verifying that it happened.
Speaker 2: The accounts say a club president named Albert J. Colby
Speaker 2: was shot in the face, and his specter is said
Speaker 2: to still haunt the building. These rumors also imply that
Speaker 2: his murder may have been related to his involvement in
Speaker 2: another embezzlement scheme. The problem the club has never had
Speaker 2: a president with that name. One leader had a similar moniker,
Speaker 2: Alfredo J. Coley, but he wasn't murdered, and he lived
Speaker 2: and served the club for years after the supposed homicide.
Speaker 2: So it's hard to say whose ghost with a visible
Speaker 2: wound on his face haunts the club. It's not bel
Speaker 2: Armino Vallejo. His fatal injury was in his abdomen. That said,
Speaker 2: Bellarmino's ghost has been spotted frequently in the theater where
Speaker 2: he was shot. According to Lloyd Carrera Santos, writing for
Speaker 2: El Cerulo Cubano in one oh one, he died just
Speaker 2: before twelve am, and his ghosts trudged back to the
Speaker 2: club and stepped over the threshold right as midnight bells chimed.
Speaker 2: Some witnesses have also seen President Edward Valdez, who Bellarmino
Speaker 2: named as his killer. The Cuban Club hauntings are interesting
Speaker 2: in that there are a lot of ghosts with names
Speaker 2: and backstories that can't be verified. Like the spirit with
Speaker 2: the facial gunshot wound, their histories and the causes of
Speaker 2: their debts are mixed with rumor and allegation in a
Speaker 2: way that makes it hard to say what's true and
Speaker 2: what isn't. For example, accounts say that in nineteen nineteen,
Speaker 2: a playwright an actor named Vincent Or Victorio was supposed
Speaker 2: to star in his debut play. According to a story
Speaker 2: on Fox thirteen, he forgot his lines during the performance,
Speaker 2: w h umiliated, he took his own life, and some
Speaker 2: telling he waited until late that night when the theater
Speaker 2: was empty. In others, he died by suicide on stage
Speaker 2: during the show, right in front of the horrified audience members. However,
Speaker 2: there aren't any contemporary records to validate any part of
Speaker 2: this story. Likewise, many visitors have claimed to see a
Speaker 2: woman in a white dress and red heels in the ballroom.
Speaker 2: Local lore suggests Her name is Carlita or Rosalita, and
Speaker 2: she attended an event at the club in the twenties.
Speaker 2: A man asked her to dance, and when she declined,
Speaker 2: he flew into a rage and pushed her off a
Speaker 2: third story balcony, killing her. However, there's no record of
Speaker 2: such a murder happening, nor is there any evidence to
Speaker 2: support the rumors that her vengeful brother killed the man
Speaker 2: the next day. Additionally, there are no records of anyone
Speaker 2: ever drowning in the club's pool, which is in the basement,
Speaker 2: but many visitors claim they've seen an eight or nine
Speaker 2: year old boy named Jimmy playing with the ball where
Speaker 2: the pool used to be. Guests looking at the club
Speaker 2: from the outside have also seen Jimmy peering out the
Speaker 2: upstairs windows at them. Beyond that, there are many supposed
Speaker 2: spirits whose identities aren't known. Sometimes they sound like a
Speaker 2: woman screaming for help or an unseen person singing. When
Speaker 2: guests walk by paintings, they get the sense that the
Speaker 2: subject's eyes are following them. The piano in the theater
Speaker 2: often plays by itself. The elevator tends to malfunction between
Speaker 2: four and five am, and these technical problems have been
Speaker 2: blamed on different ghosts, depending on who you ask. Occasionally,
Speaker 2: visitors catch a whiff of smoke on the air, like
Speaker 2: a spectral memory of the fire that burnt the club down.
Speaker 2: Other times, a man who smells of pipe tobacco, dressed
Speaker 2: in a suit in Fedora has been sighted rushing past
Speaker 2: visitors then disappearing. All to say, the building seems positively
Speaker 2: crowded with spirits. In fact, a local ghost tour guide
Speaker 2: is speculated that there was something like three hundred specters
Speaker 2: in the building, and the Travel Channel has dubbed the
Speaker 2: Cuban Club one of the top ten most haunted locations
Speaker 2: in the United States. Perhaps the area is just as
Speaker 2: brimming with people after their deaths as it was during
Speaker 2: their lives.
Speaker 1: Up next, we will be.
Speaker 2: Talking to local ghost tour guide Steve Stamberger. He has
Speaker 2: spent countless hours in the Cuban Club and given that
Speaker 2: he's one of the most well known ghost tour guides
Speaker 2: in Ebor City, he has some very colorful stories to tell.
Speaker 2: That is coming up after the break. So I am
Speaker 2: now joined by Steve Stamberger, who is a ghost and
Speaker 2: historic tour guide.
Speaker 1: In Ebar City.
Speaker 2: Very familiar with the Cuban Club and so we're so
Speaker 2: happy to have him. Thanks for joining us today, Steve.
Speaker 3: It is my pleasure to be here with you.
Speaker 2: So fun fact, I actually investigated the Cuban Club a
Speaker 2: number of years ago with Guns. I want to say
Speaker 2: this was like two thousand and eight, two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2: I was still fresh on the scene with the show,
Speaker 2: and I just remember a having a little bit too
Speaker 2: much fun in Ebors City, which I feel like is
Speaker 2: par for the course.
Speaker 1: And then I also remember having.
Speaker 2: Some really great activity in the club itself, and it
Speaker 2: was one of my first kind of moments where I
Speaker 2: was investigating I believe with Chris on the show, and
Speaker 2: we had a lot of things happen in that ballroom upstairs.
Speaker 2: We had a lot of footsteps, we had bangs, and
Speaker 2: it was a really fun time. So I'm kind of
Speaker 2: jealous you get to go in there so often.
Speaker 4: It's quite a joy to be in that building and
Speaker 4: touch base with the history and the heritage.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but as a believer in the other side, it's
Speaker 5: wonderful to be able to interact with that and to
Speaker 5: bring our guests into that atmosphere where they can actually
Speaker 5: touch the other side capture.
Speaker 4: Images and in Iraq, it's quite an experience on our ghostores.
Speaker 2: Okay, Now, if someone going into the Cuban Club rother
Speaker 2: on a tour otherwise, like, what do you say, are
Speaker 2: like the kind of the most common types of activity
Speaker 2: people experience there.
Speaker 3: Well, before we enter the building, we give an overrun
Speaker 3: on the history of the building as well as what
Speaker 3: goes on on each of the four floors. It is
Speaker 3: estimated that there are three hundred spirits that call that
Speaker 3: building home. But there are certain superstars in that building
Speaker 3: who are very interested in showing themselves to people in
Speaker 3: that building, whether you work in that building or whether
Speaker 3: you're a guest in that building. So every floor has
Speaker 3: something special, some superstar spirit who really likes to take
Speaker 3: the stage on that particular floor.
Speaker 2: So we cover the history of the Cuban Club in
Speaker 2: the first half of the pod. So we're pretty familiar
Speaker 2: with the backstory, which is it's very interesting. But what
Speaker 2: I find kind of unusual, not even really unusual because
Speaker 2: this happens quite often, but the fact that so many
Speaker 2: of the spirits there there isn't like actual historic record
Speaker 2: to link the spirits to like something that has happened
Speaker 2: like they're not identified in some way through research. So
Speaker 2: what do you think brings so many spirits to the
Speaker 2: Cuban Club.
Speaker 3: I have a personal opinion on that, and what I
Speaker 3: tell my guests on the tour is that I remind
Speaker 3: them about vinyl records, and I remind them how vinyl
Speaker 3: records absorb the sound, the melody, the voices, and I
Speaker 3: share that buildings such as the Cuban Club, those walls,
Speaker 3: those floors, and ceilings act just like a vinyl record,
Speaker 3: and over the decades that the Cuban people have called
Speaker 3: that place home, the music, the voices all are built
Speaker 3: and absorbed into those walls. The social clubs of mister
Speaker 3: Ebors City were the center of each immigrant peoples. They
Speaker 3: provided everything right, not just social life, but medical care
Speaker 3: and hospitalization. They were the heart and soul of each
Speaker 3: of those people, and those hearts and souls still resound
Speaker 3: in that building.
Speaker 2: That makes great sense, actually, because that's kind of kind
Speaker 2: of a path we go down often on Hunted Road
Speaker 2: and other areas where I investigate is that you know,
Speaker 2: it's not always a place where someone passed or where
Speaker 2: a tragedy happened. It can always be you know, a
Speaker 2: location where someone just felt particularly drawn to it, like
Speaker 2: it was the place of you know, happiness in their life,
Speaker 2: great memories, and like why wouldn't you want to take
Speaker 2: a moment and kind of relive that if you have
Speaker 2: that a So that does make sense, So kind of
Speaker 2: along those same lines. So we were kind of getting
Speaker 2: into it briefly. You said, there's like different spirits that
Speaker 2: kind of on each floor seem to make themselves known
Speaker 2: the most. Can you kind of go into a couple
Speaker 2: of maybe your favorite ghost stories or interactions that you've
Speaker 2: had there over the years, or other people have kind
Speaker 2: of parleyed to you.
Speaker 3: Oh. Absolutely, Because we are the only ghost tour in
Speaker 3: mister Eboards City with access to that building. We have
Speaker 3: a lot of people come on our tours and a
Speaker 3: lot of them are repeat customers. They want access to
Speaker 3: that building and it's only through our ghost tour they
Speaker 3: can do that. And so they bring that magic with them,
Speaker 3: that ability to interact with the other side, to sense it,
Speaker 3: to relate to it. And when a person like that
Speaker 3: is in the building, they are like a candle in
Speaker 3: a dark room and the spirits are drawn to them.
Speaker 3: They are drawn to the life, and so we have
Speaker 3: people on our tours who actually will freeze as they
Speaker 3: are actually expressing an interaction with a spirit. In that building,
Speaker 3: he started with the ballroom, and of course, the young
Speaker 3: girl's name is Rosalita. She's known as the woman in White.
Speaker 3: She was tragically murdered. She was thrown out of the
Speaker 3: fourth floor ballroom window because she refused to dance with
Speaker 3: a particular gentleman. As the story has evolved, it's quite
Speaker 3: possible that she was with child, unmarried, supposedly a stunning
Speaker 3: beauty and a great dancer, and while she's at that
Speaker 3: fourteen foot long French door, perhaps catching a breath of
Speaker 3: fresh air or a sip of cool water on a
Speaker 3: hot Sunday evening, she declines a gentleman's advances for a dance,
Speaker 3: and she's thrown out of the window, and she dies
Speaker 3: at the foot of the steps on the north side
Speaker 3: of the building on Palm Avenue. She's known in that
Speaker 3: building as a woman in White and has often been
Speaker 3: seen and captured on film and digital photography in a
Speaker 3: flowing address. It's the ballroom, It's where she was the happiest.
Speaker 3: She's often been seen from across the street the people
Speaker 3: look up to the ballroom, and once you understand the
Speaker 3: layout of the ballroom, the only way she could be
Speaker 3: seen as if she was on a twenty foot ladder,
Speaker 3: and when you go in there, there's no twenty foot ladder.
Speaker 3: And yet people have seen her at the top of
Speaker 3: those magnificent windows, and so people will have interactions with her.
Speaker 3: A few months ago, I had a young girl on
Speaker 3: the tour. She was actually Haitian and Dominican. She has
Speaker 3: both parents from both sides of that island, and she
Speaker 3: had beautiful, beautiful, dark hair. While everyone's up there and
Speaker 3: taking pictures and videos, and of course they're using our
Speaker 3: emf meters, she screams at the top of her lungs
Speaker 3: and faints on the floor. And when we brought her back,
Speaker 3: she said that ROSALIEA actually approached her and she could
Speaker 3: see her face and Rosalie reached out and stroked her
Speaker 3: beautiful hair, and of course at that point she screamed
Speaker 3: and passed out, and that is what she told us
Speaker 3: when we revived her. And so we have different levels
Speaker 3: of interaction with people, and a lot of times the
Speaker 3: more open and better able to interact those types of
Speaker 3: things happen right in that building and on the tours,
Speaker 3: and those things also happened with the people that work
Speaker 3: in that building. They're constantly having interaction with the spirits
Speaker 3: in that building.
Speaker 2: That's what was my next question was I wanted to
Speaker 2: know kind of how that affects employees. They're like what
Speaker 2: it's like for them working in the building on the
Speaker 2: day today, like what I'm sure quite unexpected fashions. These
Speaker 2: spirits kind of make themselves known to them. Have you
Speaker 2: heard any stories from folks who work there.
Speaker 3: Sure. The woman who is the office manager of the building,
Speaker 3: she's in there early in the morning, and she will
Speaker 3: often have interaction with the young boy himI, who drowns
Speaker 3: in the swimming pool in nineteen thirty in the gymnasium
Speaker 3: of that building. And the boy is always friendly. He's
Speaker 3: an eight year old boy. She's had interactions as she's
Speaker 3: going through the different floors of the buildings to where
Speaker 3: she hears voices, she'll hear noises, and she'll talk to
Speaker 3: the people and wish them a good day. It quiets down.
Speaker 3: I think we both understand that spirits don't try to hide.
Speaker 3: They want us to know they're they're and as a
Speaker 3: result of that, if we ignore them, they make a
Speaker 3: lot of noise. If we speak to them and give
Speaker 3: them what they want recognition, they quiet down right. Actually,
Speaker 3: the gentleman is the maintenance engineer of that building, will
Speaker 3: often have to work in the evenings and getting the
Speaker 3: building ready for some type of event or visitation, and
Speaker 3: so he works during the night hours, and he will
Speaker 3: often find himself dealing with footsteps on the stairs, he's
Speaker 3: had furniture move while he's working in a particular room,
Speaker 3: the sound of voices and different things. And so none
Speaker 3: of us fear the spirituality of the building, but we
Speaker 3: have a great deal of respect for that spirituality. We
Speaker 3: know those spirits are there, and if you spend any
Speaker 3: time in that building, you will never question whether or
Speaker 3: not that building is the fourth most haunted building in
Speaker 3: the country.
Speaker 2: Now do you think that? Do you think the spirits
Speaker 2: then become pretty familiar with people they see on a
Speaker 2: daily basis. I'm sure they kind of start to kind
Speaker 2: of grow an affection toward employees or maybe even tour
Speaker 2: guides like yourself, Like, do you find that you have
Speaker 2: maybe the same kind of interactions over and over again,
Speaker 2: or they might make themselves known to you or others
Speaker 2: in a special way just out of familiarity.
Speaker 3: I believe that that's the case that over the years
Speaker 3: there has been a welcoming to the living beings that
Speaker 3: visit work in that building. On more than one occasion
Speaker 3: when those people are on our tours that have that ability,
Speaker 3: I have been told that there is an older Cuban
Speaker 3: gentleman that follows me around the building and watches out
Speaker 3: for my safety while I'm giving tours. And trust me,
Speaker 3: I don't doubt that.
Speaker 2: Thet Yeah, that's really interesting. So now just on the
Speaker 2: day today, Like obviously, these are very profound, very spiritual
Speaker 2: kind of types of experiences. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 2: when I investigated there many moons ago, you know, I
Speaker 2: remember just kind of being there late at night and
Speaker 2: it can.
Speaker 1: You know, thankfully we're there late enough.
Speaker 2: I do remember, like it's busy downtown, but we were
Speaker 2: there late at night that things kind of started to
Speaker 2: get quiet and we were able to really experience the
Speaker 2: building itself, and it does have kind of a special
Speaker 2: feeling to it. But I do remember too just there
Speaker 2: being a lot of noise, like a lot of a
Speaker 2: lot of footsteps. I remember hearing footsteps a lot. I
Speaker 2: remember hearing knocking. There was one point where the person
Speaker 2: I was investigating with she she kind of made this
Speaker 2: She said that I was going to burn the club down,
Speaker 2: which clearly I was not, and I remember just being like,
Speaker 2: very defensive, because I don't like provoking when I'm investigating
Speaker 2: at all to try to get a rise out of
Speaker 2: us spirits. So I just remember being like, no, I
Speaker 2: am definitely not doing that, And right at that moment,
Speaker 2: there was this massive bang that happened in the building.
Speaker 2: And so do you see things like that very often?
Speaker 2: Maybe not even on tours, but when you're in there
Speaker 2: on your own or with other business.
Speaker 3: Let me share this with you, and I rarely share
Speaker 3: this information. I wear hearing aids. I will not wear
Speaker 3: them in the building. I do not speak a word
Speaker 3: of Spanish. When I have my hearing aids on, and
Speaker 3: I've worn them in the past, I can hear that
Speaker 3: I'm being spoken to in Spanish, and I do not
Speaker 3: speak Spanish. But when I have my hearing aids on,
Speaker 3: I can actually hear the Spanish language being spoken, and
Speaker 3: I know it's being directed at me personally, and so
Speaker 3: it doesn't scare me. But it is distracting when you're
Speaker 3: trying to give a tour someone is speaking Spanish in
Speaker 3: your ear and you know that it's not a living person.
Speaker 2: So that is fascinating because, like, I have never even
Speaker 2: thought about that.
Speaker 1: That's the first time I've heard that.
Speaker 2: Where hearing aids, because you know, we so often when
Speaker 2: we investigate, we're using you know, electronics, we're using recorders,
Speaker 2: we're using cameras, and I honestly never even occurred to
Speaker 2: me that hearing aids could amplify something like that. And
Speaker 2: I'll be curious if anyone's listening who's had this experience,
Speaker 2: because this is something I'm going to follow up on.
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: So my interest is like hugely piqued by this, to
Speaker 2: be honest. And so that's so you can't even wear
Speaker 2: them in there because it's it's so difficult for you
Speaker 2: to kind of concentrate on what you're doing because you're
Speaker 2: hearing other things.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's very distracting because you know you're trying to
Speaker 3: communicate with.
Speaker 2: You That's very interesting. I mean I I honestly, like
Speaker 2: I said, I had never even thought of that. It
Speaker 2: makes me wonder how many times, like people wearing hearing aids,
Speaker 2: like turn them down because they're here something they don't
Speaker 2: realize they might be hearing something kind of otherworldly.
Speaker 3: Sure it could be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so now I thought you told me about
Speaker 2: the girl who actually fainted on a tour. Now have
Speaker 2: you ever had anybody just kind of go in there
Speaker 2: and just say, nope, I'm getting out.
Speaker 1: This is not for me this building.
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: How often does that happen?
Speaker 3: It's a fairly common occurrence. When we get to the
Speaker 3: Cuban Club, it's generally our final destination. So we have
Speaker 3: been on the streets, visiting other locations, sharing the stories
Speaker 3: and the hauntings of those locations in the streets. And
Speaker 3: so by the time we get to that door, and
Speaker 3: we have explained to the people what we are going
Speaker 3: to experiencing, what door we are going in, what happened here,
Speaker 3: what happened there. On more than one occasion, and again
Speaker 3: rather frequently, there are people of all ages, from children
Speaker 3: to grown adults who have had to go in the building.
Speaker 3: And I've had people wait for their friends outside it
Speaker 3: would not go in the building.
Speaker 2: That actually makes sense, because you know, you've had this
Speaker 2: incredible build up where all you've talked about is ghosts
Speaker 2: and hauntings, and then they're actually faced to the idea
Speaker 2: of kind of entering a building with known activity, And
Speaker 2: I could see how some people would just say, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm miss sit this one out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense. Has anyone ever made it in
Speaker 2: and had something happen to them that was enough for
Speaker 2: them to just like cut out?
Speaker 3: Oh, we've had people, We've had people leave the building.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean most of the activities seems fairly I don't
Speaker 2: want to say benign, it's not benign, but it seems
Speaker 2: pretty friendly and welcoming in a way. Has there ever
Speaker 2: been anything there that truly frightened you?
Speaker 3: Nothing has really frightened me, because when you understand that
Speaker 3: they just want us to know that they and if
Speaker 3: you're open to that, there's nothing to fear. It may
Speaker 3: be a little strange and freaky, but there's really nothing
Speaker 3: to fear.
Speaker 2: No. I echo that sentiment for sure. But there definitely
Speaker 2: have been some times in my paranormal career where I
Speaker 2: was like, I need to take a breather. That was
Speaker 2: a little intense, even for me.
Speaker 3: I had one it was probably two years ago, and
Speaker 3: there was a group of friends. One couple were married.
Speaker 3: He was returning that from the war in the Mid East,
Speaker 3: and apparently he had been well. He had died twice
Speaker 3: in battle, he had been severely wounded twice, and he
Speaker 3: was written off. But he came back. And we're in
Speaker 3: one of the early floors when this tour first begins,
Speaker 3: and I looked around, and his wife went, my husband's missing.
Speaker 3: And I said, okay, because no one's allowed to take
Speaker 3: a rogue tour through the rle And we traveled for
Speaker 3: the war together, and I make that point very clear.
Speaker 3: And so we found him up in the ballroom, hiding
Speaker 3: under one of the bars, under the sinks of the bars,
Speaker 3: and he didn't know how he got there. He said
Speaker 3: he felt that spirits came for him and led him
Speaker 3: up there. And when you think about it, if a
Speaker 3: person has crossed over and then came back, as we
Speaker 3: know people will the spirits know that you've been on
Speaker 3: their side, You've been in their realm, if only for
Speaker 3: a minute. And I think people that have had that
Speaker 3: near death experience or have crossed over for short periods
Speaker 3: of time when you're in an atmosphere like that the
Speaker 3: spirits are aware of that right and the connection, and
Speaker 3: so that was one of the strangest events that had
Speaker 3: me very concerned because this veteran was visibly shaken.
Speaker 2: Well, that makes sense. I love that building. I need
Speaker 2: to get back there. When I kind of looked back
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh my gosh, It's been how
Speaker 2: many years since I've been in Eboors City. So it's
Speaker 2: definitely a visit I need to make.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: If other people want to go and check out the
Speaker 2: Cuban Club and your tour, what do they need to do?
Speaker 3: The website is Tampa tours dot com and we do
Speaker 3: historic tours in the daytime and Downtown Tampa and of
Speaker 3: course mister Eboors City, and then we also do in
Speaker 3: the evenings those tours in Downtown Tampa and Mister Eboors City.
Speaker 3: And so they can go on to Tampa tours dot
Speaker 3: com and find out which tour they would like to enjoy,
Speaker 3: and it's easy to book and you will have the
Speaker 3: right of your life.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: Well, they should clearly request mister Steve Stamberger as their
Speaker 2: tour guide because you definitely have a fun flare about
Speaker 2: you and I love that you're like smoking a cigar
Speaker 2: while we're talking. It's lovely, But I do want to
Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure,
Speaker 2: and hopefully I will meet you in person someday soon.
Speaker 3: I look forward to it, and it has been a
Speaker 3: pleasure to share the stories with you.
Speaker 2: When it was at its peak, the Cuban Club was
Speaker 2: vivacious and joyful, and these days it seems the spirits
Speaker 2: have maintained that vibrant party atmosphere. Like Steve suggested, spirits
Speaker 2: return to the site because they remember the good times
Speaker 2: they had there. Maybe we could all take a lesson
Speaker 2: from them that our time on earth is short. That's
Speaker 2: no reason not to be happy and have fun, even
Speaker 2: or maybe especially, after our lives have come to their end.
Speaker 2: I'm Amy Brunei and this was Haunted Road. Are you
Speaker 2: tired of the same old vacation destinations and cookie cutter experiences?
Speaker 2: Do you crave a sense of mystery, wonder and adventure
Speaker 2: that can't be found in ordinary travel brochures. Do you
Speaker 2: listen to this podcast and think I'd like to visit
Speaker 2: that spooky place? Well that's why I started Strange Escapes,
Speaker 2: a paranormal based travel company that takes you to some
Speaker 2: of the most haunted locations in the world. Frankly, it's
Speaker 2: my excuse to combine all of my favorite things, which
Speaker 2: is ghosts, beautiful hotels, food and wine, and other weirdos
Speaker 2: like me.
Speaker 1: To be honest.
Speaker 2: If that sounds right up your alley and you want
Speaker 2: to learn more, then visit Strange Escapes dot travel and
Speaker 2: hopefully you can join us sometime.
Speaker 1: Also.
Speaker 2: To keep up on all of my upcoming projects and appearances,
Speaker 2: head to Amybrune dot com. I have some really great
Speaker 2: things in the works and I don't want you to
Speaker 2: miss it.
Speaker 1: Thanks.
Speaker 2: Haunted Roadies. Haunted Road is hosted and written by me
Speaker 2: Amy Brunne, with additional research by Cassandra de Alba. This
Speaker 2: show is edited and produced by Rima el Kali, with
Speaker 2: supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Menke, Alex Williams,
Speaker 2: and Matt Frederick. Haunted Road is a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 2: and Grim and Mild from Aaronmanke. Learn more about this
Speaker 2: show over at Grimanmild dot com, and for more podcasts
Speaker 2: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
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