WEBVTT - Nobody Saw Who Pulled the Trigger 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:04.720 Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.559 and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener, discretion is advised. 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.200 I've always known I was not into the idea of 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.920 provoking spirits. For one, I find it disrespectful, and secondly, 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.400 if I can't see who I'm talking to, if I 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.680 can barely even prove they exist, why on earth would 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.160 I try to get their attention by berating them. This 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.840 episode's location really drove that home for me. I first 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.239 investigated it years ago on the show ghost Hunters. It 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:40.479 was one of my first cases on the show and 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.160 on national television, to be frank so, even though I'd 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.440 been on many teams and had investigated for years, I 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:49.880 was the new beat here, Which was why when my 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:52.479 partner on the show, who was definitely just trying to 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.200 have some fun with me, told the ghosts we were 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.320 looking for that I wanted to burn the whole place down, 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.480 I got a wee bit offensive. This was my reputation 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.280 on the line here. It was also in that moment 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.440 we heard slamming noises in the room with us. Whoever 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.120 was there did not like the idea of this preciously 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.720 historic building burning down. Nor did I, of course, so 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.840 we'd gotten a response, which I suppose is what anyone 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.160 could want on an investigation, especially one on reality television. 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.440 But truthfully, even though I don't think there was any 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:29.040 real ill intention, I didn't feel great about the way 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:33.000 we'd composed ourselves. And that's why the Cuban Club in 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:37.720 Ebor City, Florida cemented my decision to never antagonize a 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:43.280 spirit without reason Again. I'm Amy Bruney, and this is 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:54.880 Haunted Road. From the outside, the Cuban Club in Ebors City, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.640 Florida looks like a stately old library or museum nestled 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.320 in a historic Hispanic neighborhood in northeastern Tampa. The structure 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.400 is made of bright yellow brick with white trim. Two 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.280 twin staircases, one on the right and one on the left, 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.799 meet in front of its raised front door. The columns 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.360 to either side of the entrance each stand two stories tall. 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.959 They frame the door, as well as a stained glass 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.840 window depicting the Cuban coat of arms. The inside is 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:28.639 equally elegant, think tiled floors, stairways with wrought iron balustrades, 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.480 a cantina that dates back to the late thirties or 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.160 early forties, and a theater that can seat four hundred 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.440 and seventy five people and fills two stories of the building. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.480 It has an elaborately carved priscinnium surrounding the plush red curtain. 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.840 Just outside the theater. There are white ticket booths by 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.919 both the main and balcony entrances. The top floor holds 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.239 a ballroom with a fantastic view of the Tampa skyline, 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.520 plus a terrace. All this in a four story, thirty 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:03.000 seven thousand square foot Neo Classical Revival style building. If 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.120 you visit one of its many bars or gathering spaces, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.160 it's not hard to picture people meeting here seventy or 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:13.919 eighty years ago, smoking, drinking, eating, and having a wonderful time. 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.720 Built in eighteen ninety nine, the Cuban Club was supposed 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.000 to provide both fun and financial stability to the residents 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.760 of Ebor City. At that time, the community was considered 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.800 the cigar capital of the world. According to the National 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.400 Park Service, Many of the six thousand residents worked in 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.800 factories where they made cigars. Thanks to restrictions on Cuban imports, 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.400 there was a high demand for American made ones Clubs 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.880 like the Cuban Club, which was renamed a couple of 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.120 times through its existence, popped up to offer locals a 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.320 place to gather and socialize, but also it provided benefits 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.040 and support that people might not otherwise get at their 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.920 working class jobs. As reported by Lucy B Wayne and 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.600 Lauren Krebs in a report for the US Department of 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.000 the Interior, who joined the Cuban Club didn't just have 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.360 a place to enjoy a drink and watch a show. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.840 They could also attend English lessons, access the library, and 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.360 set up death benefits. The Cuban Club even offered its 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:18.520 members healthcare. The organization occasionally hired doctors and operated an 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.160 on site clinic. They helped their clients pay for surgeries 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.640 and other care, and if someone couldn't work because they 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.039 were too sick, the club would give them financial assistance. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:33.000 Authors Mark Munsey and Carrie Schultz described the organization as 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.960 one of the first HMOs in the country. In light 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.039 of all this, it's fairly unsurprising that the club was 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.560 incredibly popular. In nineteen oh two, just three years after 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.080 it opens its doors, it had three hundred members. A 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.960 little over a decade later, in nineteen fourteen, that roster 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.840 had swelled to about one thousand people. Local law at 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.599 the time dictated that light skinned and dark skinned people 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.920 could not congregate together, so even though skin tones within 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.240 families would cover a range of human colorations, the Cuban 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.520 Club was for light skinned Cubans. Another local club was 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:12.039 for dark skinned Cubans. Despite this, residence flocked to the 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:16.360 Cuban Club. Even a fire in nineteen sixteen couldn't dissuade people, 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.680 and the rebuilt building reopened its doors the following year. 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.680 The decade after that, the club's treasurer, Enrique Santa Cruz, 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.200 embezzled a little over seven thousand dollars or the equivalent 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.960 of one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars today. The 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.160 club was still a smashing success. They hosted boxing matches 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.080 and musical performances and boasted roughly forty five hundred members 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.600 by the nineteen thirties. During the Cuban Revolution in the 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:46.960 nineteen fifties, a large number of its members supported Fidel Castro. 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.599 This led to some tension as Cuban refugees fleeing to 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.200 the United States didn't see eye to eye with high 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:57.120 ranking members of the club. In July nineteen sixty two, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.320 a vandal painted hammers and sickles on the building an 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:05.000 unfurled a revolutionary banner. A month later, several leaders resigned 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:09.280 because the organization was, according to them, communists dominated, as 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:13.839 reported in the Tampa Tribune. Interestingly, after that summer, the 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.120 club's politics seemed to mellow. They did more outreach to 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.120 Cuban refugees who'd fled Castro's rule. This all happened in 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.200 the midst of an anti communist wave that swept through 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.400 the whole United States, not just Ebor City. The same 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.840 year as the vandalism and the resignations, an embargo made 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:35.200 it impossible for American factories to import Cuban tobacco. The 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.080 cigar plants near the Cuban Club subsequently shut down. It 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.720 was terrible timing, as a recent highway construction project had 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.279 destroyed parts of the neighborhood, and a subsequent urban development 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:52.119 program displaced nearly one thousand families. While people left Ebor City, 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.440 fewer locals bought memberships at the club, and it began 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.400 to suffer a thirty year decline. In nineteen ninety two, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.400 a non profit group bought the building and set about 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.720 renovating and restoring it while educating people on Ebor City's history. 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.239 According to Paul Guzo of the Tampa Bay Times, today 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.160 you can rent the club as an event space. While 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.520 its ultimate decline was related to finances and the US 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:21.120 Cuban relationship, the club suffered its fair share of scandals too. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:25.320 It stands to reason, of course, a paston popular social 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.120 club would be a pressure cooker for interpersonal conflict that 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.720 erupted into violence. In nineteen twenty seven, the club's treasurer, 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.960 Enrique Santa Cruz, took his own life. He was behind 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.920 the embezzlement scandal I mentioned before, and when he died, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.680 he left a note confessing to the crime. Seven years later, 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.720 in April nineteen thirty four, the president, Edward Valdez, made 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.760 the unpopular decision to fire one of the organization's doctors. 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.440 He and the other leaders held a meeting to discuss 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:58.920 the firing. Over five hundred disgruntled members piled into the 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.400 packed theater to des gust the situation. Over the course 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.720 of two hours, the discussions grew more contentious. Accounts vary, 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:08.960 but it seems that at one point one or more 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.000 attendees rushed the stage, or they flocked toward President Valdez 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.120 when he tried to leave. In one account published in 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.160 the Tampa Bay Times, a cigar maker and member named 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.960 Bellarmino Vallejo led the mob. There's some debate over how 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.320 things escalated from there, but after a massive brawl broke 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.880 out among more than a dozen of the attendees, a 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.920 gunshot rang through the theater. Bell Armino had been shot, 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.520 but nobody saw who pulled the trigger, in part because 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.760 Bellarmino had somehow made his way toward the dressing rooms, 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.040 which had no clear line of sight from the rest 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.840 of the theater. He was rushed into surgery at a 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.160 clinic across the street, but his physicians couldn't save his life. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.640 In his final hours, Bellarmino explained how he'd been murdered. 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.480 According to him, two club directors removed his glasses and 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.880 held him down while President Edward Valdez shot him. Just 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.480 before midnight on Friday the thirteenth, bell Armino breathes his 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:08.640 last breath, but his testimony apparently wasn't strong enough to 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.680 convict anyone of his murder. The police never charged anyone 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:18.000 with the crime. There are allegations of another homicide that 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.320 happened in the club, presumably around nineteen seventeen, but I 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:25.600 haven't been able to find any sources verifying that it happened. 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.520 The accounts say a club president named Albert J. Colby 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.360 was shot in the face, and his specter is said 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.520 to still haunt the building. These rumors also imply that 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.240 his murder may have been related to his involvement in 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.280 another embezzlement scheme. The problem the club has never had 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.520 a president with that name. One leader had a similar moniker, 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.160 Alfredo J. Coley, but he wasn't murdered, and he lived 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.160 and served the club for years after the supposed homicide. 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.080 So it's hard to say whose ghost with a visible 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.800 wound on his face haunts the club. It's not bel 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:02.360 Armino Vallejo. His fatal injury was in his abdomen. That said, 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.880 Bellarmino's ghost has been spotted frequently in the theater where 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.440 he was shot. According to Lloyd Carrera Santos, writing for 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.560 El Cerulo Cubano in one oh one, he died just 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.160 before twelve am, and his ghosts trudged back to the 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.560 club and stepped over the threshold right as midnight bells chimed. 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:23.200 Some witnesses have also seen President Edward Valdez, who Bellarmino 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:27.439 named as his killer. The Cuban Club hauntings are interesting 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.200 in that there are a lot of ghosts with names 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.840 and backstories that can't be verified. Like the spirit with 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.679 the facial gunshot wound, their histories and the causes of 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.280 their debts are mixed with rumor and allegation in a 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.560 way that makes it hard to say what's true and 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.720 what isn't. For example, accounts say that in nineteen nineteen, 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.520 a playwright an actor named Vincent Or Victorio was supposed 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:53.040 to star in his debut play. According to a story 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.520 on Fox thirteen, he forgot his lines during the performance, 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.560 w h umiliated, he took his own life, and some 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.319 telling he waited until late that night when the theater 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.760 was empty. In others, he died by suicide on stage 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:10.199 during the show, right in front of the horrified audience members. However, 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.080 there aren't any contemporary records to validate any part of 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:20.440 this story. Likewise, many visitors have claimed to see a 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.319 woman in a white dress and red heels in the ballroom. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.640 Local lore suggests Her name is Carlita or Rosalita, and 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.120 she attended an event at the club in the twenties. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.760 A man asked her to dance, and when she declined, 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.920 he flew into a rage and pushed her off a 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.040 third story balcony, killing her. However, there's no record of 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.920 such a murder happening, nor is there any evidence to 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.800 support the rumors that her vengeful brother killed the man 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.240 the next day. Additionally, there are no records of anyone 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.960 ever drowning in the club's pool, which is in the basement, 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.600 but many visitors claim they've seen an eight or nine 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.079 year old boy named Jimmy playing with the ball where 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.040 the pool used to be. Guests looking at the club 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.760 from the outside have also seen Jimmy peering out the 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:06.559 upstairs windows at them. Beyond that, there are many supposed 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.720 spirits whose identities aren't known. Sometimes they sound like a 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.720 woman screaming for help or an unseen person singing. When 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.160 guests walk by paintings, they get the sense that the 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.360 subject's eyes are following them. The piano in the theater 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.720 often plays by itself. The elevator tends to malfunction between 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.720 four and five am, and these technical problems have been 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.559 blamed on different ghosts, depending on who you ask. Occasionally, 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.320 visitors catch a whiff of smoke on the air, like 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.200 a spectral memory of the fire that burnt the club down. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.559 Other times, a man who smells of pipe tobacco, dressed 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.400 in a suit in Fedora has been sighted rushing past 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:48.679 visitors then disappearing. All to say, the building seems positively 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.640 crowded with spirits. In fact, a local ghost tour guide 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.000 is speculated that there was something like three hundred specters 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.040 in the building, and the Travel Channel has dubbed the 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.080 Cuban Club one of the top ten most haunted locations 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.520 in the United States. Perhaps the area is just as 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.520 brimming with people after their deaths as it was during 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:09.440 their lives. 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:11.559 Up next, we will be. 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:16.120 Talking to local ghost tour guide Steve Stamberger. He has 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.200 spent countless hours in the Cuban Club and given that 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.800 he's one of the most well known ghost tour guides 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:25.960 in Ebor City, he has some very colorful stories to tell. 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:39.439 That is coming up after the break. So I am 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.040 now joined by Steve Stamberger, who is a ghost and 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:44.679 historic tour guide. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:45.280 In Ebar City. 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.680 Very familiar with the Cuban Club and so we're so 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:50.960 happy to have him. Thanks for joining us today, Steve. 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.679 It is my pleasure to be here with you. 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:58.520 So fun fact, I actually investigated the Cuban Club a 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.200 number of years ago with Guns. I want to say 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.440 this was like two thousand and eight, two thousand and seven. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.800 I was still fresh on the scene with the show, 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.800 and I just remember a having a little bit too 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:16.240 much fun in Ebors City, which I feel like is 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:17.240 par for the course. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.600 And then I also remember having. 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.800 Some really great activity in the club itself, and it 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.320 was one of my first kind of moments where I 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.920 was investigating I believe with Chris on the show, and 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.880 we had a lot of things happen in that ballroom upstairs. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.960 We had a lot of footsteps, we had bangs, and 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.760 it was a really fun time. So I'm kind of 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:39.440 jealous you get to go in there so often. 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.880 It's quite a joy to be in that building and 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.720 touch base with the history and the heritage. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.240 Yeah, but as a believer in the other side, it's 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.160 wonderful to be able to interact with that and to 0:14:55.240 --> 0:15:00.000 bring our guests into that atmosphere where they can actually 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.800 touch the other side capture. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:07.600 Images and in Iraq, it's quite an experience on our ghostores. 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.840 Okay, Now, if someone going into the Cuban Club rother 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.000 on a tour otherwise, like, what do you say, are 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.080 like the kind of the most common types of activity 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:18.360 people experience there. 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.920 Well, before we enter the building, we give an overrun 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.720 on the history of the building as well as what 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:30.040 goes on on each of the four floors. It is 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.680 estimated that there are three hundred spirits that call that 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:39.400 building home. But there are certain superstars in that building 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:44.120 who are very interested in showing themselves to people in 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.640 that building, whether you work in that building or whether 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:53.120 you're a guest in that building. So every floor has 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:58.120 something special, some superstar spirit who really likes to take 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.000 the stage on that particular floor. 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.800 So we cover the history of the Cuban Club in 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.080 the first half of the pod. So we're pretty familiar 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.680 with the backstory, which is it's very interesting. But what 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.360 I find kind of unusual, not even really unusual because 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.520 this happens quite often, but the fact that so many 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:21.760 of the spirits there there isn't like actual historic record 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:26.560 to link the spirits to like something that has happened 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.720 like they're not identified in some way through research. So 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.040 what do you think brings so many spirits to the 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:32.760 Cuban Club. 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.480 I have a personal opinion on that, and what I 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.400 tell my guests on the tour is that I remind 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.920 them about vinyl records, and I remind them how vinyl 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:51.480 records absorb the sound, the melody, the voices, and I 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:56.520 share that buildings such as the Cuban Club, those walls, 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:01.880 those floors, and ceilings act just like a vinyl record, 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.720 and over the decades that the Cuban people have called 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:11.120 that place home, the music, the voices all are built 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:15.160 and absorbed into those walls. The social clubs of mister 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:19.520 Ebors City were the center of each immigrant peoples. They 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.760 provided everything right, not just social life, but medical care 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:27.040 and hospitalization. They were the heart and soul of each 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.000 of those people, and those hearts and souls still resound 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:31.639 in that building. 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.400 That makes great sense, actually, because that's kind of kind 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.680 of a path we go down often on Hunted Road 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.960 and other areas where I investigate is that you know, 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.680 it's not always a place where someone passed or where 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.600 a tragedy happened. It can always be you know, a 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.760 location where someone just felt particularly drawn to it, like 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.800 it was the place of you know, happiness in their life, 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:57.960 great memories, and like why wouldn't you want to take 0:17:58.000 --> 0:17:59.600 a moment and kind of relive that if you have 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.480 that a So that does make sense, So kind of 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:04.680 along those same lines. So we were kind of getting 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.359 into it briefly. You said, there's like different spirits that 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.280 kind of on each floor seem to make themselves known 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.240 the most. Can you kind of go into a couple 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.280 of maybe your favorite ghost stories or interactions that you've 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:19.720 had there over the years, or other people have kind 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:20.760 of parleyed to you. 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:25.399 Oh. Absolutely, Because we are the only ghost tour in 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.240 mister Eboards City with access to that building. We have 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.800 a lot of people come on our tours and a 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.919 lot of them are repeat customers. They want access to 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.919 that building and it's only through our ghost tour they 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:43.760 can do that. And so they bring that magic with them, 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:48.560 that ability to interact with the other side, to sense it, 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.000 to relate to it. And when a person like that 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.480 is in the building, they are like a candle in 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.719 a dark room and the spirits are drawn to them. 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:02.040 They are drawn to the life, and so we have 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:07.840 people on our tours who actually will freeze as they 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:12.119 are actually expressing an interaction with a spirit. In that building, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.240 he started with the ballroom, and of course, the young 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:20.160 girl's name is Rosalita. She's known as the woman in White. 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:25.000 She was tragically murdered. She was thrown out of the 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.080 fourth floor ballroom window because she refused to dance with 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.359 a particular gentleman. As the story has evolved, it's quite 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:38.160 possible that she was with child, unmarried, supposedly a stunning 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.639 beauty and a great dancer, and while she's at that 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:47.320 fourteen foot long French door, perhaps catching a breath of 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.119 fresh air or a sip of cool water on a 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:55.520 hot Sunday evening, she declines a gentleman's advances for a dance, 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.160 and she's thrown out of the window, and she dies 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:00.880 at the foot of the steps on the north side 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:04.280 of the building on Palm Avenue. She's known in that 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.880 building as a woman in White and has often been 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:12.600 seen and captured on film and digital photography in a 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:18.560 flowing address. It's the ballroom, It's where she was the happiest. 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:23.879 She's often been seen from across the street the people 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.720 look up to the ballroom, and once you understand the 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.080 layout of the ballroom, the only way she could be 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:32.879 seen as if she was on a twenty foot ladder, 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.439 and when you go in there, there's no twenty foot ladder. 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.159 And yet people have seen her at the top of 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:43.040 those magnificent windows, and so people will have interactions with her. 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.560 A few months ago, I had a young girl on 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:51.879 the tour. She was actually Haitian and Dominican. She has 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.439 both parents from both sides of that island, and she 0:20:55.640 --> 0:21:01.600 had beautiful, beautiful, dark hair. While everyone's up there and 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.800 taking pictures and videos, and of course they're using our 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:09.040 emf meters, she screams at the top of her lungs 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.320 and faints on the floor. And when we brought her back, 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:18.000 she said that ROSALIEA actually approached her and she could 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.560 see her face and Rosalie reached out and stroked her 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.840 beautiful hair, and of course at that point she screamed 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.960 and passed out, and that is what she told us 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.600 when we revived her. And so we have different levels 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.720 of interaction with people, and a lot of times the 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:40.560 more open and better able to interact those types of 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.680 things happen right in that building and on the tours, 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:46.960 and those things also happened with the people that work 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.960 in that building. They're constantly having interaction with the spirits 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:51.760 in that building. 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:54.679 That's what was my next question was I wanted to 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.399 know kind of how that affects employees. They're like what 0:21:57.480 --> 0:21:59.879 it's like for them working in the building on the 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:04.960 day today, like what I'm sure quite unexpected fashions. These 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.919 spirits kind of make themselves known to them. Have you 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.040 heard any stories from folks who work there. 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:14.720 Sure. The woman who is the office manager of the building, 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:17.920 she's in there early in the morning, and she will 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:24.600 often have interaction with the young boy himI, who drowns 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.360 in the swimming pool in nineteen thirty in the gymnasium 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:33.920 of that building. And the boy is always friendly. He's 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:38.200 an eight year old boy. She's had interactions as she's 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.000 going through the different floors of the buildings to where 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:47.719 she hears voices, she'll hear noises, and she'll talk to 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:52.520 the people and wish them a good day. It quiets down. 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.240 I think we both understand that spirits don't try to hide. 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:58.760 They want us to know they're they're and as a 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:03.000 result of that, if we ignore them, they make a 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.720 lot of noise. If we speak to them and give 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.600 them what they want recognition, they quiet down right. Actually, 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:16.160 the gentleman is the maintenance engineer of that building, will 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:19.159 often have to work in the evenings and getting the 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:23.639 building ready for some type of event or visitation, and 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:28.000 so he works during the night hours, and he will 0:23:28.040 --> 0:23:33.920 often find himself dealing with footsteps on the stairs, he's 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:37.880 had furniture move while he's working in a particular room, 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:44.920 the sound of voices and different things. And so none 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:49.560 of us fear the spirituality of the building, but we 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:53.280 have a great deal of respect for that spirituality. We 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:56.120 know those spirits are there, and if you spend any 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.840 time in that building, you will never question whether or 0:23:59.840 --> 0:24:02.439 not that building is the fourth most haunted building in 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:03.000 the country. 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:05.960 Now do you think that? Do you think the spirits 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:10.080 then become pretty familiar with people they see on a 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:14.080 daily basis. I'm sure they kind of start to kind 0:24:14.080 --> 0:24:16.920 of grow an affection toward employees or maybe even tour 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:19.320 guides like yourself, Like, do you find that you have 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:21.800 maybe the same kind of interactions over and over again, 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:24.280