May
2005 - The Heritage Hotel - St. Petersburg, Florida
Legend:
There was a murder suicide in room
309 in about the late 60s. Strange things happen
in this room including weird noises and a sense
of terror. Also apparitions are seen in the hall
of the 3rd floor, usually of a woman running, or
a man chasing you. Dark figures are usually also
seen in the stair case & lobby.
History:
The
Heritage Hotel is currently part of the Holiday Inn &
Inter Continental Hotels Group. A description of this
hotel as well as a photo / virtual tour can be found by
clicking
here. Strangely enough there is no mention of a murder-suicide
or that this destination is haunted.
I did find out that this hotel is one
of the oldest in the area. It was built in the roaring
20s and has been a popular vacation destination ever since.
There have been a couple additions to the back of the
hotel over the years, but for the most part it has stayed
the same keeping its classic southern colonial style.
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May
11-13, 2005:
This hotel is definitely old. You can
tell when you walk through the front door. That's not
saying anything bad about this establishment, because
you can tell they do a lot to keep it nice, what I am
saying is there is a definitely vibe to this hotel. It
almost feels like you've walked back in time when you're
standing in the lobby. It's not a normal modern Holiday
Inn hotel by any stretch. The character of this hotel
seeing more than 80 years of history really comes across.
In 80 years, there's got to be a spook that has checked
in for us to find.
Upon
checking in, we asked the guy behind the desk about the
alleged hauntings. He confirmed that there were stories
and that people have seen things, but was reluctant to
go into details and was adamant about not being filmed.
We then questioned him about the alleged murder-suicide
that took place on the 3rd floor, and he completely blew
it off and changed the subject. At this point a manager
came up from the back and asked if we needed any help
and denied any such things happening in his hotel. They
then tried to put us in a room on the 2nd floor, we pointed
out the mistake since our reservations were for the 3rd,
more specifically for room 309. They changed it and we
went on up to our room.
Room 309 is a basic room. Nothing fancy.
Two double beds, and a bathroom. The room continued with
the southern historic feel. It looked like it had seen
better days, but the beds were comfortable and the AC
worked. We settled in and began taking some EVPS, pictures,
and temperature readings. Nothing really abnormal to report
except for the creepy little doors that seemed to be all
around the place.
There were a couple in the
hallway, and one in our room. We decided to check
tem out and found a bunch of pipes and trash in
them. No spooks. We continued to take readings and
pictures in the hall. Again, nothing abnormal. We
continued on to the staircase that leads down to
the 2nd & 1st floor. This had to be the stair
case in the legend because we didn't see any other
stairs. Other than a very old water fountain, nothing
showed up in the stair case.
After a couple hours of investigating
the room, hallway & Staircase it was time to investigate
the bar! This hotel had an hour where all the drinks were
free to paying guests. Greg an I were really thirsty and
entirely sober, maybe that's why we had not seen anything
yet.
The bar is actually part of the lobby.
It is all one big open & inviting space. So inviting
that there were some interesting people already down there
partaking in the free hour. They asked what we were doing
with all of our camera equipment and once we mentioned
the word 'ghost', stories started pouring from them like
crazy. not about the hotel, but about ghosts in general.
Greg & I sat at the bar for
a while, then in the lobby for a while, and even
out on the porch for a while too, never making
contact with any ghosts. When we about ready to
give up, a man, who asked not to be identified,
told us what the real deal of the Hotel was.
Apparently the current owner
does not like the stigma that goes along with
a haunted hotel and has fired people in the past
for talking to guests about it. That would explain
the strange reluctantly that we experienced while
checking in. The gentleman informed us that there
was in fact a horrible murder-suicide. It wasn't
in an office or anything, but it was in room 309.
A man suspected that his wife was cheating on
him, so he followed her to this hotel and followed
her to room 309. He listened outside of the door
for a few minutes and we he had heard enough,
made entry into the room, and caught his wife
in the act with his cousin. The mad drew a gun
and pointed it at the two. the woman got up out
of the bed and started pleading with the husband.
He then shot his cousin in the head two times.
The wife tries to escape by running down the hall.
The husband fires two more time at her but misses.
She then falls as she runs down the staircase
and the husband catches up to her and fires a
shot right threw her head. The husband, now totally
out of it, walks down the rest of the stairs through
the lobby and sits out on the porch. After a few
minutes he puts the gun in his mouth and pulls
the trigger.
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Needless to say the man refused to go on camera when
telling us this story, nor could he recall any specific
names or dates. He said he had been working there for
over 10 years and have seen and heard many things that
would make skeptics like us, believers.
We
thanked the man for his time an then decided to
go out an get some fresh air. We went to the back
of the hotel where there was a very spooky ally
and an old abandoned building that had a lot of
over grown vegetation. We didn't see any ghosts,
but did see a man & a woman going through a
dumpster looking for discarded treasure.
After
a while Greg & I decided to drive around the beautiful
city of St. Petersburg. We checked out some other haunted
locations for future SpookHunts, and in general, just
got the feel of the city. Although there was very little
video evidence that was captured or worth posting, the
following three videos are of a strange woman who begged
us for a ride. Greg & I are not sure if she was a
ghost or not, but please, take a look and let us know
what you think!
After we got back to the hotel, we continued
our investigation into the night and for the rest of our
stay. The investigation turned up nothing. We spent two
nights in the room where a man was shot in cold blood
and nothing unusual happened. We spent a total of 10 hours
through the course of 3 days taking pictures, EMF readings,
temperature readings, and EVPs and they all turned up
with less than impressive results.
Out of hours of video, and hundreds of
pictures we have only one strange anomaly that showed
up in a picture. The picture in question was taken during
the free beer hour. There appears to be an orb around
my ear. Not sure what the deal is here, but feel free
to let me know what you think it is. It's located directly
below with a bunch of other miscellaneous pictures from
the hunt.
So, in conclusion do I think this Hotel is haunted.
Well, let me put it this way...If you want to see a
ghost, don't stay here. If you want free bee,r a friendly
atmosphere, and a great location, then book today!
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