The Haunted Vinoy Resort
Posted: 10.30.2024 | Updated: 10.30.2024
Known by locals as “The Pink Lady,” the regal Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club is a historic hotel with a storied past. The hotel opened at the height of the roaring 20s and was successful for decades before closing in the 1970s and falling into disrepair. The Vinoy made a triumphant comeback in the 1990s and is now a four-diamond hotel.
The Vinoy is so popular that some former guests still haven’t checked out. Reports of ghostly apparitions in the hallways and poltergeist activity in guest rooms have earned the hotel a solid reputation for being haunted. Even major league baseball players have reported being frightened by the ghosts of the Vinoy, some of whom have been haunting the hotel for nearly a century.
Why is The Vinoy Resort haunted?
The Vinoy Resort is believed to be haunted by past guests and staff who are unable or unwilling to move on. One is said to be a woman who was murdered near the property, while another is thought to be the first general manager who still looks after guests. After going through so many phases and nearly being destroyed due to neglect, perhaps it’s not so shocking that spirits would linger now that the hotel has been restored to its former glory.
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The History of the Vinoy Resort
The history of the Vinoy Resort began at a party hosted by oil tycoon Aymer Vinoy Laughner in 1924. A real estate developer named Eugene “Gene” Elliott told Laughner he should buy the 12 acres of land across the street from Laughner’s home and develop it into a resort. As the story goes, Laughner said he would buy the land if his guest Walter Hagan, a professional golfer, could hit a golf ball off Laughner’s gold pocketwatch four times without breaking it. After Hagan successfully did so, Laughner and Elliott drafted a contract on a paper bag.
Construction began on February 5, 1925, and the hotel opened that year on New Year’s Eve. Built in the elegant Mediterranean Revival style, the Vinoy cost $3.5 million to build and was one of the most expensive hotels in the area, with a nightly room price of $20. The resort even withstood the effects of the Great Depression. Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover stayed at the Vinoy, and celebrities such as Jimmy Stewart and Babe Ruth. During World War II, it was used as a housing and training facility for soldiers.
After the war, the Vinoy was purchased by Charles Alberding, who turned it back into a resort. The resort eventually closed in 1974. After that, all the furnishings were sold off, and the roof eventually caved in on the hotel. It was a frequent site of criminal activity, and locals joked that alligators had moved into the building, which had regularly flooded during storms.
After being placed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the Vinoy was saved by Renaissance Hotels & Resorts and the Vinoy Development Corporation. The Vinoy reopened in 1992 following a $93 million renovation and continues to stand the test of time.
Hauntings at the Vinoy Resort
As far as hauntings go, guests at the Vinoy have reported feeling as if someone else were in their room. They have heard voices, footsteps, shuffling, and even the sound of chains, which is especially unsettling. Closet doors have been known to open on their own, lights flicker, and the bathroom faucets turn on and off in the middle of the night.
The Vinoy regularly hosts major league baseball teams, and a number of players and reporters have experienced the ghosts of the Vinoy. Relief pitcher Jon Switzer said they kept hearing a scratching noise while staying at the hotel with his wife. They determined it was coming from the painting above their bed as if the woman in the painting were trying to get out of it.
A player for the Toronto Blue Jays was staying at the hotel with his family, but his wife refused to stay another night after witnessing the faucets in the bathroom turn on and off on their own.
Sports reporter Barry Davis stated that while he did not encounter any ghosts while staying at the Vinoy, he had a recurring dream where he was at the Vinoy walking down a long hallway. The dream was unsettling, to say the least, and Davis noted, “I’ve had so many nights in that hotel that it gives me the creeps.”
Speaking of major league baseball, multiple players have seen the ghost of Babe Ruth, a regular at the Vinoy in its heyday.
The Lady In White
No haunted location is complete without a Lady in White, and the Vinoy does not disappoint. Although she’s not the most commonly seen spirit, the Lady in White has left her mark on the hotel and on those who have encountered her. She’s typically seen floating down the fifth-floor corridor in a white dress from the 1920s or 1930s and carries a forlorn expression on her face.
The true identity of the Lady in White remains a mystery, but there are a few theories. The most widely held belief is that she is the ghost of the socialite Elsie Elliott, who was married to Eugene Elliott, the man who reportedly gave Aymer Vinoy Laughner the idea to build a hotel. It’s said that Eugene either pushed Elsie off their back deck or down a flight of stairs to get out of giving her the majority of his fortune in a divorce. Elsie’s maid, Annie Gadsden, was supposed to testify in court that Eugene had murdered his wife, but she disappeared without a trace shortly before the trial began.
There were rumors that Eugene paid her off and sent her to Europe, but she could have met a more deadly fate. In any event, some believe that it’s Annie who haunts the fifth floor, unable to move on from the unspeakable crime she claimed to have witnessed. Finally, there’s a tale about the Lady in White being the spirit of Babe Ruth’s former lover, but there’s no evidence to confirm that the acclaimed baseball player had ever met with a woman at the hotel.
The Man in the Top Hat
Another longtime ghost of the Vinoy is the spirit of a man with a tophat, coattails, and a waxed mustache. He’s known to get onto the elevator with guests and gets off on the fifth floor before vanishing. As with the Lady in White, the identity of the man in the tophat has never been verified, though some believe it’s the ghost of Karl Abbott, who was the first manager of the Vinoy.
In 2003, Boston Red Sox player Scott Williamson woke up in the night feeling pressure on his back and having trouble breathing. When he turned over, he saw the man in the tophat standing over him and staring. Word quickly spread of Williamson’s encounter with the tophat man, but he maintained that it was true, stating, “It's just crazy stuff, one of those freaky things. I'm not one for ghosts, but I know I couldn't breathe."
Haunted Tampa
Although the hauntings at the Vinoy Resort are sometimes met with skepticism, there’s no arguing that it’s a beautiful hotel with immense historic significance.
If you’re in the Tampa area and want to dig into its paranormal past, you can schedule a tour with Tampa Terrors to get the full story behind haunted Tampa. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Florida hauntings.
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