News

Haunting Tales from the Historic Cuban Club in Ybor City/Tampa, Florida

Published

5 years ago

September 5, 2019

Next month, on October 5, 2019, iHorror will take over the historic Cuban Club in the Ybor City district of Tampa, Florida for the first annual iHorror Film Festival. Fans can expect a full day of outstanding short horror films, a panel featuring Dan Myrick (The Blair Witch Project) and Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination), and if they’re lucky, perhaps a ghost sighting or two.

After fire destroyed the original “El Circulo Cubano” in 1916, the four-story building that stands today was constructed housing a theater, pharamacy, cantina, ballroom, and library. In its time it has hosted everything from boxing matches to plays to a variety of musical acts including Celia Cruz and Glenn Miller.

In its century long existence, the club has earned a reputation as a venue for weddings, concerts, and other important events, and along the way has also developed a reputation as one of the most haunted buildings in Florida, possibly even in the United States.

Two specific acts of violence are most often pointed to in the building’s history as a primary cause for the paranormal activity, but they can hardly take credit for everything that has been reported there.

Suicide and Murder in the Early 20th Century

One of the earliest stories concerning the Cuban Club and its hauntings revolves around a mysterious actor who, reportedly unhappy with is career, committed suicide on the main stage of the location.

Though I wasn’t able to track down specific details about the incident, locals have come to call him Vincent and more than one has reported run-ins with his spirit.

One man reportedly met up with Vincent while out for a night of theater when he stopped to freshen up. Suddenly the actor appeared in the mirror in front of him and then walked right out of it and began to harangue the man about his failed career before asking for one good reason not to kill himself.

As I said, there aren’t a lot of details about Vincent, but for the second violent act, we have plenty.

It seems that in the 1930s, there was some upheaval about how the club was being run. In his book, Ghosts of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Alan Brown describes this scene:

“One night in 1934, during a meeting at the club, an argument broke out. Fists flew and members pummeled each other in heaps on the floor. Suddenly, several gunshots ripped through the air, and Bellarmino Vallejo lay on the floor, bleeding profusely. He had been shot in the face. By the time Bellarmino’s elderly mother arrived at the clinic where he was being treated, he was dead.”

Since then, more than one witness, including police officers, have reported sightings of a woman wailing in grief, and she is assumed to be Vallejo’s mother.

Elevators, a Drowned Boy, Elegant Women, and more!

Not every sighting or haunting in the Cuban Club can be ascribed to these two specific instances, however.

Over the years, many have witnessed the apparition of a boy bouncing a ball in the area of the cantina that used to house a swimming pool, leading many to surmise that he drowned there.

Others have reported a beautiful woman dressed in a stunning white evening gown and wearing red shoes walking up a staircase.

Pianos have reportedly played on their own and men in early twentieth century dress randomly appear in the club’s elevators. Those same elevators have been known to take on a life of their own, moving up and down between floors between the hours of 4:00 and 5:00 am.

A Beacon for Paranormal Investigators

Because of its reputation, some of the most well-known paranormal investigators in the world have traveled to Ybor City and the Cuban Club.

Notably, the Ghost Hunters TV show featuring TAPS performed an in depth investigation of the premises in season five of the popular series. During the investigation, the team employed a twist-on flashlight, asking questions of an entity with which they felt they’d made contact.

The flashlight turned on and off repeatedly answering that the entity was a boy and that he was between eight and nine years old.

Ghost Hunters are far from the only investigators who have visited the Cuban Club and filmed their findings there. Episode four of Haunted Tours from Brian and Jake Jalbert takes place at the historic location. You can view the full episode on Amazon Video.

You can reserve your spot on one of the numerous Ybor Ghost Tours which includes the Cuban Club as one of its prime locations recounting stories of the club and other reportedly haunted locations in the district.

As with any haunted location, and paranormal activity in general, there are those who believe and those who don’t, and the line is almost always clearly drawn. The Cuban Club in the Ybor City district of Tampa, Florida, however, seems to be one of those places that makes a believers out of skeptics.

Join us for the iHorror Film Festival and maybe you’ll be a believer too.

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Movies

Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

Published

15 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

16 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Spirit Halloween has declared that this week marks the start of spooky season and to celebrate they are offering fans a chance to stay at the Lizzie Borden House with so many perks Lizzie herself would approve.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. Of course one lucky winner and up to 12 of their friends will find out if the rumors are true if they win the grand prize: A private stay in the notorious house.

“We are delighted to work with Spirit Halloween to roll out the red carpet and offer the public a chance to win a one-of-a-kind experience at the infamous Lizzie Borden House, which also includes additional haunted experiences and merchandise,” said Lance Zaal, President & Founder of US Ghost Adventures.

Fans can enter to win by following Spirit Halloween‘s Instagram and leaving a comment on the contest post from now through April 28.

The prize also includes:

An exclusive guided house tour, including insider insight around the murder, the trial, and commonly reported hauntings

A late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear

A private breakfast in the Borden family dining room

A ghost hunting starter kit with two pieces of Ghost Daddy Ghost Hunting Gear and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunting Course

The ultimate Lizzie Borden gift package, featuring an official hatchet, the Lizzie Borden board game, Lily the Haunted Doll, and America’s Most Haunted Volume II

Winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two

“Our Halfway to Halloween celebration provides fans an exhilarating taste of what’s to come this fall and empowers them to start planning for their favorite season as early as they please,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween. “We have cultivated an incredible following of enthusiasts who embody the Halloween lifestyle, and we’re thrilled to bring the fun back to life.”

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Spirit Halloween is also preparing for their retail haunted houses. On Thursday, August 1 their flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. will officially open to start off the season. That event usually draws in hordes of people eager to see what new merch, animatronics, and exclusive IP goods will be trending this year.

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Movies

’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

Published

18 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

**Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes**

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.