Paranormal presence within Cuban Club

The collective imagination has always been fascinated by facts and ideas that are hard to explain or, sometimes unexplainable. For generations, ghost stories and haunted places have held people’s attention. For centuries people around the world have listened and retold these legends that are so intruiging.  

Not far away, just one block from the Ybor Campus, is a place that hosts some of these creepy legends. The Cuban Circle, formed in 1899 by Cuban cigar makers, held its first headquarters in a building that was destroyed by fire 17 years later. They reconstructed the current building on the same site.

Built in order to provide recreation for its members, the Cuban Circle had a basement that served as a gymnasium with a wading pool, two bowling lanes, boxing bags, and weight lifting equipment . Opened in 1918, the wading pool in the basement was the site of an early death. An 8-year-old boy is said to have drowned there, where the cantina is located today.

“A group of ghost hunters came here few months ago and tried to contact the boy speaking in English,” said Jocelyn Tintera, event coordinator and assistant financial director of the Cuban club. According to Tintera they didn’t get answers until they spoke Spanish.  “The answers they got were by putting a flashlight on the floor and if there was a yes answer, he would turn the light on,” she said.

Tintera has never seen the boy or any other ghost inside the building. However, she has seen strange things happen while working there.

“In the cantina, many times, I’ve come in the morning and there are some storage cabinets down there with their doors opened, and I shut them thinking that somebody forgot to close them,” she said. “After doing a few things I come back there and those doors are opened again.”

Pianos playing themselves, ghosts that come and go freely, and doors that refuse to stay shut, are common within in the Cuban Club. From these unique oddities on the inside, to the beautiful architecture on the outside, the Cuban Club is seemingly enchanted, a place full of mystery.

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5 comments

Renata

Sat Nov 21 2009 11:46

so nice article!

JER

Fri Nov 20 2009 00:54

that sounds scary!! I almost felt like in the building surrounded by these ghosts and now my curiosity is pushing me to explore the Cuban Club and see it with my own eyes!

WPGN

Thu Nov 19 2009 23:38

I do believe that those type of acts really happen, and that does not mean that I have had a bad scary moment, but the Bible mentions that there are evil spirits around the world, and that we must be paying attention to our around.

Larissa S. R.

Thu Nov 19 2009 23:33

Nice article! Since I came to Ybor City I heard some stories about ghosts... But this one, about the 8 year old boy, is very interesting! The Cuban Club seems to be really a scary place!!

Ray Galindo

Sun Nov 1 2009 17:09

I used to work for The Playmakers when they were headquartered in The Cuban Club. I had the keys to the building, and sometimes I would work overnight on projects. I was all alone there, or so I thought. I often heard activity in there. I was never afraid or spooked. I knew that these were my forefathers; the founders of Ybor City. I never encountered any of the ghosts, but I did hear them. I was told that one of them was named Irene. Before I locked up for the night, I would say, "Goodnight Irene."

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