Spirits Of Former Guests and Staff Frequent Key West’s First Luxury Hotel

The La Concha Hotel opened at the height of the roaring ’20s as a luxury hotel for visitors to Key West. Notable guests at the time included Ernest Hemingway, Tennesee Williams, and Al Capone. The Great Depression hit the hotel hard, however, and it never fully recovered, falling into disrepair over the years. Rising seven stories above Key West, the hotel was famous for its wraparound observation deck, which allowed for a view of the entire city. But the observation deck eventually became the site where over a dozen people reportedly took their lives, and much of the hotel’s paranormal activity is said to occur there.

Guests have reported seeing a man pace near the railing, while others have had their wine glasses knocked out of their hands. There are even claims of a precocious Hemingway tipping over objects and playing tricks on people.

Possibly the most notorious haunting resulted from a terrible accident following the hotel’s grand reopening in 1986. As the story goes, on a New Year’s Eve in the ’80s, a waiter attempted to back a cart onto the fifth-floor elevator. He heard the elevator door open, stepped back, and fell five floors with the cart following close behind. He’s said to be seen wandering the fifth-floor hallway, and staff members have felt someone watching them when visiting the fifth floor.