No longer around (it was demolished in 1998), this old-school monster of a hotel was left to rot for many, many years in downtown Sarasota. It was a popular haunt for ghost hunters, who swore there were evil presences residing there.
If you've had a paranormal experience here, or have any additional information about this location, please let us know!
Related Videos
Rate this Haunted Place
What do you think? Is this place really haunted? Voice your opinion here! Click "thumbs up" if you think its haunted, or "thumbs down" if you think its all just a tall tale.
Geographic Information
- Address:
- North Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 27.125163515784063, -82.4541099601883
- County:
- Sarasota County, Florida
- Nearest Towns:
- Nokomis, FL (0.7 mi.)
Laurel, FL (1.4 mi.)
Venice, FL (1.8 mi.)
Venice Gardens, FL (4.6 mi.)
South Venice, FL (5.3 mi.)
Osprey, FL (5.4 mi.)
Plantation, FL (6.4 mi.)
Vamo, FL (7.2 mi.)
Gulf Gate Estates, FL (9.5 mi.)
Bee Ridge, FL (11.1 mi.)
Please note: It is your responsibility to acquire appropriate permissions before investigating any location listed on this site. Private property should be respected at all times, as should all posted signs concerning trespassing, hours of operation and other local regulations. Many "ghost hunters" have been arrested because they failed to contact property owners and/or local authorities ahead of time.
Share Your Experiences
Comments (6)
Share Your Comments
Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
this is in sarasota fl not nokomis
We would sneak in there in the late ’80’s when it was abandoned and full of graffiti (black mass looking stuff too). We were walking up one of the stairwells and when we reached about the 4th floor, we looked down to the end of a hall through the gloom. There on the far door was a pentagram and suddenly we ALL felt chilled and heard loud growls coming from that direction. Needless to say, we high tailed it back down the stairs and out the door!!!
When I used to travel past this place I could hear elephants when I was waiting for the light. Very Erie. Never had guts to go in but wish they wouldn’t have tore it down it was beautiful.
We went into all these places this was in 1964…no graffiti… it was too early for kids that damaged things. but our Ouija board did act up every time we used it in this one. it would fly across the room. that all was before we knew we could draw in dark entities.You could feel really cold spots. but we didn’t understand what that meant.
I volunteered to rehab the place in the 90s. Some of the eerie happenings I noticed were when going up the stairs to find the foreman, following the voices we heard, my friend and I didn’t ever find who’s was talking. The foreman came up behind us asking who else was with us because everyone else was outside.
Another day I was looking out back for the foreman to get my next task when I heard a rushing sound. I thought it was water from in the boiler room, so I stepped into the doorway of the room just as a while line of roofing tiles smashed into the yard where I’d been standing. I ended up with cuts on the backs of my arms and legs from the exploding ceramic. I could have been crushed or had the shrapnel hit my face.
I adored that place and put a lot of love into the work. I was absolutely heartbroken when it was demolished.
This building/location was and still is haunted. I was told many stories as a kid regarding satanic ceremonies people would perform and the rumors of noises and things falling/moving here. So as a dumb kid I had to find out for myself. Certain rooms where satanic worship was performed (pentagrams were painted on the ground and door) would hold cold spots around 40-50 degrees in the middle of the summer (keep in mind this was a completely abandoned building). I did not experience any ghost/presences just a very unusual and powerful sense of impending doom that would come and go along with nausea, the rooms that had cold temps in 95 degree heat was enough to make you know that something is going on in this location that has yet to be explained. I was told that these ceremonies had the ability to open portals into other fields/dimensions that could allow entities to come and go. Whether or not that’s factual or not who knows but what I experienced as have many others is undeniable. Now the crazy part is what goes on to this day in that location. The building was demolished and a new hotel was built called the Westin in 2017. The entire construction process was riddled with problems, injuries and death(worker falling off the building). To this day there has been more people that have jumped/fallen to there death from that building more than any other building in Sarasota and its never made public/news. Its 2023 and I know of 6 deaths/suicides (all falls) and 1 active shooter that barricaded himself in a room. Not many people have connected the dots or those that have just don’t say anything to avoid hurting business. I live a block away and get to see and hear all the unusual incidents and it’s all confirmed by a family member that works the SMH ER. Whatever a bunch of dumb kids did back in the day to open up a door into other worlds didn’t just close when the building came down. A block away from this location is the recently restored Belle Haven which is also Haunted, rumored to be a female energy and children.