Steve DiSchiavi, homicide detective, and Amy Allan, physical medium, host the Travel Channel series “The Dead Files” on Friday nights at 10 p.m. The pair traveled to the Don Vicente Inn de Ybor to explore the hotel’s history, secrets and spirits, and the historic hotel will be featured in this Friday's episode.
The Don Vicente Inn was formerly a hospital serving the residents of Ybor City. It is reported that the clinic’s doctor had a son who was schizophrenic and violent. His son did not work at the clinic, but legend has it that the son impersonated his father to lure working girls to conduct sadistic and fatal “experiments” on them.
He used the tunnels below Ybor City's streets to dispose of the women’s bodies in the incinerator, meant for disposing of amputated limbs, underneath the clinic. He supposedly had the aid of a mysterious Spanish nurse, who lurks in the basement of the hotel. The incinerator sits fully intact in the cellar of the hotel, now a trendy lounge, closed off behind the bricks.
The Shiver family, hotel owners, are hosting an open house with complimentary appetizers and drink specials starting at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 28 and viewing party for the “Hotel Hell” episode at 10 p.m.
To help set the mood, guests are asked to dress in your best nurse or doctor costume. The best costume will win a complimentary one-night stay to find out if the haunted rumors are true.
To RSVP for the free open house and viewing party, contact The Don Vicente Inn at (813) 241-4545.
The Don Vicente de Ybor Inn is a boutique 16-room hotel in the heart of Ybor City. Vicente Martinez-Ybor, Ybor City’s founder, constructed the building in 1895 to be used as a planning and development office. At the turn of the century, it became a health care clinic, serving thousands of Tampa residents until it closed in 1980. It remained vacant until 1998 when Jack Shiver bought and restored the building over a two-year period. For more information, visit DonVicenteInn.com.