St. Pete Ghost Hunters To Investigate Downtown Hotel Haunting

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Local ghost hunters will take to downtown St. Petersburg’s Cordova Inn this weekend to find out who — or what — might still be lingering in its historic halls.

Paranormal investigators with Spirits of St. Petersburg will mark the 10th anniversary of the National Day of Ghost Hunting on Saturday with an investigation of the downtown hotel, located at 253 2nd Ave. N., as they look for answers to some of its longstanding mysteries.

The event, organized in partnership with Pages & Perks bookstore and the Cordova Inn, will give participants an opportunity to explore portions of the historic hotel in small groups, examine reported paranormal activity and learn about the building’s history. Tickets are available online here.

“They’ve [the hotel staff] always been very friendly to my ghost tours, and they’ll talk to my tours when I come through,” Brandy Stark, founder of Spirits of St. Petersburg, told Patch. “But I’ve been trying for years to actually have an investigation at the hotel [in partnership with the owners].”

The Cordova was built in 1921 and originally called the Hotel Scott. According to historical research conducted by Stark, the property was later purchased by the Cordova family, who became interested in the property after visiting from Michigan. They reportedly brought in a French majordomo to operate the hotel.

His name, however, appears to have been lost to history, Stark said.

That mystery will be one of the things she and the investigation's participants hope to explore on Saturday.

“The majordomo who was supposed to run it, this French guy who died there, and he’s supposed to haunt the building, but we don’t know his name,” she said.

Stark has searched archival records and other sources in an effort to identify members of the Cordova family and the unnamed Frenchman, but has so far been unable to establish their identities.

The lack of information has only added to the intrigue, she said. “It’s a blank.”

The Spirits of St. Petersburg group previously rented a room to investigate the hotel on their own and documented unexplained activity.

The group recorded what Stark believes may be a female electronic voice phenomenon, or EVP, in Room 214. Investigators also have reported activity associated with a female presence on the hotel’s third floor, she said.

The third floor is particularly interesting to Stark because that is where the Cordova family is believed to have lived while operating the hotel.

During their previous investigation, paranormal investigators received what they interpreted as responses to questions through electronic equipment, including a spirit box and electromagnetic field meters, she said. Sensitive investigators also reported sensing a female presence.

“We’re trying to figure out exactly what happened there,” Stark said.

Another reported story from the property involves a guest who told Stark that he heard a mysterious voice in the hallway during the night. After checking and finding nobody there, he returned to his room, where he later noticed a light turn on by itself.

But these experiences don't necessarily come with easy explanations of who might be haunting the building.

“There’s been nobody who’s died there that we can find in the records,” she said. “There are no recordings of really any hardcore accidents, so that’s kind of an enigma.”

For Saturday’s investigation, participants will meet first at Pages & Perks for a brief introduction to paranormal investigation and a discussion of the hotel’s history. They will then split into two groups of five.

One group will investigate Room 214, while the other explores the third floor, including Room 305, before switching so everyone has an opportunity to visit both areas.

The investigation falls on a full moon, adding another atmospheric element to the evening, Stark said.

At the end of each session, participants will gather to discuss what they experienced. They also will be encouraged to review any recordings they make and submit potential findings to Spirits of St. Petersburg for possible inclusion on the organization’s website.

The investigation is part of Stark’s broader effort to preserve and document St. Petersburg’s unusual history.

That effort is also taking a more permanent form.

Stark recently purchased a 1939 home, newly zoned for mixed-use, at 4754 First Avenue N. in the Oak Park neighborhood, with plans to transform it into a paranormal and haunted-history museum. She hopes to have a soft opening in October.

The project will combine paranormal history with preservation, she said. The planned museum will include exhibits, a library, classes and a collection of haunted objects, including dolls and artifacts from buildings that have been demolished.

Stark’s goal is to preserve pieces of places that no longer exist and tell the stories behind them.

She’s already collected antique doorknobs from demolished properties in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and she hopes to incorporate artifacts from historic St. Petersburg sites into the museum as well.

For this weekend, though, her attention is on the Cordova Inn.

The hotel has been on Stark’s wish list for years, and Saturday’s investigation will give the group a chance to revisit a building she considers one of the city’s most intriguing historic haunts.