Soak in the sand and surf in Key West—but look out for the ghosts and ghouls that roam the streets.
Book with USGA today and see haunted Key West.
Welcome to Key West, where great writers like Ernest Hemingway used to mingle with the lord of the criminal underworld, like Al Capone. It’s here that 300-year-old Spanish forts stand right alongside shiny and new coffee shops. And where, when the tide is just so and the moon full, it’s where the spirits of the dead mingle with the living.
If you’re ready to see a different side of Sunny Florida, join US Ghost Adventures on a haunted tour of the Crowne Plaza at La Concha Hotel in Key West. This historic, 100-year-old building is home to more stories than you can imagine. And it’s waiting to tell you.
Do you have the guts to listen?
In the beginning, Key West was designed to be a lap of luxury on the Florida panhandle. By the late 19th century, it was the wealthiest city in the whole state, becoming a Mecca for tourism in the US South.
It hosted a major naval base, and the cigar-making and salt mining industries kept the city floating on a raft of cash. But not all was sweet and sunny, especially at La Concha Hotel.
An architect named Carl Aubuchon began to build La Concha in the 1920s. It was the jazz age, gin was flowing, and the intelligentsia set like Tennessee Williams and Dorothy Parker started coming to Key West. Aubuchon wanted to give them somewhere to go.
La Concha became the first luxury hotel in the city when it opened in 1926. All was happy and well until the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, which swept across the city with a vengeance.
Hundreds of Key Westers perished in the wind and rain, and the storm destroyed the railway, which brought people in and out of the city.
The event slashed La Concha’s guest list, and it began to fall into disrepair. This time was around when rumors of strange activity began.
Staff at the hotel have reported strange apparitions passing through walls, disembodied voices echoing through elevator shafts, and the constant, paranoid feeling of being watched.
It’s not just all those condemned souls who perished in the hurricane. Over the years, an unlucky number of 13 guests have committed suicide at La Concha by jumping off the roof.
La Concha is still the tallest building in Key West, which may explain some of why it’s become an ill-fated site for the despairing. But some say that innate dark energy about the place attracts such grisly activity.
And those voices in the elevator? The story goes that in the 1980s, a member of the kitchen staff was cleaning up after a party on one of the higher floors. He tripped and accidentally fell down an open elevator shaft, plummeting to his death.
Guests have reported hearing his high-flying voice sailing to its untimely end as they ascend the floors to the top. This apparition is but one of many that haunt La Concha…
When you book a Key West haunted tour with US Ghost Adventures, you cross over from the land of safety, sense, and rationality into a strange, unknown world of frights. Do you have what it takes? Try out a tour with us today, and open your mind to a whole new world.
Since 2013, US Ghost Adventures has offered entertaining, historic, and authentic ghost tours of America’s most haunted cities. We deliver fun yet honest accounts of hauntings across the nation for curious people of all ages. Our ghost stories are based on historical research, but that doesn’t mean they won’t send a chill down your spine.
This video gives you a small taste of what you might experience on your ghost tour — subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more.
US Ghost Adventures also offers virtual tours, a self-guided mobile app, and an Alexa voice app.
