Florida’s Haunted Hospitality

Interview with Michelle Davidson

1. What inspired you to write “Florida’s Haunted Hospitality” and could you give us tell us about your background?

I am an artist, and I work at an art gallery in St. Augustine. While in St. Augustine, I became fascinated with Florida’s history and the paranormal. I work in the oldest part of town, and I started to have psychic personal experiences that I couldn’t explain. I started reading books on the paranormal, and wanted to experience more for myself. That’s when I decided to stay in some of St. Augustine’s most haunted inns. I had an amazing experience in every single one! The first one I saw an apparition, and the second one I stayed in was the Kenwood Inn, that inspired me to write the book. The spirit Lavender came to me in a dream on Halloween in 2008 while staying there, and showed me how she died. She was stabbed to death while sleeping by two Spanish men. She kept showing me books as a sign, and I ended up doing extensive research on the inn. There was in fact a women living there that was a writer and disappeared. She was reaching out to tell me her story. The book led me to stay at the most haunted inns in Florida, and discover other historic and haunted stories. The book is dedicated to the spirit known as Lavender. (She is also depicted in the cover of the book)

2. What is a story you can share that you have experienced regarding the paranormal personally?

The second most profound experience that changed my views on the paranormal happened while I was in Monticello, Florida while researching and writing my book. I went to the Roseland Cemetery on the full harvest moon with my investigation equipment. I had my EMF reader and was getting high readings from some of the cemetery plots. I was also catching amazing orbs on my digital camera. What was strange though, was that I felt a spirit following me around the cemetery, and the EMF reading was proof to this. Never did I think that a spirit would follow me outside the graveyard. I made my way back to the Avera Clarke house, and awoke in the middle of the night to something shaking my shoulder. I awoke and no one was there. The next morning I had car problems and was delayed in town. I started to feel sick and couldn’t eat. When I finally got home to Daytona, I couldn’t eat or sleep well. I started to have weird dreams where a spirit told me her name, birth and death date, what she looked like and how she died. I spoke to my friend who is a psychic and she said that a spirit followed me from Monticello and wanted to share her story with me. Well that was a lot to take in. I ended up driving back to Monticello and dropping the spirit off at the cemetery with a promise I would discover her story. I went to the historical museum in Thomasville, GA and looked up the spirits name. There was in fact her name and cemetery plot and a brief history on her. This was an eye opening experience for me in that my psychic senses were tested and I learned to protect myself from spirit attachment when ghost hunting.

3. Could you tell us about Sally the jovial spirit who resides at the Williams House?

Sally is a little girl who was the daughter of the original owners of the Williams House. It is said that she may have died from yellow fever, and her spirit is now attached to the house she loved. She likes to play pranks on the owner and the guests. She will move items, sing and play music, and tickle your feet (in my case when I stayed there.) She was laughing when she woke me up doing this.

4. I live in the panhandle in Marianna what is the closest haunted place nearest to me that you could tell me about?

I would recommend the Coombs Inn, in Apalachicola. If you are on vacation, this is one of my favorite places. The town is really haunted and charming as well. The spirit of Mr. Coombs the original owner is said to protect his house. This is just reason because in life he spent all his money from his logging company to build his dream house, and he died trying to protect his house in a fire. He is buried right down the street from the inn. This house inspired me to create a painting of it and its history and is in the book.

5. When it comes to all the haunted locations in Florida that you have visited and researched what was the most disturbing?

The Artisan Inn, in Deland was the most disturbing. The room I stayed in, I felt like I was being watched. I envisioned blood, and murder there. In the middle of the night I had a dream where I was being dragged out of bed by a spirit not wanting me there. The next day I found out during the 1970′s a mentally unstable man locked himself in the room for weeks being pestered by a spirit, and it took the local police to break down the door and drag him out of there.

6. What is your view on these spirits that reside there exactly? Trapped spirits or glimmers of the past taken from the now moment? Or both?

A little bit of both. I feel like most spirits either lived in these locations or visited there. Their spirits remain in the afterlife either from a tragic event or emotional attachment to the location.

7. This is a wildcard question. What location would you like to tell us about that is one of your favorites or that our readers might enjoy?

I would recommend the Kenwood Inn, in St. Augustine to anyone. For a true haunted hospitality experience the owners of the Kenwood will make you feel at home, and leave the unexplained occurances up to the spirits. You might meet the spirit of Raymond who will climb into bed with you and play practical jokes. Or catch other worldly glimpses of the many other trapped spirits that reside there. They are just reaching out to you, to be seen and understood.. (See question 1 for experience that inspired me to write the book)

8. Could you tell us about some of the ghost tours in Florida that are available?

Ancient City Tours in St. Augustine is a good ghost tour for the whole family. The tour guides dress up and tell you about St. Augustine’s haunted past of pirates, indians, and numerous battles between the people that fought to live here. Bring your camera, it’s a great tour to catch orbs!

Big Bend Ghost Trackers in Monticello have been on numerous t.v. shows such as Haunted Collector and Anderson Copper. They are a professional investigation and tour group. They will take tours into actual certified haunted buildings. They teach people how to operate ghost hunting equipment and share their knowledge and history of each location.

9. What is another story you would like to share with us from your book regarding haunted scenarios?

The experience that confirmed I had abilities as a psychic medium was when I went to the Stanford Inn, in Bartow, Florida. Even before I saw the inn, I started channeling the spirits there without even knowing it. I was in an antique store and had to buy a certain Victorian hat. I felt like I had to dress up, like I was going to an event. Then when I finally spent the night in the Stanford Inn, I began to feel everything that the spirit Cora felt in her life. She was the original owners wife and spent a lot of time alone while her husband was away on work. I felt sadness and despair from her. I even went to the store and bought flowers for her room to cheer her up. I learned to meditate and leave other spirits feelings behind, but pray for the light and wisdom for them to move on. The next day I decided to go to the historical library in Bartow, and actually found a picture of Cora from the early 1900′s. There in the picture she was wearing a hat similar to the one I had purchased before my stay. Some of her best times at the house was throwing parties and hosting guests.. Maybe she wanted to remind me of that.

10. What are you up to next book wise or projects wise and any links you would like to share or departing words? Thank you for this interview.

My next project is working with the Victorian Society at the Lilian Place House and museum in Daytona Beach. The Lilian Place is the oldest house on beachside Daytona Beach. It is also the most haunted. It is built on an indian burial ground and is the basis for so much activity through the years. The spirit known as Lucille has been channeling me for years to make peace with the house and get her story out. I am working with the Victorian Society to do a paranormal investigation and weekly historical tours there. I’m looking forward to writing a new book on this subject.

It is important for me to share my knowledge and other peoples stories and expertise to shed light into the paranormal. So many times I have people come up to me after a book talk/signing and tell me, that they have had a similar experience but was always afraid to tell someone and look “crazy.” I think there are so many things that we can’t explain, but if we have to courage to search and talk about it, it will get us closer to understanding it.

You can find my book at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Schiffer Publishing. I have pictures and event information on my Facebook Page: Florida’s Haunted Hospitality

Brought to you by Schiffer books.