The story
The Vinoy opened on St. Petersburg's waterfront in 1925, a Mediterranean Revival showpiece of Florida's boom years that hosted presidents and celebrities, served as a military training site in the Second World War, and then stood closed and derelict through the 1970s and 80s before a celebrated restoration reopened it in 1992 as a luxury resort. Its haunted reputation is unusually well travelled: because visiting major-league baseball teams stay there for games against the Tampa Bay Rays, players and coaches have publicly recounted experiences — flickering lights, taps turning on, a translucent man in a top hat or old-fashioned coat by the bed — making the Vinoy one of sport's most storied haunted hotels. Guests and staff similarly describe figures in 1920s dress on the fifth floor and in the tower, doors and lights behaving oddly, and a sense of presence in the older wings. These accounts should be presented as guest and player reports and hotel folklore rather than proven phenomena. Current room and booking details should be confirmed from the official site before publishing.