Travel Tips

Well, I dunno about that, but there are a lot of ghost stories. I used to totally believe all of them as a child, but I've evolved since then. (Unless it's dark - then I am totally afraid.)

Jose Gaspar, the pirate for whom the giant Gasparilla celebration is held in rememberance of every year, is actually a fictional character. Thought up by a real pirate (though not a very good one) - - Juan Gomez made up the legend of Gaspar. Gomez was better known for his storytelling abilities than his plundering. Some people even think he may have just made up his own pirate adventures.
Anyway, the spirit of Gomez / Gomez-as-Gaspar / Gaspar-for-die-hard-believers-that-just-won't -except-the-he's-a-figment is said to haunt the bay at night and roam the streets of Tampa.
Personally, I have not seen him hanging around, but you can look about for him.

The old Henry B. Plant Hotel (now the Plant Museum and part of the University of Tampa) is full of bad vibes. There's rumors that people who died while staying in the luxury hotel haunt the second floor because they are angry that their deaths were covered up to avoid tarnishing the image of hotel.
Other rumors say that it is the Plant family that hautns the seond floor. One month before he died, Henry Plant changed his will and left all of his thirty million dollar fortune to his grandson - to be paid out on his eighteenth birthday. His wife and son were previously listed as the primary beneficiaries. Instead, they were given 30k a year from a seperate trust fund.
With such strange circumstances surrounding his will right before he died, some suspect that the Plant family had some secrets that left their souls not at rest. Images have been seen in mirrors and voices whispering have been heard at the old Plant Hotel - especially on the second floor.

El Circulo Cubano (the Cuban Club) has a long history of hauntings. Recently, volunteers and staff have had intersections with beings that they believe to be supernatural.
In one such case, a young lady working at the club was giving a tour to a group of college students. While locking up, she heard banging on the keys and went to check it out - thinking she had left one of the college students behind. When she got into the room with the piano, she said the keys were moving by themselves. She ran out.
On another day. the a club employee was late to work. Her co-workers hadn't even noticed, as they began readying the hall for its engagement that evening. Suddenly, they heard, "Help me! Help me!" over and over. Thinking it was their co-worker, they went looking for her. The sound got more intense and then would fade away. They called her cell phone, and she was just pulling into the lot. She hadn't been there when the cries for help came.
Others have heard the cries for help, too. Some people believe it is a vicitm of Dr. Death - an unlicensed abortionist who let women bleed to death from botched operations rather then call for help who worked in Ybor.

There are three haunted theatres in Tampa: the Faulk Theatre, the Britton 8, and the Tampa Theatre. The Faulk and Britton are known for phantoms appearing in shadow form through out the theatre house. The Tampa Theatre, however, has a much more specific story - - one of its projector operators died on the job and is said to haunt the theatre house to this day. Visions of the man, voices whispering, and unexplained moving objects are all proof of the projectionist's refusal to leave his old job.