{"id":2221,"date":"2013-11-10T18:29:45","date_gmt":"2013-11-10T22:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/~travelwriting\/?page_id=2221"},"modified":"2013-11-10T18:29:45","modified_gmt":"2013-11-10T22:29:45","slug":"do-historys-ghosts-roam-south-dades-deering-estate-take-the-tour-to-find-out","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/?page_id=2221","title":{"rendered":"Do history’s ghosts roam South Dade’s Deering Estate? Take the tour to find out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted November 10, 2013<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By RIANNA HIDALGO<\/p>\n

PALMETTO BAY, Fla. \u2014 The setting couldn\u2019t have been more ominous. Leaves on looming trees rustled angrily in the wind. A cat moaned and retreated into a bush. Darkness was getting heavier and thicker by the minute, descending on an anxious crowd. The door creaking on the way in was almost too perfect.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never seen \u201cGhost Hunters\u201d or \u201cParanormal State\u201d and I\u2019ve never had what you might call a supernatural experience. But I was about to step into what has been deemed South Florida\u2019s most haunted place by the League of Paranormal Investigators (LPI): the Deering Estate on Biscayne Bay in this South Miami-Dade County community.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Deering Estate was owned by businessman Charles Deering in the 1920s (Photo by Rianna Hidalgo).<\/p><\/div>\n

Owned by wealthy businessman Charles Deering in the 1920s, the estate has been offering ghost tours ever since the LPI gave it an unusually high ranking on the \u201chaunted\u201d scale in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d all heard stories about this place,\u201d said Ed de Jong, a founding member of LPI. \u201cWe heard night guards quit because they saw things happen. We knew there was some activity, but we didn\u2019t know what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disembodied voices, floating orbs of light and missing furniture were some of the results, but the LPI says its most convincing evidence is two full-body figures captured in photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have an apparition in an investigation is like the holy grail,\u201d de Jong said. \u201cThen, to have two \u2014 that\u2019s a really unique thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the 444-acre Deering Estate is operated by Miami-Dade County government and is a place of recreation and education. Plenty of guests stick to kayak adventures, concerts and historical tours, but those who have a penchant for the paranormal have plenty of options.<\/p>\n

On a gusty Friday night in October, I went to see for myself on the \u201cBe Your Own Investigator Tour,\u201d in which guests are encouraged to bring their own equipment to find evidence.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/a>

Visitors David Klein and Joe Reiger practice with their ghost-seeking equipment (Photo by Rianna Hidalgo).<\/p><\/div>\n

Visitors Joe Reiger and David Klein came prepared \u2014 they were hard to miss as they stood with an odd collection of gadgets. Klein had invested in a $100 ghost hunting kit, complete with temperature sensor, magnetic field meter and night vision goggles. When one of his many gadgets started blaring, he sheepishly popped out the battery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first time doing this,\u201d Klein said. \u201cWe came last summer to the estate, saw a sign for the ghost tours and wanted to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends Caryl Lucas and Carol Nagengast read about the ghost tours in the Neighbors section of The Miami Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nagengast said she doesn\u2019t believe in ghosts, but is open-minded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, that\u2019s what we\u2019re here to find out, right?\u201d she said. \u201cWe thought it would be something fun and interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the first 10 minutes, it was clear that the Deering Estate \u2014 haunted or not \u2014 is the ideal place for a ghost tour. A staff member set the scene for roughly 60 guests (later split into two groups) by providing some history. The tree-lined path behind her looked more and more like something from sleepy hollow as darkness fell.<\/p>\n

She explained that humans have inhabited the property for thousands of years, starting with Paleo-Indians. The Cutler Fossil Site contains fossilized human remains dating back 10,000 years, while the Cutler Burial Mound contains 12 to 18 Native American women and children buried face-down in a spiral pattern.<\/p>\n

With that knowledge fresh in our minds, she handed us off to members of the LPI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on here, and hopefully the spirits will cooperate tonight,\u201d said Atena Komar, LPI founding member. \u201cRemember, these are the pioneers of our town, and they deserve respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

We started by heading into the Richmond Cottage, which was built in 1896 and once served as an inn. We filed into the first room in complete darkness.<\/p>\n

Komar\u2019s arsenal of spirit-finding tools included pendulums, dousing rods and electromagnetic field meters. With the idea that spirits can manipulate their magnetic fields at will, we placed the grey boxes on the floor and waited anxiously for their LED lights to spike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to know if there is anyone in this room,\u201d Komar said softly. \u201cIf so, we would love for them to give us a sign of their presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease?\u201d a visitor added from somewhere in the corner of the room.<\/p>\n

Nothing \u2026 nothing \u2026 then, a flicker and the light turned yellow.<\/p>\n

\"LPI<\/a>

LPI member Atena Komar shows visitors how to use a pendulum (Photo by Rianna Hidalgo).<\/p><\/div>\n

Even if flickering lights don\u2019t convince you, it\u2019s hard not to get caught up in the atmosphere. I\u2019ll admit that wandering through a pitch-black, 100-year-old house with creaky wooden floors and a group of frightened visitors invoked more than one adrenalin rush.<\/p>\n

We moved from room to room, watching the meters, taking flash photos to look for suspicious blurs and paying attention to odd sensations. A hush came over the group when a woman proclaimed that she could feel a little dead boy standing next to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have goosebumps,\u201d she said with a strained voice. \u201cHe\u2019s so close to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was surprised at how many people were staunch believers in ghosts, even though statistics seem to support it \u2014 a recent poll by YouGov, an international market research firm, found that nearly half of Americans do. Needless to say, the tour drew a cast of entertaining characters.<\/p>\n

In one room, we placed a flashlight on a sprawling wooden table and sat around it in silence. When a participant asked if the spirit in the room wanted us to leave, the flashlight instantly turned on by itself, easily garnering the award for spookiest moment of the night. By the time the group had finished its collective gasp, people were already on their way out.<\/p>\n

In the main house, we visited Deering\u2019s prohibition-era walk-in safe in the basement. Deering took every precaution to ensure the safe stayed secret, hiding it with a bookcase door, guarding it with a bank-style vault entrance door and leaving it out of the blueprints. It housed thousands of Deering\u2019s once-illegal wine bottles. Now, they are empty antiques lining the walls.<\/p>\n

When we got to Deering\u2019s former study, the question on everyone\u2019s mind was whether we would encounter Charles Deering himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Deering, we have all come here to meet you,\u201d Komar said. No response. It wasn\u2019t until we asked about his brother James that another flashlight lit up, this time, it was a participants\u2019.<\/p>\n

By the end of the tour, we had seemingly come in contact with the spirits of children, pets, butlers, maids and James Deering. De Jong said they believe there are 10 to 12 spirits in the buildings that regularly interact with visitors, while spirits of Native Americans watch from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t work on appointment,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have nights where there\u2019s a lot of activity, but nights where it\u2019s quiet. We never know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participant Frances Madison said that both she and her mother experienced severe nausea in the Richmond Cottage and had to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a lot of things that can\u2019t be explained,\u201d Madison said. \u201cI just wanted to see one and feel one and know that there\u2019s existence after we pass on.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were clearly some skeptics on the tour as well, but de Jong said they welcome doubters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are skeptical, we like to have you on the tour because by experiencing it yourself you can open up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t make stuff up. It happens, and you have to draw your own conclusion based on the experiences you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether you believe in ghosts, the Deering Ghost Tour is a fun, spine-tingling experience. The tour was entertaining at worst, thrilling at best and well worth the $30 just to wander the estate by night and hear about its history.<\/p>\n

My photos revealed no odd shapes or mysterious figures, but when I was in the Richmond Cottage, I felt an icy hand tap me on the shoulder. Was it a ghost? Or was it the teenage boy behind me making mischief? That is something I\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n

If You Go <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deering Estate offers three different ghost tours \u2013<\/p>\n