Italian Club - Paranormal Bad Boys

THE ITALIAN CLUB

The Paranormal Bad Boys Archive

HAUNTED RATING

The Italian Club
Tampa, Florida
Built in: 1918

HISTORY

In 1918, as the building was being completed – there was much jubilation in Tampa’s Italian community – and plans for a large grand opening were being made. This new Italian club building was designed by award-winning Tampa architects Leo Elliott and B. C. Bonfoey who had also designed the 1915 city hall downtown and the new Cuban Club at Palm Avenue and 14th street that was also being completed at the same time as the new Italian Club. This new Italian Club included a combination of Italian, Spanish and Greek architecture. A true architectural gem.

This was their second Italian Clubhouse because their first Italian Club building that had been built in 1911 had unfortunately been destroyed by fire in May of 1914. It was originally located at 1724 7th avenue, across the street from the present building.

RUMORS

Rumor has it that numerous ghosts reside within this structure, that every floor is haunted. There are ghosts in the kitchen, first floor areas, rooms, second floor, and a rear suite on the ground level. Whereas there is validity to this, we foound evidence against some claims.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A beautifully massive location just like the Cuban Club, except with an Italian flavor in decor and style. We had the privelage to explore, investigate and spend a night within this location. It was surely an eventful evening with some perasonal experiences. However it was a tough night, as the Italian club is located within the very heart of downtown Ybor city. The sounds of the clubs below, Coyotte ugly and other establishments simply drowned out any attempt to have a solid, professional investigation. People were partying, they were loud and noisy and the sounds echoed greatly within this old large building. It was truly devasting that we drove here only to have to shut down early because the noise corruption was far too great.

THE CONCLUSION

We investigated this location and found little to no evidence of paranormal activity. We did have some personal experiences, but without evidence to back those experiences up. We simply cannot confirm the place is really haunted as they claim. A shame really because we expected far more, and perhaps there is more. However, we just did not experience that to say so.