Casablanca Inn on the Bay

A Mediterranean Revival-style inn built in 1914, overlooking Matanzas Bay and the Castillo de San Marcos. During Prohibition, the inn's owner allegedly signaled rum runners with a lantern to indicate when the coast was clear.

The Casablanca Inn, built in 1914 as a luxury resort with Moroccan-inspired design, was originally the Matanzas Hotel. The land beneath has been occupied since the early Spanish colonial period, serving as Hospital de San Sebastian—a military infirmary established in the 1600s to treat soldiers wounded fighting pirates and British raiders. The hospital's crude procedures and high mortality rate saturated the grounds with suffering. During Prohibition, the inn's enterprising widow proprietor fell into league with rumrunners, taking one as her lover. She would climb to the roof with a lantern, waving to signal whether it was safe to come ashore. One night she waved off her lover to protect him from G-men, but he stayed in approaching hurricane waves and was lost. Heartbroken, the light in her heart went out forever. Nearly a century later, a light still swings atop the roof in the black of night. Visitors see the lady in the halls and stairway, creating cold spots—she is said to be buried in nearby Huguenot Cemetery. Young children are heard playing throughout the inn though no living children are present. Staff and guests hear footsteps when no one is there. The Discovery Channel named Casablanca Inn one of America's 10 Most Haunted Hotels. The Mediterranean Revival-style inn is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.