Overview
The beautiful and historic Casa Marina Hotel located in Jacksonville, FL, is know for more than its luxurious accommodations and spectacular ocean view. The hotel is rumored to be haunted. Guests reportedly hear shuffling coming from an upstairs suite that is empty and a figure is known to mysteriously apparate on the south stairs of the hotel. Unexplained voices are sometimes heard, and the unexplained smell of cigars is sometimes found when there are no cigars within eyesight.
Comedic Ghost
Perhaps what the Casa Marina Hotel is most known for is its prankish ghost. There is reportedly a ghost in the hotel who attempts to trick people walking up the main staircase. The prank always occurs near the seventh step of the staircase, and while there is no clear explanation of why this occurs, some speculate that it may be the spirit of comedian, Fatty Arbuckle, trying to trip guests going up the stairs.
Fatty Arbuckle stayed at the Casa Marina hotel when he was trying to get his career and life back on track. Although it is reported that he enjoyed himself while his in his stays at the hotel, some report that he was never really the same after staying at the hotel. He was reportedly never the same jesting man he was once, even though he did manage to goof off and joke at parties. Instead, he became described as rather shy, reserved and pensive, often looking towards the waves as if for absolution. Could the hotel have had something to do with the change in him? Some say it did, but regardless strange occurrences regularly manifest at the hotel.