CASTLE MALDITO
Location: Castle Maldito (aka "Cursed Castle") is located on Black Island, a half mile off the mainland of Cuba in the Gulf of Batabano on the other side of the island from Havanna.
Description of Place: Castle Maldito is a large imposing stone edifice with high towers, stone walls, ramparts and a basement crypt and catacombs. Some of the towers reach as high as four stories where they can practically survey nearly the whole island. The interior is filled with grand furnishings vaguely Spanish in origin and fine decor reminiscent of fine palaces.
Ghostly Manifestations: Through the West Indies, from Bermuda down to Trinidad, there is a mild smattering of haunted locations and sacred sites imbued with energies. This is a region where the religion of Voodoo exists, and the natives are very superstitious. Dark rituals exist along with pagan African arts in areas where tourists visit. Among these, Castle Maldito is possibly the most ominous yet the most obscure. Not much is known about this location since the start of the current Castro regime.
Since 1920, no one had lived in the castle for more than a night, and there is not much evidence to suggest the castle still exists. In 1937, a silver mine was discovered running under the castle and it is likely the castle was demolished and bulldozed by Pro-Castro supporters to mine that ore. To examine the ghosts that are believed to have existed there, paranormal researchers have to analyze the stories of the late radio broadcaster Laurence L. Lawrence, a former New York radio host who often spoke out against believers in the paranormal and everyone else under the sun. In 1940, Lawrence had escorted the castle's owner, Mary Carter, to lay claim to the deserted edifice in order to avoid certain Mafia-underworld figures he had accidentally insulted over the radio.
According to Lawrence, the atmosphere around the castle was heightened by the fact that some of the natives believed in the power of voodoo while others believed the location was cursed by lost souls. Fishermen didn't like trolling in in the waters in its shadow even at night, and neighbors on the tiny island it rested on did not go near it after dark. Shadowy figures flitted over the walls and balls of light passed through the darkness past open windows. Lawrence and his personal manservant in the castle both crashed into each other trying to catch a "ghostly luminescent figure" they noticed loitering in the grand hall beneath the grand staircase. For just over twelve years, this ghostly figure had been reported ascending and descending the staircase into the crypt and vanishing into a bureau in the main hall. This bureau later turned out to hold the bones of an unburied figure.
Lawrence had also told his viewers that he had heard organ music playing in the castle, but the only organ in the castle is in the chapel, and it doesn't work. Nevertheless, several witnesses have heard the organ playing and the music almost always announces the appearance of one of the ghosts. Carter's uncle had seen the figure in 1934 and left the castle to never return again. She had seen a figure advancing up the staircase as well, and rushed to the downstairs down another adjacent staircase.
Sadly, since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, access to the island by serious researchers has been minimalized to the point of being negligible, and very few stories are still coming about Maldito by émigrés departing the island who know about it. There are some rumors about Cuban nationals razing the hall with bullets trying to hit unknown figures in the darkness. Screams from out of the night near the castle are blamed on birds
History: Built between 1863 and 1869, the castle was created by Don Carlos Santiago, a wealthy land owner, on behalf of his bride, Maria Isabella Sebastian. She gave birth to only two children who both departed post-Castro Cuba to never return and her descendants over the years have been trying to reclaim the castle since them. It is believed that most of the castle still exists, but photos smuggled into the United States reveal an edifice that is almost razed and gutted and partially inhabited by undesirables using the castle legends to smuggle everything from illegal drugs to illicit weapons.
Identity of Ghosts: According to tradition, the ghosts of Don Carlos Santiago and Maria Isabella Sebastian inhabit the castle and grounds, but Lawrence added one more, Ramon Mederos, a murdered Mexican mobster, whose body was discovered concealed in the crypt by his own brother. His murderer has yet to be identified.
Source/Comments: Ghost-Breakers (1940), Source material based on the movie and loosely upon Rose Hill Plantation in Montego Bay, Jamaica
In the movie, Bob Hope played Laurence L. Lawrence, Paulette Goddard was Mary Carter and Anthony Quinn was Francisco Mederos.