A 1910 B&B steps from the Vinoy, where guests in the Montego Room report a rocking chair that moves on its own
532 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Bed and breakfast nightly rates; contact property for current pricing
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1910 residential building; multi-story with stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1910 · Vinoy Hotel Origin · Pinellas County Heritage · Florida Waterfront Architecture
The structure at 532 Beach Drive NE in downtown St. Petersburg was built in 1910 as a winter residence in a neighborhood that would become the city's waterfront showcase. Perry Laughner, a Pennsylvania oil magnate, owned the property; his son Aymer Vinoy Laughner inherited it and used it as a base for the most consequential real estate wager in St. Petersburg history.
According to the Vinoy Hotel's own account, the Vinoy Park Hotel traces its origin to a 1923 party at the Beach Drive home, where Aymer Vinoy Laughner made a bet to construct a grand resort. That structure — now the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel — opened across the street in 1925 and remains one of Florida's most recognized historic hotels. The Beach Drive property thus sits at the physical origin point of a National Historic Landmark.
The seven-bedroom, six-bath structure of 4,437 square feet has operated for years as a bed and breakfast. By the early 2020s it carried a listing price of $3 million and an active Florida DBPR lodging license. The property's operational status has fluctuated in recent years.
Sources
The haunting at Beach Drive Inn centers almost entirely on a single room: the Montego Room. Guests have reported a rocking chair that moves on its own, disembodied footsteps in the night, and what innkeeper Roland Marino described as the imprint of a woman's torso visible in the room's mirror. The oral tradition attributes the presence to a housekeeper who died in the room, though no documentary record of that death has surfaced in public sources.
The property drew regional attention when A&E's 'Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal' filmed an episode there. During production, two young subjects and host psychic Chip Coffey visited the Montego Room and reported sensing a presence — a visit the show documented alongside the rocking chair reports.
Neither the name 'Montego Mary' nor a verified identity for the alleged presence appears in primary documentation; the label circulates on aggregator sites but does not appear in the A&E episode coverage or the innkeeper's own statements. The phenomena are treated here as reported guest experiences rather than verified historical events.
Media Appearances
The Montego Room is the inn's most-cited location for paranormal reports. Guests have described a rocking chair moving without contact, disembodied footsteps, and the impression of a woman's torso appearing in the room's mirror. The inn was built in 1910 and was once the winter home of Pennsylvania oil magnate Perry Laughner, whose son Aymer Vinoy Laughner conceived the Vinoy Hotel from its front porch in 1923.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
St. Petersburg, FL
The hotel opened in 1921 as Hotel Scott during St. Petersburg's Roaring Twenties economic boom. In 1923 it was renamed Hotel Cordova after the Cordova family, who owned and staffed it for more than thirty years. After periods of decline and ownership changes through the late twentieth century, the property was restored and won the St. Petersburg Preservation Society's Restoration of the Year Award in 2002. It now operates as a 32-room boutique inn.
Key West, FL
The house at 534 Eaton Street was built between 1890 and 1898 by Thomas Otto as a Queen Anne-style residence. His son Robert Eugene Otto — a painter who studied in New York and Paris — inherited the home and lived there with his wife Anne from 1930 until his death in 1974. The doll known as Robert lived in the home with Gene Otto throughout this period, occupying the turret room in its later years. Following the deaths of Gene and Anne Otto, the property was converted into a guest house in 1978.
Key West, FL
William Curry arrived in Key West from the Bahamas and built his fortune through the salvage trade, working wrecks off the Florida reef and reportedly purchasing salvaged goods at distressed prices. His son Milton demolished the original 1869 house in 1901 to build the Georgian Revival mansion that stands today. It has operated as a bed and breakfast since 1988.