HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
1890 Key West Victorian built for a cigar maker's family — then stripped from them by a bigamy claim
410 Fleming St, Key West, FL 33040
Research updated June 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$$$
Room rates from $235/night. Adults-only property.
Access
Limited Access
Historic Victorian structure with stairs; limited accessibility
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1890 · Key West Cigar Industry · 19th-Century Cuban-American Family History · Victorian Architecture
The mansion at 410 Fleming Street was built in 1890 by Francisco Marrero, who had established himself as one of Key West's more prosperous cigar makers through connections to the Cuban leaf tobacco supply. The Florida Keys were a center of cigar manufacturing in the late 19th century, and Marrero's business placed him among the area's comfortable merchant class.
Enriquetta lived in the house with Marrero and raised eight children there. The couple's relationship was understood locally as a marriage. What neither Enriquetta nor her Key West community knew was that Marrero had a first wife in Cuba — a marriage that remained legally intact under Cuban law. The precise circumstances of Marrero's death during a Cuba trip are not documented in surviving sources beyond the fact that he died there.
With Marrero gone, his Cuban wife moved to assert her legal claim on the estate. Because Marrero had never divorced his first wife, Enriquetta's union had no legal standing. Florida courts sided with the Cuban widow. Enriquetta and her eight children were evicted from the only home they had known.
The property passed through several hands over the following decades before being converted into the boutique guest mansion currently in operation. The Victorian architecture — typical of Key West's late-19th-century prosperous households — has been largely preserved, with twelve guest rooms occupying the original structure.
Sources
The haunting attributed to Enriquetta Marrero is one of the more documented cases among Key West's considerable paranormal history — documented in the sense that the same specific phenomena are reported across multiple unconnected guest accounts over decades.
The most frequently described experience is a lavender scent, identified in accounts as Enriquetta's preferred fragrance, detectable in hallways and particularly in Suite 7 (formerly room 18). No botanical explanation for the recurring smell has been established by property staff. Guests also describe objects — jewelry, toiletry items — relocated between sessions in ways that staff cannot account for.
Suite 7 generates the largest volume of reports. The room occupies a position in the mansion associated with high family activity during Enriquetta's residence. Guests report the sound of childish laughter in and near what was historically the children's playroom area, as well as door locks engaging and disengaging without mechanical cause.
A figure described as a woman in Victorian dress has been reported in the hallways by multiple guests, typically in the early morning hours. The reports are consistent enough in general description — Victorian-era clothing, appearing near the main staircase — that the property has incorporated Enriquetta's story into its public-facing materials as a feature rather than a liability.
Notable Entities
Twelve individually designed guest rooms in the 1890 Victorian mansion, with a private pool and complimentary continental breakfast. Suite 7 — formerly room 18 — is the most-requested room for guests interested in the property's paranormal history.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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.
Key West, FL
Samuel Otis Johnson built the structure in 1886 as a grocery and butcher shop with an adjacent outbuilding. Dr. William Richard Warren, trained at the University of Pennsylvania, purchased the property in 1913 and converted it into a medical practice and residence. His wife Genevieve Allen Warren cultivated the gardens that define the property today. The building was extensively remodeled in 1937 by architect Jack Long and is listed in the Key West Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.