HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 2 further entries on record
The former 1925 Bay Haven Hotel on the Ringling College campus in Sarasota, where a ghost named Mary — a woman who died in the stairwell — has reportedly haunted students and staff for decades.
2621 Old Bradenton Road, Sarasota, FL 34234
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Active private college campus; no public ghost-tour programming. Ringling's campus grounds are generally accessible; Keating Hall is a residential building.
Access
Limited Access
Campus building with stairwells central to the legend; limited accessibility
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1925 · Original 1925 Bay Haven Hotel in Spanish Mission Revival style · Incorporated into Ringling School of Art and Design c. 1931 by John Ringling · One of the earliest buildings on the Ringling College campus
The building now known as Keating Hall on the Ringling College of Art and Design campus was originally constructed in 1925 as the Bay Haven Hotel, built in a Spanish Mission Revival style by the Echols Construction Company. During the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the hotel catered to a wealthy clientele, but the bust that followed the boom left the building in disrepair. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, before John Ringling's intervention, the Bay Haven had reportedly fallen into use for gambling and prostitution.
John Ringling, the circus impresario who had established a large winter estate and art collection in Sarasota, purchased the Bay Haven around 1931 and converted it into facilities for the art school he was founding. The building became a women's dormitory and classroom space. Ringling College of Art and Design (then the Ringling School of Art and Design) grew around this original structure.
The building was later renamed Keating Hall in honor of a benefactor. It continues to function as a residential building on the active private college campus. Ringling College's communications office has been noted in press accounts as unable to find any historical record confirming the death of a person named Mary within the building.
Sources
The ghost tradition at Ringling College's Keating Hall centers on a young woman universally called 'Mary,' whose death in the building's stairwell is said to have occurred during the late 1920s or early 1930s, when the Bay Haven Hotel was being used for gambling and prostitution. Most accounts describe Mary as a young woman of about 18 or 19 who worked in the hotel and died in the third-floor stairwell.
According to Sarasota Magazine's 2021 survey of the city's most haunted locations, students who have lived in the building's upper floors since the 1930s have reported anguished sobs emanating from the stairwell and the persistent scent of stale perfume or violet perfume. Some have reported weeping or a crushing sense of sadness when passing through the stairwell. Art students have found their paintbrushes slowly spinning in water rinse cups as though someone had just set them turning and let go. Mary is also reported to have rearranged rooms and placed phantom phone calls.
A 2004 press account noted that Ringling College's spokeswoman Christine Meeker Lange and some students had searched for a documentary record of the death without success. Travel Channel coverage in 2004 included the location. The legend is also documented in Greg Jenkins's published book *Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore: The Gulf Coast and Pensacola* (2007).
Mary is not identified as a specific real person in any published account; her name may be a folk attribution.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Where this legend is told
Ringling College of Art and Design campus is largely open. The Keating Hall building (former Bay Haven Hotel, 1925) can be viewed from campus grounds. No ghost-tour programming is offered.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bull Valley, IL
The George Stickney House is an 1865 stucco-over-frame mansion in Bull Valley, Illinois, built for spiritualists George and Sylvia Stickney. The Stickneys, both practicing mediums, are said to have designed the interior without right angles to ease the movement of spirits during seances. The building has served as the Bull Valley Police Department since 1985 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
Tallahassee, FL
The Columns, also known as the William 'Money' Williams House, is a Greek Revival mansion built around 1830 by banker William Williams and is one of Tallahassee's oldest surviving buildings. It was relocated from the corner of Park and Adams to 100 North Duval in 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 1975. Since 2011 the building has been owned by the James Madison Institute, which uses it as headquarters.
Apopka, FL
The 1903 Queen Anne Victorian known today as Highland Manor was built in Apopka, Florida. In the 1920s, Dr. Thomas McBride bought the home and lived with his wife Helen on the second floor while seeing patients on the first. The house was moved to its current location at 604 East Main Street in 1985. It operated as Townsend's Plantation restaurant from the 1990s until 1997, then briefly as The Captain & The Cowboy from 1997 to 2005. Since 2008 it has functioned as the Highland Manor wedding venue.