Paranormal hunters beware: Police warn Sebring's abandoned Kenilworth Lodge is off-limits to the living

SEBRING, Fla. - Ghost hunters have traveled far and wide to search the grounds of the Kenilworth Lodge in Highlands County, but police warn: the still-living are no longer welcome.

Those hunting for the paranormal are being asked to stop visiting the historic building, which has become the site of fascination for those seeking an out-of-body experience.

Sebring Police Department Cmdr. Curtis Hart remembers the glory days of the Kenilworth.

"When it was open and functioning, it was a beautiful place. It was busy," Hart told FOX 13 News.

Today, Kenilworth Lodge is quite literally a shell of its former self.

On Sebring's Lakeview Drive, the three-story structure is in disrepair. Built in 1916 by the man the city is named for, Kenilworth Lodge has seen better days. It was finally condemned in 2016 because of fire code violations.

Guests were booted, never to return.

But some apparently wonder if all the guests actually left.

Cmdr. Hart doesn't believe rumors a long-dead hotel manager has stuck around. But that doesn’t stop the otherwise normal from looking for the paranormal.

YouTube and Instagram are littered with videos by people who have broken in, searching for ghosts. 

Over the last two months, Sebring police have gotten seven calls from the property owners, asking for help booting trespassers.

"I don't know it to be haunted," Hart said. "Never heard anything about it being haunted, so I don't know what the draw is there. I don't know if someone is just putting that information out there on the internet and other people are following up on it."

What is it about an old 65,000-square-foot hotel that makes people want to connect to the paranormal? A Florida historian says it's about feeling close to the past and to the people we will never get to know, but who influence us every day.

"It is a different experience than sitting down and reading a book or reading a diary of somebody who lived at the time," said professor Angela Zombek of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. "If you can be in that spot where those people were and get a sense of something, that's another level of connection." 

David Bulit, who runs the website "Abandoned Florida," doesn't necessarily believe in the paranormal but the Kenilworth Lodge is one of 2,000 abandoned buildings he's explored. 

"You are going to have a connection to your community and to your city, especially in Sebring where it is smaller than, say, Tampa or Miami," Bulit said.

Cmdr. Hart says there is a push to refurbish the Kenilworth, and help the town reclaim its past.

"It would be great to have an operating and functional, beautiful old building to highlight your city," Hart said.

Until then, police say the Kenilworth Lodge is not welcoming guests, at least, not living ones.

Photos courtesy Sergio Alejandro, www.sergioisevil.co and Florida Memory State Library and Archives of Florida.