Beyond the Canvas: The Spirits of the Village of the Arts
Written by Liz Reed
The Village of the Arts is the largest artist community in Florida. Established in 1999 by the Artists Guild of Manatee, it’s a community where artists are able to live where they work.
The Village has some interesting history and, with history, there’s always a ghost story or two.
Cracker homes were built in the 1920s to 1930s. Some of the homes in the Village that are still standing are over 100 years old.
From January 1, 1921, to May 31, 1957, Bradenton General Hospital sat in the Village area. Owned and operated by Dr. CW Larrabee and his wife Dovie, It was the only hospital between Tampa and Fort Myers. They had three wards, and three beds to a ward. There were five private rooms. It held 75 patients and had performed 11,000 operations during the years the hospital was open.
The maternity ward was on the second floor above the entrance. Since there was no air conditioning at the time, it was said to be the coolest part of hospital. The building was torn down, and Manatee Memorial hospital was built. I would have loved to have heard the stories the building could have told.
In 1910 to the 1920s, the Village was the Harris homestead.
Dr. Harris was one of Bradenton’s pioneering physicians, and he was the longest serving physician. He delivered 3,500 babies in his career. The owner told me that her husband believed their refrigerator was haunted. It made a lot of noise!
There sits a Sears Roebuck mail-order home in the Village, and the current owner is a descendant of the original owner. It’s never left the family. Sears Roebuck made mail-order homes during 1908-1942. You were able to mail order a home that came in 370 different designs.
The residential area started falling apart over the decades. Homes started to rot.
The artists guild has since made the Village of the Arts a major tourist destination. Known for its art walks, local music, and colorful architecture, this area covers 36 acres and contains over 200 homes, shops, and restaurants.
Well, I told you about the haunted refrigerator at the old Dr. Harris house. How about I tell you the stories the owners have told us?
The Divine Excess shop owner Zoey lives in the house next door to her shop. She has told us that she knew of four spirits: two in the shop, one in her house, and one dancing in the backyard of her shop.
Zoey saw a woman in white dancing in the backyard of her shop, and she knows for a fact there is a male and female spirit in the house. It seems the owner and his caretaker are still there.
At her house, she has a male spirit who was making Thanksgiving dinner for his family. He had gotten everything ready. The turkey was cooking in the oven. He decided to take a break and sat down in his recliner chair never to get up again. His spirit is still there making his Thanksgiving dinner. If you visit the Divine Excess, Zoey will gladly tell you more of her stories.
Now The Village Mystic is a very active place. Not only is the shop said to have the spirit of a little girl, but lately it seems to be more.
If you ask the owner, Dawn, she has videos of things falling off shelves and things moving. We have caught on video the little girl moving the ball we had and at the time the camera was laying down with no one around.
Now Shaman Jeff will tell you about what happened one night after we taught a class and then did a little investigation. (That’s the same night we caught the ball moving.) While in the back building, we had set up our SLS (structure light source) camera which picked up a spirit in a huge amethyst stone at least 5 feet tall. At the time, Shaman Jeff realized that he received a hat from a Shaman who passed away, and it was sitting on top of crystal.
We asked the spirit to step out of the stone if he was the spirit of the Shaman who owned the hat. The stick figure stepped out and walked up to a young woman, reached out, and touched her several times. What amazed me about all this is it was seen by at least 20 people, and the young woman reported that she had been out of pain for several weeks after the encounter. This young woman was my daughter, who had been suffering from back and hip pain for a long while. In their house, I think the spirits come and go. We did catch on the SLS camera a figure dancing when Dawn turned on the music.
Stop by The Village Mystic and talk to Dawn or Shaman Jeff or really any employee who will tell you a story.
The Village Patio, which is believed to be the oldest home in the Village, is now a family-owned and operated restaurant that serves great food at great prices.. They all have stories. Just ask Chef Patrick and his daughter. They can tell you about every exit door being knocked on, when no one’s there and the knocks came too fast from a human to get to each exit. Furniture is moved. They hear footsteps in the hallway, and silverware being dropped in the sink when the sink is empty.
OK. That made us want to go in and check things out with equipment.
My fellow investigator Brandon Bassett and I decided to just sit right there at the beginning of the wall and set up pieces of equipment. On the other side of wall was the kitchen.
We did pick up a male who seemed to be an owner at one time. His name is Walter. We caught two answers to questions but we’re not quite sure what he said.
In the dining room, we started getting a little activity. Fellow investigator Arron Davis and I started getting answers of a very strong yes when I started asking questions about the Harris homestead.
It seems he was a slave on the homestead. Now remember this is the Deep South. There was slavery still going on. He would not tell us his name or any details except that he was brought to Key West and sold to come here to Bradenton by the Harris family.
We now for sure that we will be back to do another investigation. What we didn’t know was that we caught a woman’s voice clear as a bell saying, “I’m here.” I want to talk to her, apologize that we didn’t know she was there, and give her time to talk to us.
Whether it be the owner’s wife or someone else, I want to know.
I’m sure as time goes on I will get to hear a few more stories throughout The Village.
So, take a day and stroll through the Village of the Arts. Do an art walk, stop into the shops and galleries. Grab something to eat at the Village Patio with Walter and when you finish, join us on the Village ghost tour and you’ll be able to hear the owners’ stories first-hand. Contact one or two spirits and have a night of interesting facts and interaction with the owners and spirits.
We have also reopened our Bradenton Beach/Bridge St. ghost tour. Join us one night on a tour and have some fun.