Deering Estate

A 420-acre waterfront estate built by Chicago industrialist Charles Deering as his winter retreat. The property sits on land where the ancient Tequesta Indians buried their dead and has been the filming location for numerous ghost hunting shows.

The Deering Estate sprawls across 444 acres in Miami's Palmetto Bay neighborhood, earning the distinction of South Florida's Most Haunted Place from the League of Paranormal Investigators (LPI). Industrial magnate Charles Deering acquired the Richmond Cottage—the only surviving structure from the old town of Cutler, dating to 1896—in 1916, adding his majestic stone mansion in 1922.

But human habitation here stretches back millennia. The Cutler Fossil Site contains fossilized human remains dating 10,000 years. The Cutler Burial Mound holds 12 to 18 Native American women and children buried face-down in a spiral pattern. Over the centuries, treasure hunters and neighborhood children dug through the mound, disturbing and removing bones and artifacts. A 350-year-old oak tree now grows atop these disturbed graves.

In 1979, a sinkhole opened up on the property, revealing a Pet Cemetery—another burial mound containing dozens of Pleistocene-era animal remains. In 2009, a paranormal investigation recorded 60 disturbing disembodied voices. Investigators captured recordings saying Come home and Send me, I will go, along with a female voice saying I want some of you.

One shocking photograph captured a fully formed bodily apparition of a tribal figure roughly 100 feet from the photographer, standing tall, watching. Staff believe these indigenous spirits have no dark intent—they simply watch over the living.

The ghost of a small boy is often seen in the dining area, mischievously moving furniture. Deering's study has become a magnet for spooky activity. Night guards have quit after witnessing unexplainable events. Disembodied voices, floating orbs, and furniture that relocates itself have all been documented.

The estate offers ghost tours year-round, inviting guests to walk the same paths as Indigenous peoples, Miami's early settlers, and Charles Deering himself.