Miami's One-Legged Ghost

5/25/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
The Roaring Twenties were in full swing in Miami when the Cuban Consulate was established in NW Dade County. Little did anyone imagine, the building would go on to become one of Miami's most famous haunted houses.

Villa Paula c.2015

Built for Don Domingo Milord, Cuba's consul general, Cuban materials and laborers were imported for its construction. Moorish arches and Spanish tiles exemplified a luxurious Cuban-style villa. Havana architect Cayetano Freixas designed it with 18-foot-high ceilings, hand-painted floor tiles and Tuscan columns. Located in what was then a tropical, agricultural area Don Domingo named it Villa Paula in honor of his wife, Dr. Paula Toledo de Milord.

It was completed in time to survive the Hurricane of 1926 that ripped through Miami, and that same strange luck saved it from the wrecking ball as the years trudged by and the city grew around it. The house located at 5811 No. Miami Avenue has been the subject of ghost stories for many years.

Domingo Jose Milord wearing a Shriner's cap c.1923

By 1919, prior to the construction of Villa Paula, Domingo Milord served as the Cuban consul at Key West and as vis-consul for Spain. He was a Scottish Rite and Shrine Mason and affiliated with the Knight of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Knights of the Golden Eagle, Caballeros de la Luz and Caribou and president of the Cuban Association Emigrados Revolucionarios Cubanos.

The Milord's occupancy of Villa Paula lasted only four years, and from the beginning the couple filled the house with 50 tropical birds and their small monkey named Clemente.

In 1929, the Milords placed Villa Paula up for sale at the cost of $12,500, a property which was valued then at $45,000. This was prior to the Great Depression which kicked off with the market crash in October, 1929. Why such a hasty disposal of a home which had been built with so much detail a short time before, remains a mystery.

Domingo Milord retired as consul in July 1930 due to health reasons, and two years later Paula Milord's health deteriorated due to a leg amputation, and she died at Miami Jackson Hospital. She was 61 years old. Her services were held at Gesu Catholic Church, and contrary to popular belief she was not buried in the garden of the home, but at Woodlawn Park Cemetery in Miami.

Villa Paula up for sale c.Jan. 1929

Strangely though Woodlawn confirms Paula was buried at the cemetery in grave number 1115, Section 27, but there is no marker, plain or ornate, to mark her final resting place.

Domingo followed his wife to the grave five years later, however he was interred in Key West Cemetery in Lot No. 110-C, but like his wife there was no monument raised in his memory. This appears strange for a wealthy Cuban family. It's usually paupers who were buried in unmarked graves. Also many of the societies Domingo Milord belonged to are known to hold graveside memorials for their deceased members.

Helen Maud Reardon with her daughters Constance and Muriel c.1920s

By the time Paula died in 1932, Helen M. Reardon had bought Villa Paula, and she lived there with her children Constance (1914-2002) and Muriel (1918-1984), her grandson Lord Lee-Benner lived there from the 1940s to the 1950s. Helen died in 1970.

Over the next few years the house switched hands several times, and was even a senior citizen home.

In 1974, Cliff Ensor bought Villa Paula and started to refurbish it, since it was in a state of disrepair after hippie squatters had vandalized it.

He said the first thing he noticed was knocking on the front door, but no one was ever there. The door to his bedroom would suddenly slam shut. There were shadows on the wall, and he would hear the front door lock turning.

Ensor said a visitor saw a one-legged woman with long, dark hair pinned up in a bun floating down the hallway, and he would randomly smell roses and Cuban coffee. He also heard piano music and the clack of high-heel shoes on the back porch of the home.

Villa Paula c.1969

The phantom had a nasty disposition though, as according to Ensor his dishes and silverware were thrown to the floor, and one day a porch chandelier inexplicably crashed to the floor.

The most disturbing episodes involved Ensor's three cats who were each killed on different occasions when the back gate would slam shut and crush them, despite there being no tension or wind to cause the movement. This might point to the spirit of Muriel Reardon who was said to have hated cats.

By 1976, Ensor tried to sell the property while at the same time holding séances there. Several psychics visited the home, including Rev. Emma Tandarich who would visit every two weeks, and who claimed that one of the spirits wouldn't give a name, but that she believed it was Paula since she loved to play the piano, and was announced with the smell of roses.

Rev. Emma Tandarich would hold seances at Villa Paula c.1976

But Paula had company, since according to Rev. Tandarich there was the ghost of a thin man with a top hat, a pudgy lady in a red dress, a distressed woman who lost a religious medal in the garden and lastly a young woman looking for the burial place of her illegitimate child.

Emma Tandarich would channel a spirit called Omar who would foretell future disasters. In 1982, Omar said that on October 15, 1984, "a boiling volcano would suddenly explode from under the pavement of New York City and set the Big Apple bobbing." Needless to say, this never came to pass.

Newspapers covered the story about Villa Paula, and the house's haunted reputation became established even though stories circulated that even prior owner, Muriel Reardon had certain rooms in the house she would avoid at all costs.

By the 1980s, Villa Paula was situated in what had become Little Haiti, and spooked local Haitians would bless themselves and cross the street to avoid walking in front of the house. Ensor spent years trying to sell the place since the area had become crime-ridden, and in 1985 he placed it up for auction.

Prior to the auction, Ensor told a news reporter:

A satan-worshipper came here once and began to choke. A psychic heard piano music right where Paula's grand piano had been. The cats won't get near the front bedroom. And as recently as Easter, a young psychic tossed and turned all night because of a presence so profoundly disturbing he couldn't even bring himself to discuss it later.

Lucien Albert M.D. ran a clinic at Villa Paula from 1987 to 1997.

On May 11 at 11 a.m. Larry Cozart, a postal worker won it for $110,000. All he got was the structure though, since a few days before Ensor had auctioned off the contents of the house including marble sideboards, ornate chandeliers and fine china.

When Cozart learned of the haunted reputation the house had, he promptly backed out of the deal despite plans to make the building into a restaurant.

The house was finally sold in 1987 to Dr. Lucien Albert, who ran a pediatric clinic from the home for the next 10 years. Some believe a strange structure located in the backyard was built during Dr. Albert's tenure.

Dr. Lucien Albert working at the Health Center in Liberty City c.1981

For some strange reason a story circulated that this was the final resting place for Paula Milord, which does not coincide in any way with Paula's life, either through timing or her religious beliefs as a Catholic.

Others say it's some type of shrine. This explanation is more plausible, since by the time of Dr. Albert's ownership the area was known as Little Haiti, and in the voudou (voodoo) tradition, altars are frequently built into tree roots.

Cliff Ensor who lived there before Dr. Albert never told of seeing this strange backyard structure.

In 2003, the property was sold to a real estate investor.

Altar in Villa Paula's back yard c.2018

When Dr. Albert was asked about the hauntings he neither denied nor confirmed any of the stories attached to Villa Paula.

Villa Paula was renovated, but is as mysterious as ever, guarding all its secrets including the identity of the ghosts that are said to haunt it. The property sold in September, 2022, and presently the house is a gallery, museum and event venue.

Source - Miami Tribune