The Phantom of Bel-Air

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Ethel Cool Allen disappeared, and eventually many believed justice failed her, but justice can be served in many ways.

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Jack's Tavern opened in Rockledge, Florida in 1933

The Volstead Act was repealed in 1933. The production of illegal alcohol, and the money tied into the vices found in speakeasies still flowed through the backwaters and scrub hammocks of Central Florida. A raid on the Blind Tiger, a pool room in Rockledge yielded 12 gallons of moonshine and case liquor. Authorities found more 160 proof hooch at the owner's house.

In the early 1930s, Jack C. Allen came from Pennsylvania and opened a vending machine business named Allen's Amusements. He invested in a gasoline filling station, and built a small restaurant ​at a lonely place on Dixie Highway that skirted Florida's east coast through Rockledge. The land was just a ditch that was filled in. It sat next to the FEC tracks, and the building would shake every time a train thundered by.

Then in December 1933, with the end of Prohibition he decided to expand and created Jack's Tavern, a two-story eatery where he served liquor, played music on the jukebox, and served locals and travelers alike.

One of the locals that spent time there was Ethel Allen, a pretty 18-year-old. It's unknown if she was related to the owner.

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Ethel Allen (1916-1934)

In November, 1934 Jack's Tavern was opened less than a year, and still being remodeled in order to serve the increased business, when Ethel Allen disappeared.

A ring of turkey buzzards soaring overhead and lighting on the ground attracted the attention of truckers from Alabama. They found a nude, mutilated body on the shores of the Indian River, north of Eau Gallie near Rocky Water tourist camp.

The decomposed remains were identified by Alma Finney, who owned a rooming house above Walters Billiard parlor in Cocoa. She confirmed the victim roomed with them, and her name was Ethel Allen.

Identification was confirmed by a tattoo mark on the victim's right thigh above her knee, which displayed a rope circle around the initials "B.K.". Mrs. Finney also confirmed a gold ring set with a ruby belonged to the Ethel.

The body demonstrated marks of extreme brutality. Her throat had been cut, and she had a knife wound on her forehead and at the base of the skull. The right side of the face had been crushed and the upper teeth and part of the jaw bone were missing. One leg was almost gone, and the murderer had tried to dispose of the body by burning it and then throwing it in the river.
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Only a patch of hair remained on the back of the head.  She was nude except for a piece of stocking around the ankle of one foot. Her clothing was never found, only her purse with $26 inside of it.

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Willard Borton was indicted in the murder of Ethel Allen in 1935 (Source - The Miami Herald)

The last time Ethel Allen was seen she was getting into a car with a man known as William H. Wilson. She was also seen drinking with him, and witnesses said he was taking her to visit relatives in Wauchula.

Wilson disappeared from Rockledge after Ethel’s murder. Within days police received a tip that Wilson was seen on Flagler Street in Miami, driving a new Ford two-door sedan with a Pennsylvania license plate. Patrols were sent throughout Miami's downtown area, and even into Miami Beach without any success.

By November, 1934, the police received a tip that Wilson was seen on Flagler Street in Miami, driving a new Ford two-door sedan with a Pennsylvania license plate. Patrols were sent throughout Miami's downtown area, and even into Miami Beach without any success.

It turned out Wilson was one of many aliases used by Willard Borton.

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Edith Harden nee Allen (1921-1938)

In 1935, he was indicted in the murder of Ethel Allen. By then it had been determined they were constantly in each other's company before Ethel's body was discovered. At that time he was known around town as "Jersey Devil" Borton, so it seemed there were those in Rockledge who knew his real name.

The Fates were not kind to the Allen family. In January 1935, a few months after Ethel's murder, they lost a daughter Emily, age 24. Edith followed her sisters to the grave in March, 1938, age 16, just one month after having a baby girl. A son, Leroy died in 1939.

However behind the scenes, and thousands of miles away, events were unfolding to answer the question of who had viciously killed Ethel.

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Charlotte Ryan with her attorney (L), Willard Borton (R). Known as the Phantom of Bel Air he was arrested in 1939. (Source - San Francisco Examiner)

Willard Borton had prudently fled the east coast, but the law caught up to him in California in 1939. He'd become a jewel thief, known as the Phantom of Bel-Air. He had stolen millions of dollars in jewels from the homes of Hollywood movie stars such as Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, among them.

He was wanted for various robberies in New Jersey, and had also broken out of prison in that state.

Upon his arrest in California, the case was reviewed in Florida in order to determine if there was sufficient evidence for an extradition warrant to prosecute him for Ethel’s murder. Sheriff Roy F. Roberts who investigated the murder case questioned a tavern proprietor, two former waitresses in a restaurant where "Wilson" was accustomed to eating, a minister who had seen the man about Rockledge where he occupied a small cottage, and three acquaintances of the Ethel. Purposely the name of these persons was omitted from the article.

In California, Borton used the alias of Ralph Graham, however per the FBI his fingerprints matched up with Borton's, and his picture did as well.

Borton had even married a woman named Charlotte using the alias of Ralph Evans. He pled not guilty, and not guilty by reason of insanity for the charges of stealing approximately $2 million dollar in jewels.

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Willard Borton was killed by other prisoners in Folsom Prison in 1949 (Source - The Sacramento Bee)

In May 1939, Borton was sentenced to life imprisonment as a habitual criminal after pleading guilty to robbing the home of Carole Lombard and two other persons.

Apparently it was determined there was not enough evidence to bring him back to Florida to face murder charges.

In 1942, he escaped from Folsom prison along with two other prisoners but was recaptured. He tried again in 1947, but the plan was foiled by deputies.

Ethel might not have been given justice by the law, but it caught up with Borton nonetheless, when his throat was slit by another prisoner in Folsom in 1949. Borton worked as the prison barber, and it was unknown why he was attacked by several prisoners that also used a hatchet on him

Fred Evans one of the prisoner who killed him, had been sent to Folsom in 1941 after killing a man named Fred Silvers, who lived in a hobo jungle in Santa Cruz. They had argued over Evans' association with a youth.

Evans met his own grisly end two months later in December, 1949, when he was killed by burglar Frank Marcus, who knifed him in the back.

Eventually two other men would also be charged with the murder of Willard Borton. John Allen and Louis Smith got the death sentence for killing Borton. Their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court. They had also been described as "ringleaders in a San Quentin’s condemned-row mutiny."

In April 1951, they got a stay of execution after it was appealed based on the claims that two other prisoners  had committed the murder, and that their conviction was based on testimony of another prisoner who was known to be mentally ill. It won them a reprieve for six years, but in February, 1957, they were executed in San Quentin's gas chamber.

It might have take 15 years, but Ethel got her revenge on the Phantom of Bel-Air. But for some reason this did not soothe her spirit as she is believed to be haunting Jack's Tavern ever since.

Sources - The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, The San Francisco Examiner

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Jack's Tavern opens in 1933.

THE HAUNTING

Despite the advertisement for Jack's Tavern as a place where "Friends meet" in 1936, while it was closed for remodeling someone broke in and stole a rifle, a case of liquor and cigarettes. 

The outrage of Ethel Allen's murder died away, until Borton was arrested in California in 1939. Then those headlines faded as well, including Ethel's ties to Jack's Tavern.

In 1942, Jack Allen enlisted in the Navy reserve as a cook. Shortly thereafter it was leased by Matt Lynch.

During the years of WWII, the tavern was called the "battleground of the Navy" and there were more casualties within its walls than in the war. It's unknown if these were official or unofficial incidents. 

In 1944, Jack Allen sold the restaurant to Conrad Korecky, who renamed it to Cooney’s Tavern.

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Cooney's Tavern is robbed c.1949

In 1947, John Zelenska, Korecky’s brother-in-law died of a heart attack just 7 weeks after he arrived from Cleveland, Ohio and started to work at the tavern. Cooney's Tavern was robbed, and in 1951, a riot call came into the police department when two men created a disturbance at the restaurant and fled from officers.

​A few months later in October, Isiah Armstrong 12, was struck by a car on Dixie Hwy by Cooney's Tavern. He suffered head injuries, but survived and went on to become a reverend. This could be the inspiration for the story of a child’s ghost that is said to haunt the restaurant after being killed by an automobile just outside the premises.

For some reason the place was a magnet for thieves.  In 1953, two airmen from Patrick AFB were arrested for robbing cars parked at the restaurant. Four years later the restaurant was robbed of cash and liquor.

In 1960, a bandit was waiting inside a cottage owned by the family right next to the restaurant. This was around 3:30 a.m., and the criminal tried to force Korecky to open up the restaurant even firing off a few shots to intimidate him. The group held at gunpoint included his son and a neighbor. Eventually he forced Korecky's son to drive him to West Cocoa where he fled on foot. 

Conrad Korecky died in 1968, and ownership was taken over by his family.

In 1963, the restaurant was held up right after midnight by 3 men, who were subsequently arrested for the crime.

Within a few months Cooney's Tavern was up for sale, however there were no takers.

In 1969, another pair of burglars were busted by police while trying to pry open a window with a screwdriver.

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Cooney's Tavern advertisement c.1950

In 1970, Mafia associate Harlan "The Colonel" Blackburn went on trial in Jacksonville. Blackburn for years had been known as head of the cracker mob that had ties to the Trafficante family. The mob was an assortment of various Anglo criminals who operated gambling, moonshining and other rackets in the rural counties of Central Florida.

​​Blackburn was accused of interstate commerce in illegal gambling operations.

The prosecutor was looking for a witness named Clayton Korecky, the owner of Cooney's Tavern as a crucial witness. Korecky had been subpoenaed twice, and he sent a certificate stating he suffered from a heart condition. The prosecutor seemed to doubt his claim, and had FBI agents watch him for two weeks. They observed him working in the restaurant and waiting on customers as usual. When the prosecutor subpoenaed his wife, Bessie Lee Korecky she also supplied a certificate signed by a Dr. Ross from Merritt Island.

The prosecutor spoke to Dr. Ross, who said that Korecky had asked him for an excuse because he felt the trip would be too taxing, but that he believed Korecky would be physically able to testify by deposition.

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Harlan "The Colonel" Blackburn c.1950s

The judge ordered that Korecky and his wife, Bessie not leave their home until they were examined by a court-appointed cardiologist. The judge wanted more than one doctor to examine the pair, but after a 3-hour examination by Dr. Daniel Jacobs, eight other cardiologists who were contacted to schedule the examination for Korecky all claimed they were booked a year in advance.

One could suspect these doctors did want any involvement with a case that was trying a Mafia figure.

Part of the importance of Korecky's testimony stemmed from information provided by star prosecution witness Thomas McCormick, who for years had been Blackburn's bookmaking manager and at the same time an undercover informer for the FBI. He testified that Korecky had deeded over his Cocoa Beach property in part payment of a $20,000 gambling debt.

Finally Korecky testified that he had "made arrangements" through "The Colonel" to mortgage his Cocoa home for relief of a $16,000 to $17,000 gambling debts owed to Blackburn's bookmaking chief. His wife denied any knowledge of her husband's gambling debts, even though they shared a checking account.

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Harlan Blackburn arriving at court c.1970

However it became known that while arrangements were being made for the transaction Bessie Lee Korecky had sat with Beverly Roberts, Blackburn's girlfriend, while they watched the two small Korecky children.

Korecky denied that he traveled to Miami with Blackburn to peddle the mortgage. He said he didn't know what happened to the mortgage note, even though he had not paid anything for two years.

It appeared this was how Blackburn got payment from bookmaking debts owed him.

Blackburn was also running illegal Latin American lotteries and bolita. This was a game imported into Tampa from Cuba during the 1880s. During the 1950s, it was the bread and butter of underground Florida.
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Blackburn would eventually be convicted of gambling charges and spent the last 25 years of his life behind bars. He died in 1998.

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Stories of a haunting the restaurant persisted c.1975

In 1972, Cooney’s Tavern was remodeled, renamed The Mad Duchess. Ironically it was opened with a mobster theme.

​In 1975, it was renovated and renamed The Loose Caboose.

​It seemed that perhaps Ethel's ghost was being blamed for the restaurant's poor performance because in May 1975, Rev. Chip Finzer with a local Episcopalian church performed a séance and exorcism at the premises. Several people attended. They described having cold chills run up and down their spines. Rev. Finzer said he felt there was more than one spirit there.

There was a belief that Ethel was killed in or around the tavern which is why she haunted the place. Reports of Ethel’s ghost were described by both employees and patrons. One woman said she had seen an image of another woman besides herself reflected in the mirror. She screamed, and when a waitress arrived she saw the same thing. The owner of the Mad Duchess and a waitress had seen the same image, which could only be viewed in the mirror.

​A night bartender saw a woman in a white dress walk from one booth to another when the restaurant was closing. He checked to see where she went, and found nothing.

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Jack's Tavern interior c.1930s-40s

Willy Schumacher, the owner during the 1970s said, "It all began the night we opened, Halloween of 1974. Things disappeared. You answered the phone, no one at the other end. You were on the balcony, the radio downstairs started blaring, you came downstairs, it stopped."
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A bartender, who claimed the ghost wouldn't bother him, had a bottle fall and explode at his feet minutes after making the statement.

The owner recounted that he was told Al Capone and Dutch Schultz came to eat at the restaurant all the time, which would have been difficult to do since in 1934, Capone was serving time in Alcatraz. However during Prohibition, Capone frequented Florida and bought a house in Palm Island in 1928. Supposedly he planned the St. Valentine Day’s Massacre while living there.

The hotel that Schumacher owned and tore down, was said to have been a house of ill repute.

In 1975, after one year of running the restaurant, Schumacher left.

​In September, 1975, it seemed there were spirits still there. One employee felt a hand on his shoulder, and a cook saw something pass him in the kitchen. It was very early in the morning and he was waiting for workers to arrive.

During the remodeling workmen found three secret rooms.

There were also reports of a child spirit, attributed to a little girl.

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The restaurant opened as the Sparrowhawk in 1977

In 1977, the restaurant became the Sparrowhawk. It was bought by Bryn Mawr Camp Resorts who  had bought it from Bea Morley and her brother Norman Kolsch, owners of The Mousetrap in Cocoa Beach.
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By 1979, it was called Gentleman Jim's.

The strange occurrences continued; reports of flickering lights during the night, alarms going off without a good cause and dishes falling and breaking.
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Rockledge psychic Jean Stevens visited the restaurant in October, 1981. Some areas were described as stifling, and the women's restroom tingled, and there was something "compelling" about the mirror where a name crystallized.

On a second visit she saw where "two uniformed men were dragging another man down the south-end stairwell" while he resisted. A young girl pleaded to have the man released. She felt another experience where she saw a knife involved and a woman running down the stairs.

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Jean Stevens, psychic c.1982

There was another visit in April, 1982, then May 14.

An area where phenomena occurred was a small storage room which had once been a porch. Several employees described difficulty breathing while standing there. 

​Another unexplained occurrence was the glass sneeze guard over the salad bar would swing vigorously when it shouldn't, and glasses rattled and would smash themselves on the floor.

The ghost was given the moniker of Sarah.

After a visit in June, Jean Stevens withdrew from the investigation, claiming things had gone badly. During her visit she claimed something was pressing down on her, and she couldn't sit up in her chair. She said that during a session, all she heard was the words, "Ethel Allen" spoken in a high pitched voice. It was supposedly a young spirit who complained that only Ethel Allen got any attention.​

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Ashley's Restaurant c.2014

Jean Stevens also dealt with the spirit of an older man wearing a white shirt, dark slacks and brownish work boots.

In 1985, Scott and Regina Faucher bought the restaurant and changed the name to Ashley's, which is the name of the restaurant present day. They kept the old tudor-style building style. But the ghosts, seem not to care what’s the name of the restaurant, or who owns it.

An Ashley employee said she saw the feet of a woman wearing 1930s-era shoes in a stall next to her in the woman's bathroom. It turned out the stall was empty.

As of 2025, Ashley's Restaurant and Bar is still there, and so are the ghosts. ​

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