Ghosts Found at Tampa’s J.C. Newman Cigar Factory

Many of J.C. Newman Cigar Company’s long-time employees have seen ghosts and experienced other paranormal activity inside J.C. Newman’s historic El Reloj cigar factory in Ybor City.  El Reloj is the last working cigar factory in “Cigar City” and was considered to be the largest and finest cigar factory in the world when it was built in 1910. Just in time for Halloween, J.C. Newman has recorded eight employees sharing stories of their strange experiences inside El Reloj.  These videos are posted on YouTube.

 “In the past 111 years, tens of thousands of cigar rollers and visitors have walked through our factory’s doors,” said Drew Newman, a fourth-generation owner of J.C. Newman.  “It now appears that some may have never have left.  This is not surprising given that our historic cigar factory is large and old and has many odd features such as trap doors, secret stairs, hidden rooms, and a dark basement. We think that the major restoration of our factory last year may have disturbed the spirits inside it, which is why we are noticing more paranormal activity now.” 

 Ybor City Ghost Tours has led several evening tours of El Reloj to investigate the paranormal activity inside it.  The team detected unusually high energy readings in the factory’s former basement laboratory and in the office of the factory’s former general manager.  They concluded that El Reloj is indeed haunted.

 “We invite those who are interested to come and visit El Reloj,” said Newman.  “We also think that watching ghosts stories from our historic cigar factory while enjoying a favorite J.C. Newman cigar is a great way for cigar enthusiasts to celebrate Halloween.”