The Miami Poltergeist

In December 1966 and January 1967, a wholesale novelty company warehouse in Miami experienced one of the most well-documented poltergeist outbreaks in American history. Objects flew from shelves with tremendous force, costing the company thousands of dollars in damaged merchandise and attracting investigation from police, insurance investigators, and parapsychologists who identified a nineteen-year-old shipping clerk as the apparent focus.

Tropication Arts

Tropication Arts was a wholesale supplier of souvenirs, novelties, and gift items, operating from a warehouse in the suburb of Miami. The business was run by Alvin Laubheim and his partner, who employed a small staff to handle the inventory of ashtrays, ceramic figures, mugs, and similar items.

In December 1966, objects began falling from shelves. Initially, staff assumed the items were improperly stacked. But the falling intensified—items flew horizontally across the room with force, rather than simply falling. Valuable inventory was destroyed daily.

The Phenomena

The activity escalated rapidly. Boxes would fly off shelves and crash into the middle of the room. Glass items shattered against walls. Objects moved when no one was near them. The staff began keeping detailed records of the events.

Over a two-month period, more than 200 incidents were documented. The objects moved with purpose—they didn’t just fall, they flew in specific directions. Some objects seemed to target specific people. The activity occurred only during business hours when staff were present.

Security cameras caught some of the movement, showing objects moving without any visible cause. Police were called but could find no evidence of pranks or mechanical devices.

Investigation

The case attracted serious attention from parapsychologists. William Roll, a researcher from the Psychical Research Foundation, traveled to Miami to investigate. He brought scientific equipment and a methodical approach.

Roll documented the phenomena extensively. He mapped the location of every incident, tracked which employees were present, and analyzed patterns in the data. His findings pointed clearly to one person: Julio Vasquez, a nineteen-year-old Cuban refugee who worked as a shipping clerk.

Julio Vasquez

The data showed that activity occurred only when Julio was present. When he was moved to different areas of the warehouse, the phenomena followed him. When he was absent, nothing happened.

Julio was an unhappy young man. He resented his low-paying job and felt unfairly treated by management. Psychological testing revealed suppressed anger and frustration. Roll theorized that Julio was unconsciously generating psychokinetic energy that was causing the disturbances.

Roll developed the concept of “recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis” (RSPK) partly based on the Miami case—the idea that poltergeist phenomena represent unconscious psychic ability rather than external spirits.

Testing

Roll conducted experiments with Julio, testing whether he could consciously move objects. The results were mixed—Julio was unable to produce phenomena on demand, but some controlled tests showed statistically significant anomalies.

Julio also took a polygraph test and was caught deliberately throwing objects. This discovery complicated the case—clearly some incidents were faked, but the question remained whether all of them were.

Aftermath

The activity at Tropication Arts ceased when Julio stopped working there. He was never charged with any crime, as the company was reluctant to prosecute. The insurance company ultimately paid for most of the damage.

Julio’s later life was troubled. He was arrested for theft and other crimes in subsequent years, and Roll maintained contact with him, continuing to study his case.

Assessment

The Miami poltergeist case represents both the strengths and weaknesses of poltergeist investigation. The documentation was extensive, the investigation methodical, and the focus was clearly identified. Yet the discovery of deliberate fraud contaminated the evidence.

William Roll believed that genuine phenomena occurred alongside the faked incidents, suggesting that Julio initially experienced genuine RSPK, then learned he could replicate the results through trickery. Other researchers dismissed the entire case as fraud once deception was discovered.

The case remains valuable as an example of how poltergeist phenomena present themselves and how modern investigation can be applied to them—while also demonstrating the difficulties of establishing proof in such cases.