Halloween is coming soon, so we decided to get a little spooky and check out one of the Deering Estate’s ghost tours last week. The Deering Estate, where Charles Deering died in 1927, has long been thought to be haunted, so it’s the perfect place for David Pierce Rodriguez, founder of Paranormal Research & Investigative Studies Miami, to do his work.

“Some people are cat people. I’m a ghost person,” David says. His company has been investigating paranormal activity for a little more than a decade.

The tour goes through Charles Deering’s estate and the nearby Richmond Cottage, diving into the wine cellar, across the grounds, and into a few bedrooms and sitting rooms.

We made our way with devices to scan electromagnetic energy, and David held a rigged-up iPad that showed figures if they were in the room.

Yes, really. (You can follow along by heading to the Highlights on our Instagram page.)

The dark, musty rooms definitely add to the experience, and when you see some kind of figure on the screen, feel extra electricity on your hand, or your device lights up, it can definitely make you a believer.

We didn’t actually see or hear any ghosts, but David told the skeptics among us that that’s normal. He said the size of the group, the time of night, and random factors can affect the ghosts’ activity.

If this all sounds like nonsense, we get it. But the century-old buildings, beautiful nature, and history lessons on the tour are just as fascinating even if you don’t find Casper the friendly ghost.

Check out our experience by heading to the Highlights on our Instagram page. If you wanna learn more about the tours, head here. Are there any other spooky spots in Miami you think we should check out? Reply and let us know or email us at [email protected]

A hometown boy. Andrew Gillum cut his teeth as a politician in Tallahassee, but he says the roots of his push for wider healthcare access and a higher minimum wage are tied to his childhood here in the 305, and his family’s hard times. The Herald took a deep dive into his early days in Richmond Heights and his family’s struggles to make ends meet in the 1970s and 1980s. (Miami Herald)

Be in the room where it happens. Don’t throw away your shot to finally see “Hamilton” in South Florida. Tickets for the hit show’s run at the Broward Center go on sale Oct. 23, but it’s not as simple as just stalking the ticket purchase page for tickets. You’ve got to register by Oct. 15 for the Verified Fan program and then you’ll be sent ticket buying info on Oct. 22. The show runs from Dec. 18 through Jan. 20. We hope you can wait for it. (SouthFlorida.com)

Shifting parties. As folks scramble to make the registration deadline for the Nov. 6 election, the numbers show that many of them could join the ranks of people switching party lines in Florida. In Miami-Dade alone more than 8,500 independent voters switched to the Democratic party, something that’s happening across the state, too. For some it was about policy decisions, in other cases it was simply about wanting to be able to vote in the closed August primaries. (Tampa Bay Times)

What’s that in the sky? City of Miami residents are pretty blindsided after finding out that a loophole in zoning laws allowed for the addition of a huge residential tower, that could rise to 40 stories, without input from nearby residents. The developers of a mixed-use project at the Douglas Metrorail station recently added plans for the tower and even though the development is in the City of Miami, it’s on Metrorail property, so the county commission got to decide. Now Mayor Francis Suarez and officials from nearby Coral Gables are wondering why their residents didn’t get a chance to have a say. (Miami Herald)

A seriously underwater market. A local wealth manager is making waves with his recommendation to clients that they stop shoveling their money into property here. Marc Singer says the SoFlo real estate market is becoming much more vulnerable to sea level rise, even if it’s not really slowing down just yet, and he’s urging his clients to keep at least 50 percent of their assets outside vulnerable markets like ours nowadays. Other wealth managers and developers obviously disagree. After Monday’s UN report declaring that the earth will hit a critical warming threshold as early as 2030, causing extreme temperatures and mass coral reef die-off (to name just two impacts), we’re taking Singer seriously. (Miami Herald, WLRN)

Change of plans. About two weeks after the New Times revealed a proposed change in Miami police policy that would take it easy on officers caught doing illegal drugs, that plan has been scrapped. The policy change, which was set to be included in a new labor contract, would’ve given cops three days to book themselves into treatment after failing a drug test and, after completing treatment, to rejoin the force without much issue. Now the proposal will only offer that option to officers who are dealing with opioid addiction problems. (Miami New Times)

SENDING SOME LOVE.

In the span of just a few days Michael transformed into a strong storm that could hit the Gulf coast and the Panhandle as a Category 3 hurricane. We’re sending some love and thoughts to folks up there. ❤️

– The New Tropic