
Gold Coast Railroad Museum
Posted: 10.28.2024 | Updated: 10.28.2024
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum has the makings of an emotionally charged space. What was once a naval air station is now a graveyard for relics of the American railway system. That build-up of energy manifests the eerie presence that lingers within the museum. Attracting paranormal investigative teams today.
The former naval air station and CIA headwaters carry years of history. Some of it has been forgotten by time or lost to the ravages of Mother Nature. Although seemingly innocuous and having no known ties to tragic events that would spur a haunting, there are many reports.
Whatever the catalyst, it’s been drawing the attention of the curious and the brave. All search for an encounter with a spirit that may reveal the haunting truth about the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.
Is The Gold Coast Railroad Museum Haunted?
Many have touted having spectral encounters at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Disembodied voices and haunting chills serve as a warning to all who cross the line separating our reality from theirs. Visit this museum of antiquities built upon an old naval base. Just expect to feel a chilled touch or an uncomfortable presence as something reaches out from the other side.
Miami Haunts has inside information on what may be patrolling the museum grounds. A spirit that leaves guests feeling watched, as if there’s something tucked away into the shadows. At the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, guests visit for the history but return to glimpse a wandering spirit.

The Preservation of the American Railway
Railways have played an integral role in the development and evolution of the United States’ infrastructure. The first spanned from Baltimore to Ohio, carrying passengers and goods to support the budding 19th-century economy. Over centuries of operation, tracks, new and old, have witnessed their share of tragedy.
Derailed train cars and unfortunate travelers meandering along active tracks have racked up a considerable death toll. In 2023 alone, the United States saw 993 railway-related fatalities. Compound that with decades upon decades of history. There’s no telling how many deaths can be tied to the train cars at Miami’s Gold Coast Railroad Museum.
The museum is imprinted with a history that predates its founding in 1956. More than just the collection of old railway cars awaits.
Naval Air Station Richmond and the CIA
In 1942, a few months short of a year after the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. Navy eyed 2,000 acres in the Florida swamplands in Miami. The intent was to convert it into a blimp base, which it successfully did as support for the multi-front war. When the facility was completed, it was fully self-sufficient, with water and sewer systems that supplied a mess hall, clinic, and barracks.
Over its operational years, the air station did exactly as intended — developed a fleet of hundreds of aircraft and more than two dozen blimps. However, disaster loomed in the distance as Mother Nature seemed to join the war and align with the Axis powers, sending a powerful Category 4 hurricane toward the military installation. In September 1945, Homestead made landfall, striking southern Dade County and Naval Air Station Richmond.
Though the Navy believed the station’s hangars to be hurricane-proof, more than 300 aircraft, 150 vehicles, and 25 hot air balloons were damaged. Most surprisingly, there were no reported deaths. But could the hurricane have stirred up some malicious unknown history of the former swampland?
After the hurricane, the facility was rebuilt, and the naval base remained active until shortly after the war’s end, when it was converted into a research facility for the University of Miami. That didn’t last, though, as the CIA took over to establish JM WAVE in the 1960s. Secrets were commonplace at the CIA headquarters, likely leading to a buildup of tense energy before being disbanded.
Immortalizing the United State’s Railway
Shortly before the CIA took over part of the air station, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum was established near Zoo Miami. The location was chosen for the three-mile track, which had already been in place since its days as a naval base. This allowed the museum to bring in a collection of railcars spanning much of the nation’s railway history.
The museum hosts a number of freight cars, passenger cars, steam trains, and notable transports like the Presidential Pullman Passenger Car. The custom-built 1928 cart the President of the United States. Tracing the history of every car would be virtually impossible, especially to determine which of the many transports at the museum were subject to some great trauma.
That’s not to say at least one of the passenger cars or locomotives arrived at the museum without something attached. After all, 2023 did see more than 1,000 railway deaths, which, to add perspective, is far greater than the 80-plus airline-related deaths.
In 1984, history repeated itself when another massive storm system slammed into the museum. Unlike the navy air station, though, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum suffered extensive damage from the Category 5 hurricane. Buildings burned to the ground, and damage was fairly extensive across the board, though, again, like the air base, no deaths were reported.
The Haunts of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum

Who haunts the railroad museum in Miami? Many ghost hunters have pursued an answer, but none have ever officially confirmed it. With cars dating back to the Jim Crow area and others having strong ties to former presidents, it’s possible that important figures in American history have become attached to the stationary trains.
What we do know is that someone has remained beyond their passing, adding a different perspective to the history of the American railroad. To learn more about the spectral activity haunting the iconic Gold Coast Railroad Museum, consider a Miami ghost tour for an exploration of what or who could have been teasing paranormal investigators over the years.
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