What happened
In December 1966, at Tropication Arts, a wholesaler of tourist souvenirs in Miami, goods began falling and smashing: beer mugs, glasses, alligator-shaped ashtrays. The owner, Alvin Laubheim, at first blamed careless staff, but things fell even when nobody was near them. The incidents centred on 19-year-old Julio, a Cuban refugee working as a shipping clerk. On 14 January 1967 the police were called; Patrolman William Killin saw objects fall himself, and shaking the shelves explained nothing. Parapsychologists William G. Roll and J. Gaither Pratt arrived and spent days watching the warehouse, placing test objects on the shelves and plotting every incident on a floor plan. The peak came on 23 January, when an unusually large amount of stock came crashing down.
Witnesses
Owner Alvin Laubheim and his partner, employees, Miami police officers (including William Killin), magician Howard Brookes; parapsychologists William G. Roll and J. Gaither Pratt.
Explanations and hypotheses
Roll considered it one of the best-documented RSPK cases and linked the phenomena to Julio’s emotional tensions. Sceptics disagree: a police sergeant claimed the young man had confessed to trickery, which he denied, and in a cluttered warehouse it was easy to knock goods off unnoticed. At the end of January there was a break-in, and Julio was later convicted of stealing a ring and spent six months in jail. The incidents at the warehouse stopped.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.