Florida – home to Walt Disney World, alligators, Wawa, and ghosts! The Sunshine State ranks among the top 10 most haunted places in the United States. I guess you could say more than just the living like to retire here. If you’re one of those people who just wait all year round for Halloween Horror Nights to come back… I have some good news for you. These places are haunted all year. And most of them are just dying for some visitors.
So maybe that famous white light is really the pearly sands of the beach. Or perhaps that one guy’s unnecessary bright LED headlights on Interstate 4. Either way, you can find spirits and specters across the state of Florida with history as rich as the soil they were buried in. This is a comprehensive list of the most haunted places to visit that you won’t want to miss in Florida.
St. Augustine Lighthouse
Starting off strong, St. Augustine will appear more than once on this list as it apparently has more ghosts than it does tourists. St. Augustine itself has many of the factors needed for ghostly activity. This includes being an incredibly old city with historic buildings where exceptionally bad things happened. But at the top of the list is the St. Augustine Lighthouse.
The lighthouse was built for the second time between 1871 and 1874 and that is what still stands today. Unfortunately, during this second construction of the lighthouse is when tragedy would strike and result in the lighthouse’s two most active ghosts. Mary and Eliza Pittee were the two daughters of the superintendent that was overseeing the construction of the lighthouse at the time.
These girls would often play amongst the construction zone and with the equipment, particularly with a cart that was used to bring material back and forth to the lighthouse. However, one fateful day, the cart went careening off the track. It flipped into the water, with the girls in it. Tragically by the time they were pulled from the water, both girls had already drowned – along a third little girl who was never identified.
Visitors claim their laughter and footsteps can still be heard in the Keeper’s house. Some guests have claimed to see them as full body apparitions and that they still enjoy playing games – such as hide and seek. There have been several other fatal accidents that happened on the lighthouse grounds. Believers attribute these tragedies for why other spirits have taken up residence. One being, Joseph Andreu, a lighthouse keeper who fell to his death from the outside of the tower while painting it. A separate lighthouse keeper, Peter Rasmussen, is claimed to be the first ghost most people encounter and is often identified by an unexplained smell of cigars.
Ashley’s Restaurant and Bar
Located in Rockledge, FL, this location is considered the most haunted restaurant in the country. This old Tudor-style bar and restaurant originally opened back in 1933. Since then it has been a place for both people and ghosts to hang up their coats and enjoy a drink. Now, if you feel bad going to a restaurant for their ghosts instead of their meals, don’t worry, Ashley’s doesn’t shy away from its history. They even have all the tales and hauntings that surround this establishment on the back of the menu.
One-part of their most popular story reads, “Ethel had been last seen at the restaurant before her body was mutilated and burned and left on the bank of the nearby Indian River.” Ethel Allen, a 19-year-old woman, supposedly frequented the tavern during the 1930’s before she was tragically murdered. It was suspected the murder took place within the restaurant which is why her spirit still lingers. It is also believed the murderer, who was never caught, remains an angry spirit who terrorizes the women on staff. Some workers have claimed to be pushed while coming down the stairs, seeing untouched glass breaking at the bar, seeing an image of a young woman in the restroom mirror and random songs turning on when everything is shut off for the restaurant to close for the night.
There are other spirits as well who are said to haunt this place. An older man thought to have been a long-time employee that had lived upstairs still clocks in for his shifts even now. Not even death could stop this man’s incredible work ethic. There are also children that are said to be seen on the second floor. They sometimes tug on people’s clothes as they pass on the stairs. No one quite knows why they haunt this place. Though it is theorized that these, and other unknown spirits, are from accidents on either the nearby train or highway.
All you need to visit this location is an empty stomach to enjoy their well-priced food and drink and see for yourself if there are any spirits enjoying a spirit.
Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail
Bellamy Bridge is the focal point of the one-half mile long trail known as the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail, located off State Road 162. A steel bridge was built in 1914, replacing an older wooden structure. But the earliest report on record of a ghost sighting within the area was from a newspaper in 1890 that mentioned the “lady of Bellamy Bridge has been seen of late”. While several legends surround the bridge and trail, this tale is considered the most famous ghost story in all of Florida.
The lady of Bellamy Bridge is a young woman named Elizabeth Jane Croom Bellamy who died in 1837. The story goes that she was a beautiful young woman who fell madly in love with a doctor named Samuel C. Bellamy. They decided to move to Florida where Samuel would build a magnificent mansion as a wedding gift for his bride. They would marry there, in the rose garden, on May 11th, 1837. According to legend Elizabeth ended her vows by saying “I will love you always and forever. Never will I leave you” and after the ceremony ended, they all went inside to a resplendent reception.
But Elizabeth was tired, the storytellers say, she went upstairs to rest and but for a moment she fell asleep. When she awoke it was to an intense feeling of pain and heat. She had knocked over the candelabra in her sleep. By the time she ran downstairs shrieking for help she was already engulfed in flames. They tried to save her, but she was too badly burned and her last words before she passed were, “I will love you always and forever. Never will I leave you”. When her husband Samuel died 15 years later, Elizabeth rose from her grave to fulfill her promise and continue their journey into the next life. But Samuel never came. He had taken his own life, so the church did not give him status and buried him in an unmarked grave to be forgotten. Elizabeth still walks the swamp around Bellamy Bridge in a continued search to find her love.
While the legend may not be totally fact, there are some truths to it. Elizabeth and Samuel were real people, though they married in North Carolina. She did not die of a fire on her wedding night. She died of malaria contracted in Florida three years later after they moved. The obituary does indicate that she died on May 11, 1837, and that the little boy she had given birth to that was 18 months old died seven days after her from the same fever. Elizabeth was only 18 years old when she died. And the rest is true. Samuel fell into despair and took his own life at Chattahoochee Landing 15 years after her death. His last request was to be buried at her side, but he was ignored and rests now in an unmarked grave somewhere in Chattahoochee.
The trail is open daily year-round if the weather permits and is free for guests to visit. However, for those who want to experience a real haunted thrill near Halloween, they offer guided tours at night only on the Friday and Saturday closest to October 31st.
St. Augustine Old Jail
Here’s another stop on the Ghost and Gravestone Tour of St. Augustine. Which, trust me, there are a lot of stops. However, for all its many haunts, nothing screams scary ghost town quite like an old jail. From 1891 to 1953, the St. Augustine Old Jail held the most violent criminals and carried out capital punishment on a set of gallows found on the property.
There were a lot of sickness that ran rampant through the jail due to its poor living conditions. This includes no blankets, no pillows, and mattresses that were stuffed with Spanish moss and therefore usually infected with red bugs. Perhaps the worst and most shocking part was that they had no bathing or sanitation facilities. Makes sense that visitors now seem to get a whiff of something akin to sewage quite often even though there is none on site. The terrible conditions did not stop there, however, with there often being beatings, torture, and starvation of the prisoners. There were 8 documented hangings carried out on site and several other deaths whose nature remains unknown. The average lifespan within the prison was only a staggering two years as many would die of Cholera, Tuberculosis, and other diseases. The jail was eventually closed due to its shameful conditions and shocking cruelty. Unfortunately, it seems even in death these prisoners still never got to leave this horrid place.
For $17.19 per person, visitors can take a tour of the Old Jail during the day and experience its deep history as inmates in period dress guide them through the prison. Visitors looking for a more intense experience can enter the ghastly prison at night on the St. Augustine Ghost and Gravestone trolley tours. It seems every person who dares visit this old jail has a story to tell. What could yours be?
I-4 Dead Zone
Ask anyone from Florida what the scariest place on Earth is and I guarantee they will say Interstate 4, also known as I-4. Perhaps even more haunting than ghouls and ghosts is the traffic you know you’re going to have to sit in during rush hour or the inevitable construction you’ll come upon. Needless to say, I-4 is scary enough without the paranormal activity. So, what happens when you add that in too?
There is a quarter mile stretch known as “The Dead Zone” found along the southern part of the Interstate across the St. John’s River. The legend goes that Henry Sanford sold the land that stretch of road is now on in the year 1870 to German immigrants. These immigrants founded the St. Joseph Catholic Colony there. However, tragedy would strike, as four of those men would die from yellow fever not long after. To add to their struggle, the priest for this colony was away at the time and so the bodies would have to be buried with no last rite. There have been deadly consequences for those who tampered with that gravesite ever since. There is a story that a farmer’s house burned down after he removed a grave marker.
Since this stretch of I-4 was built over this former colony site there have been reports of orbs floating across the highway, apparitions hitchhiking on the side of the road and phantom trucks. It seems the Haunted Mansion ride isn’t the only place you can pick up a hitchhiking ghost that will follow you home. Other strange occurrences include radio interference, static, and the area being prone to fatal car accidents. It’s basically the Bermuda Triangle of highways.
This is the most difficult place on this list to visit since you can’t really stop and hang around to get the haunted vibes. But it is free, and you never know what you may encounter during your haunted drive on the highway to The Dead Zone.
Hunt for the Haunt
While Florida might be the Sunshine State, it does seem to have a lot of intrigue lurking in its shadows. You can find happy haunts, supernatural specters, and petrifying paranormal activity in just about every corner of the state. So, what are you waiting for? Who says you can only enjoy the thrill of a haunt in October?
Florida can be hot and humid, you might as well find something to chill you to the bone all-year-round. If you’re looking for an old jail full of horrors and cruelty or a local establishment tormented by a tragic backstory, Florida has it all and then some. Whether you’re a visitor in search of the unexpected and unexplained or a local looking for something new to explore, you will want to check out these most horrifying haunted places.
For those that love horror, Universal Studios Florida provides. Coming back this Halloween season, Halloween Horror Nights 33 is bringing scare zones, haunted houses and specialty food items. One haunted house, The Museum: Deadly Exhibits.
