As spooky season creeps closer, Florida’s moss-draped oaks take on an ominous glow…at least for those who love a good ghost story. From the cobblestone streets of St. Augustine to the misty swamps of the Everglades, our state is full of ghostly legends and mysterious happenings. Some of these tales might make you shiver, while others will simply make you wonder, but all of them reveal something special about the people and places that shaped Florida’s past.
In St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States, ghost stories have been part of local life for centuries. Built in 1874, the St. Augustine Lighthouse is said to be one of the most haunted places in America. Visitors and staff often report the smell of cigar smoke and sightings of a tall, shadowy figure known as “The Man,” believed to be a former lighthouse keeper who died on duty. The laughter of two young girls who tragically drowned in 1872 when a construction cart fell into the sea is still heard echoing through the tower and along the grounds. Another spirit often seen is that of Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreu, the first female lighthouse keeper, who is said to appear on the catwalk searching for her husband who fell to his death. The lighthouse still stands tall over Matanzas Bay, a beacon of both history and mystery.
Farther south, Key West has its own collection of spooky stories. The La Concha Hotel, built in 1926 as the island’s first luxury resort, has a long history of glamour mixed with tragedy. Once a favorite destination for Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and President Harry Truman, it later gained a reputation for mysterious deaths and eerie encounters within its walls. Guests and staff have reported cold spots, strange voices, and ghostly figures appearing throughout the hotel. One of its most well-known spirits is a busboy who fell down an open elevator shaft during a New Year’s Eve celebration in the 1980s. Some visitors also describe unusual activity in Hemingway’s former room, where lights flicker and objects move on their own, making the La Concha one of Key West’s most famously haunted landmarks.
Not all of Florida’s legends are about ghosts. Some take us deep into the wild places that still spark the imagination. In the cypress swamps of south Florida, stories have swirled for decades about the Skunk Ape, a creature said to resemble Bigfoot with a terrible smell to match. Sightings go back to the 1950s, especially around the Everglades and Big Cypress. While no proof has ever been found, the Skunk Ape has become part of Florida folklore and a reminder that the wild still holds plenty of mysteries.
In the early 1900s, visitors to Lake City were drawn to the remarkable garden of Agnes “Aunt Aggie” Jones, a former enslaved woman who transformed her yard into a work of art made from animal bones. She and her husband Jenkins collected and bleached the bones, arranging them into arches, trellises, borders, and decorations that fascinated travelers. Aggie moved to Lake City after emancipation, buying her own land in 1883 where she created her famous “bone yard.” Her garden became a local landmark and even a romantic destination for visitors, who sometimes signed their names on the bones. After Aunt Aggie’s death in 1918, the garden was demolished to make way for a school, leaving behind only photographs, postcards, and stories of one of Florida’s most unusual attractions.
Florida’s haunted history may send a few shivers down your spine, but it’s all part of what makes this state so fun to explore. Each haunting, whether true or imagined, ties the living to the past and keeps Florida’s history alive.
