Florida

Storyteller Caren Neile, PhD, shares myths, legends and folktales that reflect the diversity of characters and cultures that make Florida such a fascinating place.

Florida boasts mysterious tales that stretch back more than twelve thousand years. Dive into the lives of the proud Wakulla Pocahontas and the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge. Meet local lawbreakers like John Ashley, as well as transplants like Ma Barker and Al Capone. Stalk stumpy gators or Hogzilla as they prowl Florida's swamps and suburbs. Discover the quintessential Cracker cowboy and the Barefoot Mailman, plus the origin of names like Boca Raton and Orlando.

Does the restless ghost of a murder victim haunt a Gulfport home? Does a doomed pirate search for his lost treasure at John's Pass? Are sea captains and Civil War soldiers still combing the area, years after their deaths?

With wit and style, the Queen of Haunts, Deborah Frethem, calls upon years of experience as the general manager and guide of Tampa Bay Ghost Tours to present legends of sinister deeds and whispers of the past from Florida's haunted peninsula.

From fashionable Las Olas Boulevard to Fort Lauderdale's historic downtown, explore many of the city's most haunted sites, the people who lived and died there, and the ghosts that dwell within.
Fort Lauderdale is famous for more than spring break,
Snowbirds, and baseball. Known as the Venice of America,
the city boasts a rich history, including a 1567 Jesuit mission
and three forts that followed, battles waged between settlers and native tribes and the advance of the Florida East Coast Railway in 1896. Today the forts are gone, the battles have ended, and the railroad only provides freight service, but the ghosts remain. Author John Marc Carr, founder of Fort Lauderdale Ghost Tours, leads readers along the historical New River Intracoastal Waterway, visiting several of the city's most significant landmarks.

This is the first and only work written by a certified ghost hunter and certified paranormal investigator that documents the history and true haunts of the Daytona Beach area. Dusty Smith began researching the history of the haunts in the Daytona Beach area in 1997 after founding the Daytona Beach Paranormal Research Group, Inc. After three years of hard work and dedication, she began committing the stories to paper. As she researched, she found many local haunting tales to be true rather than mere folklore. Seeking to provide the public with the background history, the documented haunts and the photographic evidence, Smith is one of the first to create a collection that spans Daytona Beach and Volusia County.

Author and Haunted DeLand tour guide Dusty Smith recounts a century of ghostly history in the bustling historic community of DeLand, the Athens of Florida. Specters include those of Jeannette Barnhill, whose ghost drove her real estate mogul widower mad by standing behind him to keep a constant watch on his accounting books, and of the guest killed in the 1917 Putnam Hotel fire who leaves the smell of burnt wood and flesh in the air. Forlorn lovers Ruby and Joshua, a freed slave and a plantation foreman, and Suzanna Brown, who jumped to her death with unrequited love for a Stetson professor, are included, as well as the ghostly horse-drawn hearse that has been seen parked alongside what was once the Old Casket Company. From steamboat captains to Spiritualist camp residents, DeLand's ghosts are sure to delight visitors and residents alike in this stirring account of the area's historic haunts.

Tampa may be known for sunshine and good times, but it has a scary side. When dusk settles down over the Hillsborough River, spirits begin to stir. Strange things happen in old hotels, theaters and public buildings, and an old cemetery becomes surprisingly lively. Some have seen an old crime boss walking the street. Some have encountered ancient spirits in a public parking garage. Still others have met a long-dead soul in a downtown shop. Join local author and historian Deborah Frethem as she navigates the twists and turns of the more macabre side of Tampa Bay.

A haunting collection of spooky tales from one of America's first cities, Pensacola.

Pensacola may boast the world's whitest beaches, but the sands of time reveal a dark history in America's first settlement. It's no surprise that one of the nation's oldest cities is also among the most haunted, with culturally diverse spirits from the ages of the Spanish founders and British settlers through the turbulent era of the Civil War. Author and expert Alan Brown presents a survey of unexplained mysteries at Pensacola's eerie landmarks. The infamous haunted lighthouse, the ghosts of St. Michael's Cemetery and the tale of the headless woman of Ramona Street are just a few of the chilling stories recounted in Haunted Pensacola.