Florida Ghosts, Legends & Lore

• Old St. Petersburg has several ghost legends including the mysterious " Lady in White".•  THE GREENBRIAR LIGHT ST. -MANDARIN-Near Jacksonville For many years, on a rural dirt road, called Greenbriar Road, people have claimed that they were chased by a strange ball of light. In
1987, a scientific investigation was conducted, but found no explanation for the luminescence phenomenon..

•   The Bardin Bugar is an ape-like creature said to have been sighted in the pine woods near Palatka. With a human face, it is said to be large and hairy and leaves size 13 tracks. It is similar to the Skunk Ape (see below).
•    Guests of an upstairs room of the Magnolia Plantation Bed & Breakfast in Gainesville have reported seeing the ghost of a child.

•    The ghost of Inez, a 19th century resident of the Herlong Mansion Bed & Breakfast is said to still visit the rooms of the historic inn late at night.

•  On the east coast between Melbourne and Cocoa in Rockledge, there is a restaurant called Ashleys.  It is said there is a ghost of a woman who was killed by a train on the tracks that run behind the restaurant.  She hangs around, sometimes touches people and wails her woes. 

•  The Skunk Ape has been described as large, hairy, man-like beast that roams the Everglades emitting a terrible odor. Sightings of these strange creatures have been made throughout south Florida.

•   The old Belleview Biltmore Hotel, in Clearwater is said to be haunted. Several people have reported seeing strange lights and hearing weird sounds in the grand inn built in 1925.

•   The ghost of Thomas Rowe, who built the Don Cesar Hotel in St.Petersburg, is said to have been seen on the grounds and the porch of this magnificent hotel built on the Gulf of Mexico in 1928.

•   People have reported hearing eerie moans, being touched and even pushed by the ghosts of former inmates of the now closed Leon County Jail in Tallahassee.

•   At the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota a ghost named Mary is said to reside. She committed suicide when the school was a hotel here in the 1920's. It is said she can be seen from the corner of your eye.

•  It is said that children can be heard making noises and running in the upstairs hallway at the Clay Cut Center, an administration building in Haines City that was once a grammar school built in 1923.

•  In Daytona Beach several people have seen the ghost of a dark-haired woman in a nightgown on the Orange Avenue Bridge.

•  An old light house in Boca Grande is said to have the ghost of a small girl.This child of a former light house keeper can be heard playing in the second floor entrance.

•  Numerous people reported a giant penguin seen on Clearwater Beach in 1948. The enormous bird was described as 15 feet tall and left big tracks along the beach. During this same period people in a boat in the Gulf of Mexico reported seeing a huge penguin-like bird in the water.

•  The town of Gulf Breeze , near Pensacola was a hub bub of UFO sightings in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The UFO's, fondly referred to as "Bubba" by locals, suddenly stopped appearing in 1992.

•  Huge monitor lizards are said to have been seen near Deland and Palm Beach.