Hernando County Heritage · Civil War Florida History · Pioneer Florida Settlement · Historic Preservation
John L. May purchased the property from Wiggins in 1856; the house had its early configuration around 1855. The structure began as a modest two-story frame house and was expanded over subsequent decades as the May family's fortunes developed. The home's construction predates Hernando County's formal organization and represents the frontier settlement period of inland Florida.
The house served briefly as a Civil War field hospital when Confederate forces passed through the area. The exposure to death and suffering during that period is noted in most accounts of the building's history as a contributing factor to the accumulated paranormal reports.
John May died at the property. His wife subsequently married Marcius Stringer, a local figure who gave the house its dual-name designation. The combined May-Stringer lineage occupied the building through the end of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth.
The Hernando Historical Museum Association eventually acquired the property and converted it into the Hernando Heritage Museum. The organization maintains the building for historical tours Tuesday through Saturday, with ghost tour programming on Friday evenings. A March 2025 Bay News 9 feature documented the museum's current programming and confirmed its active status.
Sources
- https://www.hernandohistoricalmuseumassoc.com/may-stringer-house/
- https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2025/03/13/florida-on-a-tankful-visits-the-1856-may-stringer-house-in-brooksville--home-to-ghost-tours--moving-furniture-and-creepy-voices
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May-Stringer_House
- https://familydestinationsguide.com/may-stringer-house-florida/
ApparitionsPhantom soundsDisembodied laughterObject movementCold spotsEVPPoltergeist activity
The inventory of presences reported at the May-Stringer House is unusual in its specificity. Multiple independent investigations have found consistent evidence of activity, and the Hernando Historical Museum Association's ghost tours operate around documented accounts rather than generic atmosphere.
Jessie May was three years old when she died at the house of an illness her family could not treat. Her presence is reported throughout the building — visitors and staff describe a child's laughter in empty rooms, toys found moved, and what guides describe as the sense of a child's attention from unseen quarters.
Jessie's mother Marena died in the house during childbirth. Her reported manifestation is acoustic: a woman crying, heard in the rooms where she lived and died. Staff descriptions are consistent about the specific character of the sound — grief, specifically, rather than general disturbance.
The Confederate soldier known as Mr. Nasty — a name attached to him by investigators rather than any historical documentation of his identity — is associated with the upper floors. He is described as the most physically active presence in the building: furniture moved, objects thrown, the building's most overtly disruptive reported entity.
The total count of reported presences has been estimated at between seven and closer to a dozen in various investigations, with some accounts reaching eleven named or categorized figures. The precise count depends on which investigation is referenced.
Notable Entities
Jessie MayMarenaMr. Nasty
Media Appearances
- Haunted Tours: Mr. Nasty (S1E1) (2017)
