North Florida's longest-running paranormal research group (Big Bend Ghost Trackers, founded 2000) · Downtown Monticello Historic District · Operating continuously since October 2001
The Big Bend Ghost Trackers describe themselves as north Florida's longest-running professional paranormal research team, founded in 2000 to investigate reportedly haunted locations using standard paranormal-investigation equipment alongside psychic investigators. The group launched Historic Monticello Ghost Tours in October 2001, built around Monticello's concentration of 19th- and early-20th-century buildings in Jefferson County, a small Big Bend-region town often marketed in local and regional tourism coverage as one of the most haunted small towns in the South.
The walking tour meets at 420 W Washington St and covers 14 stops in the compact downtown historic district over roughly 90 minutes, led by costumed guides. Tickets are $25 per person, cash only, and current tour dates are posted on the operator's Eventbrite organizer page and Facebook page rather than a dedicated tour-operator website. The tour has an established TripAdvisor and Yelp review history.
This operation is independent of and unaffiliated with US Ghost Adventures' separately built 'Monticello Ghosts' program (branded 'Malice of Monticello'), which meets at the Jefferson Arts Gallery at a different downtown corner and was not independently corroborated as operating at the time that entry was researched. Big Bend Ghost Trackers member Betty Davis also co-authored a book, 'Haunted Monticello, Florida,' published in the Haunted America series.
Sources
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34456-d12593786-Reviews-Historic_Monticello_Ghost_Tours-Monticello_Florida.html
- https://www.eventbrite.com/o/historic-monticello-ghost-tours-hmgt-89897003693
- https://www.wtxl.com/news/wtxl-road-trip-exploring-monticello-s-haunted-history/article_5aa285ca-54f7-11e7-bf3c-6b83ad0c5b6a.html
- https://www.americantowns.com/place/historic-monticello-ghost-tours-monticello-fl.html
Phantom footstepsReported hauntings at multiple downtown historic buildings
The operator markets Monticello as 'the South's most haunted small town' and structures the tour around 14 stops in the compact downtown historic district, mixing documented local history with paranormal storytelling delivered by costumed guides. The Old Jefferson County Jail Museum is one of the most consistently cited stops, where guides recount the 1909 building's history as a working jail through 1971, its Jim Crow-era segregated cellblock, prisoner graffiti scratched into the walls, and visitor reports of running footsteps in an empty building.
We have not independently corroborated the operator's full list of 14 stops beyond the Old Jail, and this listing's tourStops accordingly names only that one confirmed stop rather than padding the route with unverified sites. All narrative material here is the tour operator's own marketing and storytelling, not documented history independently verified for this listing.
Media Appearances
- WTXL — 'Road Trip: Exploring Monticello's Haunted History'
- PBS — 'Local Routes: Exploring Paranormal Phenomena in Historic Monticello'
