The 1927 Orange County Courthouse now houses a public history museum whose own staff have documented daily paranormal encounters since the building opened
65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Adults $10; Seniors 55+ $8; Students & Military $7; Children 5–12 $6; Under 5 free
Access
Wheelchair OK
Multi-story historic building; elevators available
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1927 · Orange County Judicial History · 1920 Ocoee Massacre Memorial Context · Early Twentieth Century Civic Architecture · 1942 Museum Founding
The Orange County Courthouse at 65 E Central Boulevard was designed by Murry S. King, Orlando's first registered architect, and constructed at a cost of nearly $1 million between May 1926 and October 1927. The five-story building was dedicated on October 12, 1927, and became the administrative and judicial center for Orange County through the mid-twentieth century. Its courtrooms handled routine civil and criminal matters alongside high-profile cases that drew regional attention over the decades.
The building's most prominent twentieth-century legal event was the 1980 trial of serial killer Ted Bundy for the murder of twelve-year-old Kimberly Leach — though it is important to note that the trial took place in the courthouse annexe, a separate building adjacent to the main courthouse that has since been demolished, not in the main building that now houses the history center.
Orange County Regional History Center has operated in the building since 1942. The museum holds extensive collections on Central Florida's natural, Indigenous, and colonial history, including the period of the Ocoee Election Day Massacre of 1920, in which a white mob killed an estimated thirty to fifty Black residents — possibly more — in response to July Perry and other Black voters attempting to exercise the franchise. The museum maintains a historical marker related to Perry adjacent to the building.
The 1927 building itself — now listed on local historic registers — was designed to a monumental civic standard by King and remains one of downtown Orlando's most architecturally significant structures.
Sources
The Orange County Regional History Center is unusual among haunted sites in that the institution itself — not just tour operators — publicly documents the ghost stories associated with its building. The museum maintains a section of its website titled 'Homegrown Haunts' where staff accounts and paranormal reports are collected.
The most consistent staff account involves the building's opening routine: employees report a cold rush of air moving through the building each morning when the doors are unlocked, experienced as a kind of presence passing rather than a temperature change from outside conditions. This has been reported consistently enough that it has become part of the institutional lore rather than an isolated incident.
Several distinct entities are associated with the building. Guards and jurists from the courthouse era are reported in the upper floors, consistent with the building's decades of use for legal proceedings. A child referred to as Emily is the most specific of the reported presences: she is described as appearing in the courtroom area, and associated with a stuffed rabbit toy — patched and handmade in style — that has reportedly been found in different locations without being moved by anyone on staff.
In a documented 2013 investigation, a Fox News crew accompanied a paranormal team through the building and subsequently reported six spirits: one in the orchestra pit area, four on the main floor and stage, and one in the balcony attributed by investigators to a female presence. Items in museum exhibits have been reported moving or levitating by visitors. The building also connects via documented history to the former jail tunnel that ran beneath the block to the Beacham Theatre across the street, used for prisoner transfers.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The restored five-story 1927 Orange County Courthouse houses permanent and rotating exhibits on Orlando and Central Florida history. The building's own website documents ghost stories associated with the structure, and the museum has hosted paranormal investigators including a Fox News crew that documented multiple reported entities in the building. The museum is also featured on several Orlando ghost tour routes.
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