HauntBound Press Fact Sheet · Updated September 2026
The Most Haunted Places in Florida
Florida has 282 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index.
Top 10 identified after source-level analysis of the 25 strongest Florida candidates.
By the numbers
- Total documented
- 282
- Museum / Historical Site
- 56
- Haunted Hotel / Inn
- 52
- Cemetery / Burial Ground
- 31
- Family-friendly
- 267
- Bookable
- 94
- Oldest documented site
- Castillo de San Marcos (1672)
- Most-reported phenomenon
- apparitions
Ranked
- 1. Ringling College of Art and Design, Keating Hall Keating Hall opened in 1925 as the Bay Haven Hotel, a Spanish Mission Revival property whose fortunes fell with the Florida land bust into a stretch locally associated with gambling and prostitution before John Ringling bought it around 1931 for classrooms and a women's dormitory at his new art school. 5 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1990-2001 · retold in 3 later publications
- 2. Casa de Solana Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana, one of eight Spanish soldiers allowed to stay in St. Augustine after Britain took Florida in 1763, built this tabby house and used it to shelter travelers and Native Americans. Guests and staff describe a woman in white identified as Solana's first wife, Mary Mitchell, a watchful Dragoon named Frederick said to have been shot guarding the property, and a presence called Victoria tied to the Montejurra Room. 3 original accounts · documented across 9 decades, 1763-2024 · retold in 2 later publications
- 3. St. Augustine Lighthouse The 165-foot tower was completed in 1874 to replace an aging Spanish watchtower, but construction was marked by tragedy: on July 10, 1873, two sisters and a friend drowned in an accident on the site's supply tramway. Staff and visitors report the smell of cigar smoke in the keeper's house parlor and a rocking chair that moves in an upstairs bedroom when no one is present. 4 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1950-1960 · retold in 3 later publications
- 4. May-Stringer House HauntBound identified two distinct published accounts at this museum site, across five kinds of published source. One later publication retells those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and cold spots. 2 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1856-1880 · retold in 1 later publication
- 5. Evergreen Cemetery HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this burial ground, across four kinds of published source, each known through a later source that names an earlier original. One later publication retells those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and phantom sounds. 3 original accounts (known through later citation) · documented across 3 decades, 1940-1995 · retold in 1 later publication
- 6. Artist House (former Otto Family Home) Thomas Otto built this Queen Anne house in the 1890s; his son, painter Robert Eugene Otto, lived there with his wife Anne from 1930 until his death in 1974, and the doll called Robert occupied the turret room in his final years. Guests since the house became a guest house in 1978 report a woman in a wedding dress on the main staircase, often identified as Anne, and shadowy figures at the foot of beds. 3 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1980-1997 · retold in 2 later publications
- 7. González-Álvarez House (The Oldest House) Built around 1723 from coquina limestone on the site of a structure British forces destroyed in 1702, the González-Álvarez House is St. Augustine's oldest surviving home and now operates as a museum under the St. Augustine Historical Society, which states it keeps no institutional record of paranormal activity. Ghost tours tie the reported activity to two of the house's real historical residents, Spanish infantryman José Tovar and Civil War-era General Martin D. Hardin, alongside an unnamed woman in black reported drifting through the upstairs hallway. In 1974 a night watchman quit after a door closed on its own, and in July 2019 a visiting family reported a man visible through a rear window who was gone by the time they went to look. 3 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1974-2019 · retold in 3 later publications
- 8. Flagler College (Former Hotel Ponce de Leon) Henry Flagler, the Standard Oil co-founder, opened the Hotel Ponce de Leon in 1888; the building became Flagler College in 1968. After his body lay in state in the rotunda following his 1913 death, doors nearby reportedly began opening and closing on their own, and students today describe a mustachioed figure in formal dress near the same space. 3 original accounts · documented in 1968 · retold in 5 later publications
- 9. TacoLu Baja Mexicana (Alpha Paynter Homestead) Alpha Paynter built this log cabin in 1934 as a boarding house that later became the Homestead Restaurant, a Jacksonville Beach fixture until it closed in 2011; TacoLu Baja Mexicana moved into the building the following year. Staff since the 1960s, spanning both restaurants, have described a woman near the large limestone fireplace, footsteps upstairs when no one is there, and lights or doors behaving oddly, attributed to Paynter watching over the place she built. 3 original accounts · documented across 1 decade, 1960-1962 · retold in 5 later publications
- 10. Captain Tony's Saloon Built in 1851 as Key West's ice house and morgue, the building was constructed around a tree once used as a gallows, and its back poolroom is said to sit over an old city cemetery where remains have turned up during renovations. Patrons describe cold spots around the trunk that still grows through the bar, cue balls that move on the poolroom tables when no one is playing, and phantom footsteps and the smell of pipe tobacco upstairs. 1 original account · documented across 3 decades, 1898-1980 · retold in 1 later publication
By city
- St. Augustine: 26 documented sites
- Key West: 22 documented sites
- Pensacola: 15 documented sites
- Orlando: 12 documented sites
- St. Petersburg: 11 documented sites
- Fort Myers: 9 documented sites
- Jacksonville: 9 documented sites
- Sarasota: 8 documented sites
- Tampa: 8 documented sites
- Tallahassee: 8 documented sites
- 150 more across the rest of Florida
Press images
- Casa de Solana Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via https://www.flickr.com/photos/warrenlemay/50835881358/ hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/casa-de-solana/hero.jpg
- St. Augustine Lighthouse Pete Markham from Loretto, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Augustine_Lighthouse_-_The_Striped_Tower_-_March_2016_(25500481274).jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/st-augustine-lighthouse/hero.jpg
- May-Stringer House Ebyabe, CC BY 2.5, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:May-Stringer_House01.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/hernando-heritage-museum/hero.jpg
- Evergreen Cemetery Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jax_FL_Evergreen_Cem_entr01.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/evergreen-cemetery-jacksonville/hero.jpg
- Artist House (former Otto Family Home) Cayobo, CC BY 2.0, via https://www.flickr.com/photos/cayobo/4716346560/ hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/artist-house-former-otto-family-home/hero.jpg
- González-Álvarez House (The Oldest House) Mickey Løgitmark, CC BY 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_oldest_house_-_panoramio.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/gonzalez-alvarez-house-the-oldest-house/hero.jpg
- Flagler College (Former Hotel Ponce de Leon) Russell Poore hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/flagler-college/hero.jpg
- Captain Tony's Saloon Jud McCranie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sloppy_Joe%27s_Bar,_Key_West,_FL,_US_(09).jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/florida/captain-tonys-saloon/hero.jpg
Images listed here may be republished with the credit shown; all other HauntBound images are not offered for press use.
Superlatives
- Oldest documented site: Castillo de San Marcos Documented since 1672.
- Most documented: Ringling College of Art and Design, Keating Hall (Exterior viewing only) 5 distinct published accounts.
- Top haunted stay: Casa de Solana Overnight stays bookable.
- Most family-friendly: Old Federal Courthouse (Le Meridien Tampa, The Courthouse) Family Comfort rating: High.
Methodology
For purposes of the HauntBound Index, "most haunted" means the location with the strongest documented record of reported haunting phenomena. We evaluate the quantity, independence, persistence, and documentary quality of published reports. We do not attempt to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real, and we never count a source that only establishes a building's history as evidence of haunting claims. Repetitive coverage is subject to diminishing returns, so a story retold many times does not outrank a story independently documented. Rankings never consider commercial relationships.
The 2026 Index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.
Updated September 26, 2026: private homes and an operating hospital were withdrawn from the index. The documented total is now 282, the oldest documented site is now the Castillo de San Marcos, and the most family-friendly pick is now the Old Federal Courthouse. The ranked ten are unchanged.
Updated October 19, 2026: listings that could not be sourced, or that are private or have no public access, were withdrawn after an October review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
Updated October 23, 2026: more listings were withdrawn after a dignity and sourcing review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
This is a documentation ranking, not a visitation guide; sites not open to visitors are marked on their entries.