Oct 26 2011
Top 10 Most Haunted Cities in the U.S. – St. Augustine, Florida
Top 10 Most Haunted Cities in the U.S.
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest city in America, and home to some of the oldest ghosts too. Founded in 1565 by Ponce de Leon, it was the site of many battles and deaths, transforming it into one of the most haunted cities in the country. One of these battlegrounds is Castillo de San Marcos, a fort where the Spanish defended St. Augustine from invaders. People throughout the centuries have been shot, hanged, and tortured there, and there are scores of unmarked graves. Spanish soldiers have been seen nearby the cannons and tours of the fort have heard heavy footsteps and seen imprints on the beds as if a body was laying there. They have also felt the temperature drop suddenly and the sensation of touching them. Voices and screams have been heard in the dungeon room, which was discovered with bones still shackled to the walls. A more fantastical claim is that a man said he witnessed the floating head of Osceola, a Seminole Indian. There have also been sightings of a man with a lantern walking around at night.
An old lighthouse on nearby Anastasia Island is also said to be haunted by the spirits of two little girls. The girls that have been seen were the daughters of a former lighthouse keeper and of a foreman that was there while a new lighthouse was being built. They were playing with a supply cart one day when the brakes cut out and the cart careened into the inlet of water below. The girls drowned before anyone could come to their rescue, and you can now hear them giggling and playing from beyond the grave. There was another famous death on Anastasia Island at the lighthouse in which a man hanged himself. Constructions workers restoring the lighthouse have reported seeing the image of a man hanging from the rafters and smelling cigar smoke when there was no smoke around.
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Another suicide took place at the St. Francis Inn in St. Augustine and has been the setting for some strange phenomena. St. Francis Inn was first maintained by the Dummett family. Thomas Dummett Jr. fell in love with Lilly, one of the families’ slaves and disgraced his family. As a result, his uncle prevented them from being together and punished Thomas by forcing him into the military. The couple was devastated, and they hanged themselves in the attic. Since then, there have been reports of voices and sightings belonging to Lilly. A woman said that she went to her room to find makeup thrown everywhere, and a man has woken up to find himself wedged underneath a bed. Doors slam for no apparent reason, and lights have been seen flickering on and off by themselves.
Another haunted hotel is the Casablanca Inn, said to be haunted by an elderly woman who owned it in the 1920s. The woman helped alcohol smugglers during Prohibition by waving a lantern from the widow’s walk to let them know that the coast was clear, and people have said that they’ve seen the lantern’s light to this day. Guests have also claimed to witness her ghostly image in the hallways and feel cold spots in random spots.
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