It should be no surprise that the state known for its bizarre stories and strange occurrences has its fair share of hauntings and horrors. There’s even a Horror Guide to Florida (reviewed here previously as Shadows Over Florida). There are plenty of places there that could be haunted (surely Disney World must have its share) or hide mysterious creatures (who knows what’s out there in the Everglades?) but Saint Petersburg, which is sort of between Tampa and Sarasota, also has its fair share of spirits.  Brandy Stark, a paranormal investigator, ghost tour guide, academic, artist, and the author of Supernatural Saint Petersburg and Paranormal Pinellas (click here to see it on Amazon) has some history and haunts for Saint Petersburg and Pinellas, for spooky places you can visit on your haunted travels.

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Saint Petersburg, Florida, is called the Sunshine City, but where there is sunshine there also must be shadows.  This moderate sized artsy city has a history dating back to the 1800s when it was a sleepy little fishing village.   A sister settlement to the military/industrial based city of Tampa, it was John Williams who saw the potential of the area.  He snagged a partner with Peter Demens, a Russian immigrant who owned the Orange Belt Railway system, and the two decided to make the area a tourist destination.  Demens named the land after his hometown in Russia, and Williams, who owned 1600 acres which he purchased for $1.25 a piece, built the city’s first hotel, the Detroit.  Williams named it for his own hometown in Michigan.

Williams also built the first wooden house in St. Petersburg.  Though he only lived in the building from 1891 until his death in 1892, his spirit is still attached to the place.  When I do my ghost tours, I like to say that I met Mr. Williams.  The date was April 4, 2004 and I was doing an interview with some students from the University of South Florida.  The building had a reputation for its haunting so we agreed to meet there, especially since the old homestead had been relocated to the St. Petersburg campus in 2000 and was utilized as office space.   As I waited for the students I decided to scan the area with my electromagnetic field  (EMF) meter.

To my surprise, I got a sudden reading, followed by what I perceived as a male voice murmuring behind me.   I turned but found myself alone.  I followed up with a few snapshots from my digital camera and saw an odd circular ball of energy in one of the chairs behind me.  Above the chair was a portrait of Mr. Williams which I later learned was no coincidence.  The date that I was there was his birthday!  I’m not sure what he said to me, but I hope he enjoyed my company for a little while that day.

In downtown, just off of Beach Drive, is the legendary Comfort Station 1, built by the city in the 1920s.  The architect, Henry L. Taylor, also drew up the plans for the Vinoy hotel, another haunted hot spot, and for St. Mary’s Cathedral.  The restroom was hailed nationally for its unique style; the octagonal brick building sits on a small plot of land next to the bay.  It also has the dubious honor of being haunted.  Rumors are that a female presence wearing black Patton leather shoes manifests in the women’s side of Comfort Station 1. She sometimes engages in a conversation from another stall until the visitors discover that they are alone in the room.  One person reported hearing singing as she walked by at 7 in the morning and checked the area – no one was present.  The spectre, who is identified as Myrtle or Eloise, is sometimes a bit of a prankster.  One lady said that she saw someone reflected in the mirror behind her but when she turned, no one was there.  Another report says that the ghost appeared as a floating head in a toilet, quickly vanishing once seen.

The most famous haunted spot is undoubtedly the Vinoy Hotel.  Opened in 1925, the hotel has long had a reputation for ghosts.  One, the “Nefarious Gentleman,” resides on the 5^th floor.  I have had an engagement with him just once when I stayed in the reportedly haunted room there.  The one night stay was a birthday gift and I was delighted to finally check this off of my list of places to investigate. A paranormal TV show had been in years prior and I knew that they had determined that one of the closet doors opened on its own.  Rumors also abounded that the bathroom faucets turned on by themselves.  The ghost particularly dislikes baseball players and the room was avoided by any in-town sports guests.  Delighted to have a king-sized bed all to myself, I prepared for a luxurious night of sleep.  Instead, I was kept awake most of the night by the sensation that someone was watching me, and that a figure was pacing from the bathroom to the left side of my bed to stop by the closet door.  The sensation of movement, back and forth, made for a sleepless night.  A sound recording caught swishes of movement (shuffling sounds), even when I had left the room for a time with the door locked behind me.

Finally, for those interested in the arts, I might suggest the building that houses my art studio:  ArtLofts.  Located as the second floor to Florida Craftart on Central Avenue and 5^th Street North, the structure was built in 1916.  It housed  Rutland’s department store for nearly 70 years before that closed and the building was converted into an art center.  I have encountered unexplained noises, with and without guests, in the odd hours of the evening.  I’ve surveyed the building for the past 3 years and gotten odd images on infrared video and sounds on recording.  Artists have told me various stories of their encounters.  Some believe that a few of the former employees are still watching over the place, keeping it, and the artists, safe.

If you come down this way, be sure to check out the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg website, www.spiritsofstpete.com, and if there are any questions give me a shout at brandybstark13@gmail.com.