Haunted St. Augustine, FL - Castillo de San Marcos

Haunted St. Augustine, FL – Castillo de San Marcos

July 18, 2014 by Doug Dillon 1914 0 0

Old St. Augustine, Florida. Unexplained. Ghosts. Paranormal. Supernatural.

The Castillo de San Marcos

As a Florida writer of fiction and nonfiction, I get to explore some of my favorite topics that include both the paranormal and Florida history. And that includes the oldest and most haunted city in the U.S., St. Augustine.

Ghost stories abound in that town as do ghost tours of all kinds. Paranormal investigators make regular stops there and probe every nook and cranny.

One of the most visited places is the city is the stone fort, the Castillo de San Marcos.

Completed by the Spanish in 1695, that site literally swims in legends and myth. Much has been written about the Castillo, both historically and in the paranormal realm, but I won’t bore you with all that old information.

At the end of this article though, I have included some links that you might find of interest.

What I do want to share with you, however, are two quick stories that I stumbled over one day when visiting the fort and doing research for the third book in my young adult series titled, The St. Augustine Trilogy.

Both of these tales come from people directly associated with the Castillo and have asked that I not mention their names or positions within the organization. Gotta protect my sources.

On the day of my visit, I found a person who seemed to be in a position of authority. I was interested in certain aspects of the Castillo’s construction.

We had a nice chat and in the conversation I told him I write about things paranormal as well as historical. “Oh ho,” he replied with a grin, “you need to talk to Alberta (not her name).”

I had no idea who Alberta was or why I should talk to her. And just as I started to ask, she, Alberta, walked up to us, pointed to her watch and said to my companion, “It’s working again. Can you believe it?”

Turns out that every time Alberta enters the Castillo, her watch stops working. It usually remains inoperable for no reason she can discover until she leaves the building.

And on that day, oddly, the watch began ticking away only as she approached me and the other person.

The Castillo gift shop

That’s when the man I was talking to originally took me aside and said, “If you won’t use my name, I’ll tell you about a series of identical experiences a close family member had here a number of years ago.”

Now that is just the kind of comment I love: from someone who is definitely not looking for notoriety and who is in a position to really know something of value.

After I agreed, he said, “This family member used to work in the gift shop downstairs (on the ground floor of the fort). It was her job to open the doors to the shop every morning.

“At times, the air conditioning would create a slick film of condensation on the stone floor, revealing small footprints. Bare footprints, like those of a child, and no others.

“Of course, there was no way that could happen, because the shop is locked up all night and stays locked until the next morning.”

My companion offered no explanation because he didn’t have any. But the gravity with which he revealed this little mystery told me he was indeed, telling the truth as he knew it.

Links of interest:

St. Augustine

Haunted Lighthouse in St.Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Story: Mary Hastings, Part 1

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Story: Mary Hastings, Part 2

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Story: Mary Hastings Part 3

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Story: Ghost Playmates Part 1

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Story: Ghost Playmates Part 2

St. Augustine, FL: Ghost Evidence

St. Augustine, FL: Ghost Animals

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Hunt: Huguenot Cemetery.

St. Augustine, FL Ghost Hunt: Tolomoto Cemetery