Ghost tours, haunted houses & more!
Enjoy a spooky libation at their onsite bar, throw some axes, and test your wits in a mini room escape, 13th Floor is your Halloween destination this spooky season! If you’re looking to get scared and have some Halloween fun, 13th Floor is the perfect spot to check out this season!
Check out some of our favorite scary spots for a true haunt this Halloween season!
We had a spooky time going on A Ghostly Encounter ghost tour located in St. Augustine. The staff is incredible, the stories are like no other, and it will for sure send a shiver down your spine! They are rated by USA Weekly as one of the top ghost tours in the United States! If you are looking for a unique date night with your boo, a day trip to St. Augustine followed by A Ghostly Encounter ghost tour is the perfect spooky season date night!
Check out some of these guides for everything Halloween in Jacksonville and add these activities to your spooky season bucket list!
Get ready to get spooked, Jacksonville! Haunt Nights at Adventure Landing is the perfect spot to go if you’re a thrill seeker or horror fan. This year, they’re offering double the scares with 2 new haunted houses – Coven and The Slideshow! Wander through fully immersive rooms with incredible decorations while you anticipate the ultimate jump scare at Haunt Nights!
🗓️Select nights in October
📍Adventure Landing Jax Beach
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Don’t worry! Connor’s is holding a Halloween event for little kids and scaredy cats, too! For those of you who heed the warnings and choose to steer clear of the haunted corn maze, there will also be a Trick or Treat scavenger hunt on October 28th! Enjoy finding all the sweet treats and enjoying neat tricks spread all around the farm! plus, all regular farm activities are included in your visit.
For a more peaceful family night out, Connor’s A-Maize-ing Acres offers a nighttime wagon ride and flashlight maze! Enjoy cool Fall Florida nights as the wagon rides through beautiful woods and pastures, and gaze up at the stars as they illuminate the night sky. If you’d like, test your skills and attempt to navigate the corn maze with only a flashlight! This event is happening only on October 20th & the 21st, so don’t miss out!
The Jacksonville Arboretum & Botanical Gardens are opening their doors for a night of spooktacular entertainment the weekend before Halloween! The 2nd Annual Halloween Lanterns Festival will feature a magical nighttime experience with beautiful lanterns, lights, and lasers! Enjoy delicious food trucks, fun festive music, a silent disco, and more!
Support local businesses & thrift stores while putting together a spook-tastic costume!
This daunting brick building is one of only a few buildings to survive the Great Fire of 1901 in Downtown Jacksonville. El Modelo Block used to house Gabriel Hidalgo Gato’s El Modelo Cigar manufacturing company circa 1887. After Gato died, the property served as The Plaza Hotel, and then several bars as well. The area was known to be seedy and dangerous, so bar fights were to be expected.
Many think the building is still haunted by more than its old infamous reputation. In 1907, a Spanish-American war veteran was shot in the chest immediately after entering. Whether he is seeking revenge or still waiting on a drink, it is believed to be his ghost that still lingers in the building.
As Jacksonville’s oldest fully operating cemetery, with the first burial dating back to 1881, there’s no surprise that this location made it on our list of haunted places. This cemetery is the final resting place of many important people in Jacksonville’s history, including the city’s founder, Isaiah D. Hart. It holds over 70,000 burials on 170 acres. When it first opened, some remains were moved from other cemeteries to Evergreen, disturbing the graves of many.
There are three main spirits said to haunt Evergreen Cemetery. The Lady in Violet appears at the entrance to the older eastern section, wearing a Victorian-aged violet dress. Violet was a color of mourning in this era, and rumor has it that anyone who sees this particular apparition will have a death in the family soon. The second haunting is a man in old-fashioned attire near the now-restored Dodd Family mausoleum. The third is the ghost of a woman who can be seen by the “Ugly Angel” tombstone in the western section of the cemetery.
📍4535 N Main St, Jacksonville, FL 32206
Void Magazine has called the Florida Theatre “One of the Top Seven Most Haunted Places in Northeast Florida,” and for a good reason! With tons of history involving early European settlers, the Timucua and Mocama indigenous peoples, and a city jail being in the exact location of the Theatre, there are so many opportunities for hauntings!
Many people have claimed to sense a presence in the projection booth. From doors closing unexpectedly to lights and equipment malfunctioning, even voices and full-body apparitions! Psychic Jill Cook-Richards claims to have spoken with the ghost, called “J” for Joy.
Let’s not forget Section 500, Row E, Seat 2! In 2010, a paranormal investigation TV Show called Local Haunts visited the Florida Theatre. They captured an incredibly clear video of a ghostly apparition of a man sitting in this specific seat. With all the renovations, the Florida Theatre made sure to preserve and restore the Ghost Seat, putting it back in its original location once complete.
📍128 E Forsyth St #300, Jacksonville, FL 32202
Constructed in the 1860s, this building was originally a resort hotel named Rochester House. When it was first built, the structure sat on the corner of Leila Street and Riverside Avenue, But in 1911, it was barged upriver to its present location. That’ll disrupt some spirits if you ask us!
The most famous guest of the Rochester House was Mary Todd Lincoln, who traveled to Jacksonville in 1874. She was overwhelmed with grief and depression from the death of her 3 sons and husband, Abraham Lincoln. In March 1875, she hurried to Chicago, convinced her last surviving son was deathly ill. Upon finding him completely healthy, she claimed someone had attempted to poison her on the train ride there. Her mind continued to decline, and after she nearly jumped from a window trying to escape a non-existent fire, she was institutionalized in Illinois.
Many attribute Mary’s decline to an unseeable impact Rochester House had on her. Visitors, to this day, report the apparition of a woman in a black dress, allegedly the bride of a Confederate blockade runner. They say you can hear her footsteps from the third floor.
📍715 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32204
This iconic theatre is known for its brightly colored art-deco style. Something that locals might not be familiar with, however, is the chilling tales of a former manager, who died in the offices, still haunting the theatre. Former employees of the theater have seen a ghostly form standing in the manager’s office looking down at them.
After permanently closing its doors in 2022, we can only imagine how the ghost is roaming the aisles.
📍1996 San Marco Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32207
So many terrifying legends center around this dilapidated and decaying building. Tucked underneath the 95 overpass sits Public School Number 4, also known as Annie Lytle Elementary. With its once impressive white columns, boarded-up windows, and crumbling brick walls, one could easily see how this building has fostered such horrifying tales.
A cannibalistic principal who stored troublemakers in a meat locker on hooks until he was ready to devour them. A Janitor who would boil students alive in the basement. Teachers who would murder their students. A furnace explosion that killed students and faculty. Disappearing children, satanic rituals, and even ghosts of former classmates.
While the rumors are urban legends and most likely greatly exaggerated stories told by school children – It’s no wonder this location is also called “the Devil’s School.” Visitors have claimed to see odd shadows and heard disembodied voices.
As tempting (or untempting for us!) as it might be to venture inside and go hunting for ghosts of little children who still play in the schoolyard if you couldn’t tell by the chainlink fences the building is highly unsafe to explore. Plus, you could get arrested!