Get your ghost on in Key West’s best haunted museums!
Haunted Key West Firehouse Museum
Built in 1907, Old Firehouse #3 is one of the oldest firehouses in the State of Florida. Operating today as the Key West Firehouse Museum, the old station hosts at least a dozen ghosts, and joins the list of Key West’s most haunted places. A mysterious man named Frank haunts the engine room and bathroom; a mystery girl that some people believe is Elena Hoyos (Hoyos lived next door to the station) passes through the closed doors, pauses at the stables, and lingers by the hose troughs. Volunteers have even reported encounters with the infamous missing fire chief Joseph “Bum” Farto.
Haunted Key West Lighthouse
Key West is famous for tales of ghosts, ghost ships of the unfortunate sailors who wrecked on the nearby reef. The 1848 Key West Lighthouse saved countless lives from a similar fate, yet the woman responsible for keeping the tower lit still climbs the stairs of the lighthouse each night, joined by a cast of at least 13 spirits. The tale of Barbara Mabrity is tragic. She lost her husband to yellow fever. Five of her six children were crushed by Key West’s first lighthouse during a hurricane. Mabrity was fired from the Lighthouse Service in 1864 for talking smack about the Union, but even termination could not keep her spirit away.
Haunted Audubon House
Captain John Geiger’s home has seen more than its fair share of tragedy. Geiger lost several children to the dreaded yellow fever. Another child lost their life when they fell from the tropical almond tree that grows beside the museum. Some records indicate an infant child is buried in front of the home. The Audubon House was home to another Key West haunted doll, known as the Bye-Lo Baby or Mrs. Peck Doll. The doll disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Visitors to the haunted museum encounter the spirits of Captain Geiger, his wife Lucretia, a recluse named Willy Smith, and several of the children’s ghosts.
The Hemingway Home
Multiple spirits haunt the home of Ernest Hemingway, including old Papa himself. Ernest Hemingway’s ghost is sighted waving from the second-floor balcony, but he is not alone. Neigbors used to see a woman who resembles Pauline Hemingway smoking cigarettes in front of the house after she died. In the morning they would discover butts of the same brand Pauline smoked when she was alive. Several cat spirits and the wife of Asa Tift are also haunting the Hemingway House in Key West. Read more about Haunted Hemingway in the book Haunted Key West by David Sloan.
Key West Custom House
The Key West Museum of Art & History at the Key West Custom House has multiple ghosts and hauntings. During renovations to turn the structure into a museum, workers reported tools disappearing from beside them and reappearing in strange places. Staff closing up at night report shadowy figures that move about the place. A visitor who had never been to Key West had a vivid dream that she was chased through a red brick building by someone trying to kill her. When she saw the Custom House for the first time she recognized it as the building from her dream.
Key West Shipwreck Museum
The Key West Shipwreck Museum is a hotbed for paranormal activity. One spirit is thought to be a man who committed suicide at the top of the wrecking tower. Another spirit haunts the cistern. The museum features artifacts from the wreck of the Isaac Allerton which may be responsible for spirit activity in the museum.