Haunted Pensacola

by Alan Brown

Pensacola may boast the world’s whitest beaches, but the sands of time reveal a dark history in America’s first settlement. It’s no surprise that one of the nation’s oldest cities is also among the most haunted, with culturally diverse spirits from the ages of the Spanish founders and British settlers through the turbulent era of the Civil War. Author and expert Alan Brown presents a survey of unexplained mysteries at Pensacola’s eerie landmarks. The infamous haunted lighthouse, the ghosts of St. Michael’s Cemetery and the tale of the headless woman of Ramona Street are just a few of the chilling stories recounted in Haunted Pensacola.

Genres: Nonfiction

131 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[jv poore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe it's me. Maybe this is a somewhat misleading title.

I love ghost stories, for the chills and the hair-raises, of course. Also, I find them to be a groovy way of getting a little flavor of local history.

Haunted Pensacola was the opposite. Each 'story' seemed to consist of pages about the varying iterations of a particular building or military complex, followed by a paragraph that basically says: Oh, yeah, and some people have reported seeing spooky shadows and feeling a cold spot.

If you happen to love very detailed history of specific locations, this could be for you.

[TAMMY WRIGHT · Rating 5 out of 5]

We reside in South Dakota, but still own our home in Pensacola. I love Pensacola, the only reason for moving was wanting to be around snow again and for my health. I have some medical conditions that being in the drier air is better for me and the colder conditions in other ways are better for me. I sometimes our little house in Pcola. We are going to rent it out. We are right off Olive Road and Scenic Highway. 45 minutes from Pcola Beach. All of the places in this book I read about I have heard of a few. My boys visited the lighthouse. I need to ask them if they heard any ghostly sounds when they visited. Pcola I knew had a lot of history. When my middle brother served he was Navy and served in Pcola for a bit. This was back in early 80's. I'm sure there has been changes made since then. I wonder if my brother heard the ghosts. I would ask him, but we are estranged...😣. Anyway I really didn't like history in school, love it now. I hope you find this book as interesting as I did...... .......

HAPPY READING

[Devin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick and somewhat interesting read on ~ghostly presences~ in Pensacola, Fla. (where I currently live). It was cool to read into the history of some of the buildings around Pensacola that I've been in that have been around for over 100 years and get a glimpse at how they used to look (finding out that Artel Gallery, which used to be a post office & customs office, was actually two stories until 2007 or how Quayside Art Gallery was built as a firehouse in the late 1890s, for instance), but unfortunately, there's not a lot of elaboration on the paranormal aspects in many of the entries. There can be a page or so of describing the place, and then maybe a paragraph or two about a ghost. So the "haunted" aspect takes a backseat here.

But an interesting look at the history of Pensacola nonetheless.

[Jen Mink · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the historical aspects and folklore. Some of it I knew (I'm a local, born and raised), some of it I didn't. So it was cool to learn and relearn my hometown's history. I couldn't get past the misspellings in the book of a couple street names, though. I looked them up and one for sure was misspelled the entire chapter. I cannot find any records of it having that spelling. The other street, I discovered, had gone through a couple of spellings depending on who controlled the city at the time. The street was named after a British colony, then when the Spanish took the city, the name changed spellings. Some people still use the older spelling when referring to Zaragoza Street but the current and accurate spelling as of this review is Zaragoza, not Zaragossa and not Zaragosa.

[Cheri Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this type of book!

Educational, interesting and mixed with the ghostly! Since I love not too far from Pensacola this was a very enjoyable book. I remember being there when I was 17 or so on a senior class outing. I saw some of those places depicted. I enjoyed the history part of this book very much. But I especially love the ghostly part! Great book!

[Esther Shoemake · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT history of Pensacola

I loved this book! It holds so much history of the Pensacola area and gives you a great idea of the changes and turmoil seen throughout history in this area. I feel like I have relived the past. With each place discussed comes a LOT of history with a touch on the hauntings the buildings are known for.

[Tena · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about all the places that claim to have paranormal happenings in Pensacola, Florida. I'm visiting there and I wish I had time to see some more of these places. We visited the Pensacola Lighthouse today and it was awesome!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about Pensacola hauntings.

[Loreen ☕️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting read.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read with lots of photos of the sites. Would have benefited from a thorough editing since typos, spelling errors were distracting.