EMF test
You take the meter and sweep the space yourself. Electromagnetic fields move for ordinary reasons and occasionally for reasons nobody has pinned down — you will be shown how to tell the two apart.
EMF & thermal · live instrument readout
St. Petersboo
Haunted History
Six people. One investigator. Thirty years of case notes. You carry the equipment, and whatever the night gives up is yours.
Reserve a seat · $25
Next tour
—Days
—Hours
—Minutes
Recognition
The city already knows.
Readers' choice
One of the best walking tours in St. Petersburg
Voted in St. Pete Life's Best of 2026 Readers' Choice Awards.
Best of the Bay 2026
Nominated, Best Walking Tour
On the ballot in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's readers' poll, listed as St. Petersboo Haunted History Walking Ghost Tours.
Patch
St. Petersburg paranormal guide hosts monthly ghost walk
Coverage of the tours, the hearse, and thirty years of investigation in the city.
Read it ↗The measure
Every other tour asks you to guess.
Here is the honest reading.
Three numbers, published before you pay. Nobody else in this business will give you the third one.
Historical accuracy
Five of five
Every location has a documented record and a filed investigation behind it. Nothing invented, nothing borrowed from another city's legend.
Paranormal contact
Four of five
You hold the meters and the recorders. Some nights the equipment does a great deal. Some nights it does nothing at all, and you will be told so plainly.
Jump scares
None
No actors, no costumes, nobody waiting in an alley. The part that keeps you up is what turns up in your own recording on the drive home.
The investigation
You don't hear about it.
You test it.
Six hands-on sessions across a ninety-minute loop of downtown. You run the equipment yourself, and whatever the night gives up, you were there when it happened.
EVP analysis
Electronic voice phenomena. Audio captured on site and played back on the spot. Some nights there is nothing on it. Some nights there is something, and you decide for yourself what you are hearing.
Paranormal trigger tryout
Objects, questions and prompts chosen because they have drawn a response here before. You run them, and you find out whether tonight is one of those nights.
Spirit box session
A rapid sweep across radio frequencies that throws up fragments of sound. Words surface. Whether they mean anything is exactly the question, and you are part of answering it.
Vortex search
Some ground reads as concentrated energy rather than a single point — the Art Lofts among it. You work the space looking for where the edges of it sit.
Data capture discussion
Everything gathered comes out and gets talked through as a group. Your read counts as much as anyone's, and disagreeing with the investigator is entirely allowed.
The route is rewritten every year, so the stops stay unnamed until you are standing in front of them. Past walks have taken in Mirror Lake, Williams Park, and more than one downtown hotel that has changed its name in the last hundred years.
Your guide
Thirty years of
looking anyway
Dr. Brandy Stark founded SPIRITS of St. Petersburg, the oldest paranormal research team in the Tampa Bay area. Professor, author, artist. She has been documenting this city's haunted history since 1997. You are not getting a costumed guide reading a script — you are getting the investigator whose notes you are walking through.
- 400+Documented investigations across Pinellas and Tampa Bay
- 1997SPIRITS of St. Petersburg founded — approaching thirty years
- ScreenFeatured on The Dead Files
- PrintAuthor of Supernatural Saint Petersburg and Paranormal Pinellas
The Investigation · the 13th
Dr. Brandy Stark
Founder of SPIRITS of St. Petersburg and the investigator whose case notes you walk. She leads the interactive investigation on the 13th of every month.
The Classic Walk · full moon
Carissa Sturgeon
With the team since 2019, Carissa has investigated across the United States. A self-described sensitive — someone who feels spectral energy — she leads the classic downtown walk on full-moon nights.
The hearse
It arrives before she does.
A long white hearse, a coffin in the back, and a collection of dolls riding along. Brandy drives it through St. Petersburg, so most people meet the car well before they meet the investigator. Several of the dolls, she says, carry an energy she is still trying to account for — and she is selective about which ones ride with her.
“I only have the friendly dolls.”Dr. Brandy Stark, Tampa Bay 28
WhiteThe car
OneCoffin, in the back
SeveralDolls along for the ride
Not yetOn the walking tour
Evidence
See it before
you believe it.
Raw footage from actual investigations. Thermal, audio, and the anomalies that keep a file open. No edits, no score, no narration.
Along the way
The block looks after
the people on the tour.
Show proof you walked with us and these neighbours take care of you. No coupon, no code — the tour is the ticket.
10% off soda & food
Rocket Fizz St. Pete
The candy and soda shop on Central, and a spot the team has run a thermal session inside. Show your tour sticker for the discount.
Central Avenue
10% off a class
The Velvet Mat
A yoga studio in the basement of the 1927 Kress Building — a rare Florida basement, one block from where the tour begins. Use code SPIRITS at checkout.
475 Central Avenue
Coming to the route
The Mari Jean Hotel
Long-standing friends of the investigation. Not on this walk yet — they join a future ghost tour, and they are open to pop-up tours in the meantime.
Central Avenue
Reserve
Two walks.
Choose your night.
The Investigation runs the 13th of every month with Brandy. The Classic Walk runs on the full moon with Carissa. Both are six seats, $25, and paid in full to hold the seat.
The Investigation
Interactive Walking Ghost Tour
$25Per person
Available dates · the 13th, with Brandy
Thursday, 13 August
6:30 PM · 501 Central Ave
Sunday, 13 September
6:30 PM · 501 Central Ave
Tuesday, 13 October
6:30 PM · 501 Central Ave
Friday, 13 November
Friday the 13th · 6:30 PM · 501 Central Ave
Secure checkout by Stripe · static preview, live dates come from the admin calendar
Full moon dates · the classic walk, with Carissa
Friday, 28 August
Full moon · 501 Central Ave
Saturday, 26 September
Full moon · 501 Central Ave
Monday, 26 October
Full moon · 501 Central Ave
Tuesday, 24 November
Full moon · 501 Central Ave
Wednesday, 23 December
Full moon · 501 Central Ave
Secure checkout by Stripe · static preview, live dates come from the admin calendar
- $25 per person, paid in full at the time of booking.
- All sales are final. No refunds, no exchanges.
- If a tour is cancelled by us, you choose: a full refund or a reschedule.
- Rain or shine. Heavy rain moves the opening indoors; only severe weather cancels.
- Arrive by 6:15. The tour departs on time and does not wait.
- A missed departure is a no-show and is not refundable.
- Larger walking parties of up to thirteen can be arranged on request.
Questions
Before you go
The tour
01
Is this actually frightening?
It is atmospheric, not a haunted house. Nothing jumps out at you and nobody is in costume. The unsettling part, if there is one, is what the equipment does on its own.
02
Will we see a ghost?
Nobody can promise that, and anyone who does is selling you something. What is promised: real locations with real investigation histories, real equipment in your hands, and an honest account of whatever shows up.
03
How is this different from other ghost tours?
Party size and evidence. Six people rather than forty, led by the investigator who compiled the case notes instead of a guide performing a script.
04
Do I need to believe in any of this?
No. Skeptics are welcome and tend to ask the sharpest questions. The history is real regardless of what you make of the rest.
Booking
05
Must I book in advance?
Yes. With six seats there is no walk-up availability. Payment is taken at booking and your seat is confirmed by email.
06
Can I take all six seats as a private tour?
Yes. Reserve all six and the night belongs to your party.
07
What if my group is larger than six?
Six is the standard walk, because a small group is the point. Parties of up to thirteen can be arranged on request — write with your date and headcount and it gets built around you.
08
Can I join a friend's booking?
Reserve your own seat on the same date and you will be on the same tour. Note their name in your booking and you will be kept together.
09
Do you run other tours?
Yes — private walks by arrangement, and the seasonal air-conditioned bus tours. Send a date and a headcount and it gets built.
Logistics & weather
10
Where does the tour begin?
501 Central Avenue, in front of Florida CraftArt in downtown St. Petersburg. Arrive by 6:15 — the tour leaves at 6:30.
11
How long does it run?
Ninety minutes. If the equipment is producing and the group wants to stay with it, it runs longer — nobody is hurried off a live location.
12
How much walking is involved?
About a mile and a half, or roughly four thousand steps, over ninety minutes. A concentrated downtown loop at a conversational pace, not a hike.
13
What happens if it rains?
Rain or shine. Heavy rain simply means the tour opens indoors at the Art Lofts with an extended investigation, then walks the route once it passes. Only severe weather — a tropical storm, lightning, a county warning — cancels, and that is an operator cancellation: refund or reschedule, your choice.
14
Where should I park?
Metered street parking runs along 5th Street North, Central Avenue, and 1st Avenue North and South. The Federal Building lot behind 501 Central is usually open to the public in the evening, though that is at your own risk — the policy is theirs to change.
15
What should I bring?
Comfortable shoes, water, and a charged phone. Bring your own meter or recorder if you own one — you are welcome to run your own capture alongside ours.
Access & policy
16
Is there a minimum age?
TK — age policy to be confirmed.
17
Is the route wheelchair accessible?
The walk covers about a mile and a half of downtown sidewalks, and St. Petersburg sidewalks are uneven in places — hard going for a wheelchair or a stroller. Write before booking and you will get a straight answer about what the route involves that night.
18
What if I arrive late?
The tour departs on time out of respect for the other five guests. A missed departure is a no-show and is not refundable.
19
May I take photographs?
Please do. Photograph and record everything. If you capture something, send it in — it goes in the file.
Stories on this tour are drawn from documented history, primary sources, and the recorded investigation files of SPIRITS of St. Petersburg. Where an account is folklore, it is presented as folklore. Where the evidence is inconclusive, that is said out loud. Corrections are welcome and the record is revised when better sources appear.
Get in touch
Questions, private
walks, pop-ups.
Booking a private night, planning a larger group, arranging a pop-up, or asking anything the FAQ didn't cover — send it here and Brandy will get back to you.