by VICTORIA HENLEY
CTFashionMag.com
St. Augustine, America’s oldest city, was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain. It attracts over 6 million visitors from around the world who flock to marvel at the city’s vast (and often grisly ) history, breathtaking architecture, and to experience a myriad of unique and exhilarating activities you’ll be hard pressed to find elsewhere.
The vast majority of the aforementioned activities are comprised of Old Town Trolley Tours, Ghosts and Gravestones, The Old Jail (and the Old Jail After Dark), The Oldest Store and Museum, and Potter’s Wax Museum, which offer a wide array of opportunities to be entertained, excited, and delighted by envy inducing photo ops, up close and personal paranormal experiences and bone chilling tales of the eras gone by.
OLD TOWN TROLLEY TOURS:
Voted by critics and fans alike as one of the top trolley tours in the world, Old Town Trolley Tours affords patrons the exclusive opportunity to enjoy a Birds Eye vantage point of all the landmark locations of the stunning city of St Augustine. Guided by our affable, personable, and knowledgeable tour guide, Kevin, we embarked on our approximately 1.5 hour tour, which was, at once, extremely relaxing and also quite educational.
During the initial portion of the tour, we were educated regarding the city’s founding in the 1500s and founder Menendez’s objective to deeply root the city in Catholicism.
We enjoyed up close and personal photo ops of some of the area’s most widely visited attractions including Ripley’s, Lady of Le Leche, the Castillo De San Marcos, and the location of Florida’s oldest hotel (which is now a parking deck.)
WEBSITE: https://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine
INSTAGRAM @oldtowntrolley
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 829-3800
PHOTOS: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DUyKxN63eo7uTgfs7
GATOR BOB’S
Gator Bob’s Trading Post and Museum creates a one of a kind backdrop for your St. Augustine family vacation photos, featuring a gigantic faux alligator hanging out front, a gift shop offering an abundance of unique branded gift and souvenir items sure to excite and delight everyone in your group.
Tickets to the Old Town Trolley Tours also include admission to the immersive, educational, and just plain fun Gator Bob’s Trading Post and Museum, which explores the life and times of some of St Augustine’s first settlers, largely known and referred to as “Crackers” (a term which refers to the cracking sound made by the whips used by early white settlers to herd their cattle).
A display regarding the pirates of St. Augustine provides insight into the lives and times of the pillagers of the sea who terrorized the area during those times, and a Spanish Lifestyle Gallery spotlights the expeditions of explorer Juan Ponce De Leon.
A life size replica of a wagon led by “Cracker Ponies” and the worn, rugged dress and appearance of these poor, yet resilient settlers is available for photo ops to commemorate your visit.
ADDRESS: 161 San Marco Ave, St. Augustine, FL 32084
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 824-9000
GHOSTS & GRAVESTONES
The premier after hours ghost bus tour in St. Augustine, Ghosts & Gravestones begins at the depot, where guests are given the opportunity to tour Cromwell’s Parlor of Paranormal Curiosities, where we browsed a galley of death masks, eerie nostalgic art and cobweb adorned books. A booming, thunderous voice greeted us from the corner, belonging to none other than our “Ghost Host” for the evening, Rogue who erupts in a lively monologue about the impending haunts and horrors we can expect to experience during our spook-tacular excursion.
Once we boarded the “Ghost Train” (operated by the trusty driver, Ice Pick, decked out in black and white vintage prison garb), we learned about the Huguenot Cemetery (widely referred to as “spirit central” due to its density of paranormal sightings and activity) and heard tales of the Ghost Bride and a little boy named James, whose apparitions have been spotted by numerous visitors to the Tolomato Cemetery.
The first official stop on the Ghosts & Gravestones Tour is Potters Wax Museum, the nation’s foremost and oldest wax museum, which houses a plethora of wax figures bearing uncanny resemblance to historical personalities, celebrities, authors, inventors, and more. Adding further to the palpable sense of eeriness upon entry to the dimly lit museum is the fact that many reports have been made that the wax figures have been known to “move” on their own when the museum is vacant.
Additional standout moments include a drive by viewing of the majestic, monumental Castillo De San Marcos, a harrowing (and quite true) monologue recited by Rogue about the “Exploding Bishop” Jean Pierre Augustine Mercellin who was laid to rest in “pieces” at the Tolomato Cemetery, as well as the story of the lovelorn Mrs Bradshaw from the Casablancas Inn, whose ghostly figure can still be seen signaling for her long lost lover to this very day.
Lastly, we made a stop to one of the deadliest jails in American history, where a standard sentence was typically a death sentence and thousands of prisoners met a sad and bleak fate due to the unlivable conditions of the Old Jail.
WEBSITE: https://www.ghostsandgravestones.com/st-augustine
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 826-3663
THE OLDEST STORE AND MUSEUM
The Oldest Store and Museum is an exact replica of the original St Augustine general store by C.F. Hamblen in 1908, featuring a staggering line up of household appliances, utilities, and vanity items which are sure to transport you to the days of yesteryear. Guided by our charmingly refined “salesman” named Virgil, we set out on a fascinating tour of items that are widely considered hallmarks of the Industrial Revolution, including a 1 holed corn sheller (we also learned that smooth corn cobs were utilized for a variety of purposes: including child’s dolls and toilet paper!), a Bradford vacuum cleaner, and even a goat powered treadmill!
Virgil provides convincing sales pitches for his “elite clientele” promoting some wildly unconventional medicines, including “Nerve Tonic” (comprised of cocaine, ether, and chloroform) as well as Deworming solution, boasting a roster of iconoclastic ingredients.
Following the formal presentation, guests are encouraged to roam about the museum at their own leisure, posing for photo ops against the backdrop of vintage sewing machines, penny farthings (classic bicycles), and an interactive experience with a “Party Line” phone!
WEBSITE: https://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine/oldest-store.asp
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 829-9729
THE OLD JAIL AFTER DARK
Since its inception, The Old Jail After Dark has provided paranormal enthusiasts with an exclusive opportunity to experience, arguably one of the most heavily haunted jails in the world, in an eerily up close and personal setting. Created by masterminds Fran Rafferty (whom guides the physically and emotionally intensive two hour excursion) and Dave Chatterton (who expertly overseas the operation of each listed attraction with incomparable leadership abilities), this after-midnight experience is not for the faint of heart as (speaking based upon actual experience) the deeply unjust and grisly history of the jail is unearthed in tales of incarcerations, executions, and the unfathomable practice of “inmate leasing.”
We kicked off our outing with an exclusive interview with Fran Rafferty for my Iheart Radio/FCB Radio Network show “Backstage Pass with Victoria” (be sure to look out for the interview soon on Iheartradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts) diving into his childhood (where he heard voices of deceased beings as well as both dark and light spirits before becoming an alter boy in the Catholic Church, per his father’s suggestion) all the way to the unconventional way he obtained his current job (a woman named “Nancy” left him a voicemail inviting him to a job interview at The Old Jail in St Augustine; however, upon arrival, he discovered that no one named Nancy was employed by the company, and no one ever had his information on file for the interview. However , the story was so intriguing that he was deemed perfect for the job , and the rest, as they say…is history!)
Joined by Eric Hatcher (of the Loft Studios) taking some film footage and Lynn (photographer), we embarked on an eventful adventure, which began with the lights flickering as we recorded our radio interview, a thump on a map behind Eric’s head as he recorded, the sound of the prison cell doors upstairs clanking followed by soft footsteps, and an abundance of other twilight zone level encounters of the paranormal kind.
The Old Jail After Dark experience is exclusive, intimate, and personalized, not remotely reminiscent of the kitschy “ghost hunts” one may be accustomed to seeing on some television programs or tourism brochure.
WEBSITE: https://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine/old-jail-after-dark-tour
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 701-0083
OLD JAIL
Led by the gruff and tough inmate Johnny Possum, the Old Jail day time tour provides countless visitors with an exclusive inside look at the brutal, unlivable conditions of the inmates whom inhabited the facility throughout its “reign of terror” from 1891 to 1953. Upon arrival at the iconic building, guests are escorted around the property to view the torturous methods utilized to punish, degrade, and humiliate the prisoners, including the “Jailbird” cage, where inmates were placed inside a cage reminiscent of a life size birdcage and forced to hang suspended for hours upon hours on end. The back end of the jail boasts the ominous gallows, where eight documented hangings took place after each prisoner met their deathly fate on the contraptions that they were forced to build themselves.
Following our tour of the outdoor grounds, the group was escorted inside where we toured the prison cells and “living quarters” of the inmates, consisting of small, stark cells where eight to 10 (or more) inmates were shoved into kennel like quarters, many passing away before their sentence had run its course due to the harsh and bleak conditions.
A graphic, yet historically important, collection of photos are on display in a private room, documenting the slave -trade reminiscent “business” of convict leasing, brutal lynchings, and many other practices which may now seem archaic that happened in the not too distant past.
WEBSITE: https://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine/old-jail
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 829-3800
POTTERS WAX MUSEUM:
The oldest wax museum in the United States, and arguably, the flagship museum that inspired the many subsequent wax figure themed attractions to follow, Potters Wax Museum features a myriad (over 160 rotating figures to be exact) of personalities bearing uncanny likeness to historical figures, authors, celebrities, inventors, and many more.
Expertly created and curated to spark your creativity and imagination, the acclaimed, accomplished, and experienced artists at Potters Wax Museum invest copious amounts of time, effort, and painstaking attention to detail to ensure that each wax figure fully embodies the physical characteristics, style, and aura of the person to whom they pay homage.
This immersive and entertaining, yet educational museum allows visitors to embark on a journey throughout the recesses of history in a highly unique and personalized manner, offering reading materials on (and up close and personal photo ops with), the greatest inventors of our time, including Madame Curie, George Washington Carver, and the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.
The “Dark Side of St Augustine” is placed on full display , including pirate Andrew Ransom, who narrowly escaped the garrote, disgraced “wife killer” Sim Jackson, whose public hanging quickly turned into a scientific experiment, and the grisly massacre at Matanzas Inlet , where some 300 French Castaways were massacred by Spaniards, for reasons both territorial and religious.
WEBSITE: https://www.potterswaxmuseum.com
PHONE NUMBER: (904) 829-9056
INSTAGRAM @potterswaxmuseum
Special thanks to the amazing Dave Chatterton, Heather Quinn, Fran Rafferty, and the rest of the team for facilitating our visits for these spotlight features!