Top Ten Haunted Spots In Orlando

Posted: 10.26.2020 | Updated: 04.09.2025

We are going to dive straight into the madness that is Orlando. Going to cut this introduction short and give you that heaping helping of what you came for… ghosts and the macabre. 

Still, here’s a preview of what this article has for you: Serial Killers, Outlaws, Federale Shootouts, Pirates, Haunted Mansions, a Mental Hospital for kids, Motels with something besides bedbugs, Zac Effron, and Nazis!

You’re hooked, right? Here are the Top Ten Haunted Spots In Orlando. Ready to explore the darker side of Orlando? Book an Orlando ghost tour with Orlando Haunts and step into its haunted past.

What Are The Most Haunted Places In Orlando?

Orlando may be famous for its sunshine, theme parks, and magical moments—but there’s a darker side to this city that only comes out when the lights go down.

From the eerie echoes inside the historic Kress Building, to strange sightings in Disneyworld, and even ghostly figures wandering near the Orlando Executive Airport, the City Beautiful is hiding some serious supernatural secrets.

And let’s not forget the many haunted hotels in Orlando, where guests have checked in—only to meet some who never quite checked out.

These are just a few of the haunted locations in Orlando that have kept ghost hunters and curious visitors coming back for more. So, if you think Orlando is all sunshine and fairy tales… think again.

Read on to discover what else belongs to the most haunted places in Orlando—you may be surprised at what’s lurking just around the corner.

10. Super 8 International Drive

It’s a hotel, well, not just a hotel but a swanky hotel… note the sarcasm. Super 8 like Days Inn are a dime a dozen in Mickey Mouse’s little fiefdom. You’ll find one in every corner; some, without the need of any ghosts or specters, are spinetingling enough just as they are.

If you’ve seen the film The Florida Project then you have a rather up to date idea of the sort of roach-infested nuclear wasteland that seems to blossom out from Disney’s sphere of influence. 

In this particularly charming Super 8, Room 206 has a fearsome reputation. Stories abound of what actually happened there to leave a multitude of spectral activities. Still, no one is really sure. But what happened in room 206?

The biggest ghostly freakshow is that if you make the bed, a human indentation might appear below the sheets. Visitors have described sensing a cold clammy body slid in next to them in the bed. And, even when the A/C is off, the room has a tendency to be freezing cold even in the hottest of Floridian summer days. 

9. Wall Street and Court Ave

When I say “Orlando” you scream “Disney!”

“Orlando!”

“Disney!”

See, you’ve been properly trained by the Mickey Mouse corporation. The thing is Orlando isn’t just Disney. Disney is so big that it’s become its own little empire; Lake Buena Vista. It’s huge.

The area is full of underground tunnels, massive highways, sprawling forests. The area is fairly new, not at the geological level but at the infrastructure level.

The only one who saw any potential in the mosquito-infested region was Walt. So, Disney is fairly new. What isn’t new is Orlando and few people know that. 

The area in which Wall Street and Court Ave., is now located once housed the infamous Kit Kat Club. Staffers have claimed that bottles have a bad habit of flying off the shelves and that the girl’s bathroom is a den of spooks. Many have claimed to have witnessed a female apparition wearing a black dress by the rear staircase. 

And, here’s the kicker, the before it was the Kit Kat Club… it was a jailhouse. 

8. Ceviche, 125 W. Church St.

Orlando is internationally known for its restaurants. It’s full of them and most are finger-licking good. Ceviche is one of those, sell your soul for a table, eateries. It’s happening, it’s cozy, it’s cool as ice, it’s tasty.

Tapas, drinks, and raw fish. Ceviche is also one of Orlando’s most haunted spots. Why? Because before it was hoovering up your paycheck for a Margarita it was church and then a fleabag hotel.  

Things you might encounter in Ceviche, aside from a top-rated Flamenco show: a 19th-century woman in the bathroom mirror peering out at you, a priest wandering outside, unseen hands tugging at your clothes from below the tables. 

7. Inside Outside House

This home, now a gift shop, was created by Captain W. Pierce, the man who later became the director of Orlando’s National Bank. The place is said to be haunted by the Captain’s restless spirit… and an ectoplasm furball called Brutus; Pierce’s beloved cat. 

The joint is full of cold spots, meows in the middle of the night, bizarre voices, scratches, and the unmistakable feline stench of a kitty unaware of what a litter box is for. 

6. Kress Building

The Kress Building is one of Orlando’s greatest hotspots for supernatural activity. The house, which is now home to Kres Chophouse, is rumored to have just about every type of ghostly manifestation out there.

You name it, the Kress Building probably has a record of it. Mysterious footsteps? Check! Ghostly apparitions? Check! Ectoplasm dripping from the walls? Check! Gozer on standby just outside the dining room? Double-check!

5. Ma Barker’s House

Not exactly in Orlando, but near the area in Ocala. This dwelling once held Ma Barker and her four sons, all gangsters. Ma Barker was Public Enemy numero uno for that period in US history when desperados and mobsters were akin to celebrities. 

Barker was tracked down by the Federales to her secret hideout in Ocala and the trigger happy cops peppered the house with over 2,000 bullets. The places, as well as everyone inside, were turned into swiss cheese. 

The house is said to still hold the band’s ghost. To this day, as a quaint macabre tradition, the shootout is re-enacted every January by locals… another reason why Sheriffs in South Florida have to hand out notes that read: “don’t shoot at the hurricane.”

4. Orange County Regional History Center

Zac Effron… No, I mean Ted Bundy. Welcome to the site that held the 1980 trial of serial killer Ted Bundy for the murder of Kimberly Leach. 

Visitors can track their digits over the spot where Bundy carved his name on while he sat during the trial. Guests have described moving objects, screams, insane maniac laughs, and even the apparitions of lawyers waiting for trials.

3. Orlando Executive Airport

Once an Orlando Army base, this terminal housed more than 750 German inmates during World War II.

Passengers who happen to use the airfield at Orlando Executive Airport oftentimes report hearing foreign conversation late at night, the smell of cigars… some have even been chased by a giant mastodon of a guard dog that has a nasty habit of disappearing into thin air. 

2. Sunland Mental Hospital

A mental hospital, an asylum, for kids? Alex, “what is the scariest thing a sane person can think of?”  

Children of the Corn on Xanax and electroshock therapy… Oh, Joy! This charming spot makes it into our list at number 2, not one, simply because the big-ticket item down below has more production value. This is by far one of the scariest local spots we’ve come across. 

Here are some of the snippets traced to this gothic jewel:

• Screaming children in the dead of night.
• A haunted playground.
• Lost boys in funky masks running rampant in the property.
• The specter of hanged orderlies, suicide victims, caught in the still of a moonbeam. 

The cherry on top? A man investigating the phenomenons “accidentally” fell three stories down an elevator shaft. His ghost is said to warn visitors away from the diabolical menagerie that is Sunland. And still, it does not even rate as number one in our Top Ten Haunted Spots In Orlando piece.

1. Disney 

Yeah, Disney. We really can’t talk trash about Orlando without strutting out Disney. Orlando, thanks to Disney, has become theme park country. BUT, the main difference between Disney and Universal, or Sea World, Or Bush Gardens down in Tampa, is the fact that those pale in comparison to Disney.

The others are just that, theme parks with resorts caught in their orbit, Disney is a sprawling growing behemoth that eats up real estate, and slowly swallows Orlando like a biscuit. 

Don’t believe me? Arrive at Orlando International… The place has its own Disney Terminal for folks going to the Magic Kingdom. A fleet of buses with a private dock.

And most, if not all the highways and roads in the area were constructed by the Disney Corporation. Disney isn’t a theme park, it’s a huge HUGE landgrab/country with a zip-code waiting to get its own independence from the yolk of Capitol Hill. 

With that said, you can imagine it has its fair share of ghosts, right? Why, because it’s huge, full of intrigue, and historically relevant… Plus it really is a fantasy land.

Yes, that’s Captain American fist-bumping Jack Sparrow while Stitch gives Darth Vader his business card; “heard there’s a bounty hunting slot open in your payroll.”

The top attractions with phantoms are: Pirates of The Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Huck’s Island in Frontierland, most of Main Steet USA, and the freaking castle…

… And that’s just the Magic Kindom… Epcot, Ex-MGM, Animal Kingdom, and the hundreds of haunted hotels in Orlando are full of creepy crawlers and skeletons. So many places that a Top Ten Most Haunted Places In Orlando article falls short.

Learn More About The Haunted History of Orlando

Orlando may be known for theme parks and palm trees, but its haunted side is just as thrilling—and far more chilling.

From the bullet-riddled walls of Ma Barker’s House, to the ghostly remnants of Sunland Mental Hospital, and even whispers of spirits within Ceviche itself, it’s clear the most haunted places in Orlando are hiding in plain sight.

Add in the many haunted hotels in Orlando, and you’ve got a city that’s become a magnet for ghost-seekers, thrill-lovers, and paranormal enthusiasts from around the globe. These haunted locations in Orlando don’t just attract visitors—they haunt them long after they leave.

If you’re craving more spine-tingling tales from Florida’s ghostly underworld, check out our blog. Or better yet, book an Orlando ghost tour with Orlando Haunts and experience the haunted heartbeat of the city firsthand.

And don’t forget—follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more spooky content, local legends, and eerie encounters.

Sources:

1. https://www.orlandohauntedhouses.com/blog/orlandos-haunted-history-will-make-you-a-believer.html
2. https://www.407area.com/entertainment/the-most-haunted-places-in-orlando.html
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2017/live-updates/weather/hurricane-irma-a-monster-storms-devastating-path/please-dont-shoot-at-the-hurricane-officers-say/
4. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ted-Bundy
5. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/