Wekiva Island: A ghost story

We all know Wekiva Island as somewhere to hang out with loved ones, grab a drink and float down the amazing Wekiva River exploring the real Florida. What most people don’t know is we often have some friendly guests that are not always visible to the eye. No, it is not the Halloween spirit taking over—we are talking about ghosts.

In the past, workers and guests alike have thought they’ve seen something out of the corner of their eye or even felt a chill when walking around The Island. A year ago, in August, one of our favorite regulars, Franco, unexpectedly passed away. Franco could be found at The Island on any given day with a Landshark in one hand and a fishing pole in the other. He traditionally sat at the same table and kept the same company.

In recent months, we’ve had multiple employees say they thought they had seen Franco wandering around Wekiva Island out of the corner of their eye. Knowing that this hadn’t been our first rodeo with ghosts, we called up American Ghost Adventures to help us out.

What first started as disbelief and attempting to reminisce about the anniversary of a death turned into an unbelievable experience of rekindling a friendship with one of our regulars. It all started at the Classroom. We entered the Classroom and set up four flashlights around the room and a device that would help trace the sound waves in our area.

Immediately the word “outside” was appearing on the sound wave device. Ting, one of American Ghost Adventures’ Ghost Ambassadors, spoke to what seemed like no one, asking if we could talk in here for a while. She then took out two dowsing rods to help communicate. She asked a variety of questions, asking any spirits to make an “X” with the rods if the answer was yes.

One of our first questions came from Carrie, one of our longtime managers who knew Franco well. She asked, “Do you want a Landshark?” The rods immediately crossed. As excitement and fear filled the room, we knew more questions needed to be asked. Kevin, a great friend of The Island and Franco, was handed the rods next and it seemed like an immediate connection.  He asked the next couple questions, “Do you know anyone here?” “Were you a customer?” “Do you like fishing?” and “Are you a male?” all resulted with the same rods crossing. When Kevin asked if the spirit could point to who it knew, the rods immediately whipped around and pointed to him.

Shortly after, the words “under”, “highway” and “outside” started appearing on the sound wave device, and it brought up more memories. Years ago, one of our beloved Wekiva Island workers, Conrad, passed away. Franco and Conrad were friends and often spent time on State Road 46 under the highway. With chills rushing down our spines, we were eager to ask more questions.