Subj: [ParanormalFlorida] Tonight's Investigation Report...  
Date: 7/1/2004 12:46:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time 
From: AngelOfThyNight@aol.com  
To: ParanormalBuffalo@yahoogroups.com,  paranormalghostsociety@yahoogroups.com,  Paranormalflorida@yahoogroups.com 


Tonight we investigated our first ghost town and my first set of woods in Florida so perhaps this investigation was a very important one as well as one that required a lot of patience. Whenever you go hiking in the woods anything can happen you have wild animals, trees fallen, bugs that bite, alligators and hunters even. I did a lot of research on this area but still you never know what you might see since these woods have many different supernatural myths and stories.  We headed off about 6:30pm to a very isolated area in the woods taking a few dirt roads some men looked like they were packing up there 4wheelers and leaving. We parked at a trail head and they had a little billboard with maps of the trails, some pictures from that time era like the steam boat, steam engine trail Ect depicting the ghost town. We strapped on our gear I took off my shirt figured it would be very hot to hike with it on and we entered into the forest.

St. Francis Trail & Ghost Town

We entered a little ways down the trail and I was amazed how many twist and turns there were on the trail. The area looked more like the jungle in Vietnam there was alot of palms at first and underbrush. But it seemed peaceful I heard a wood pecker. It did not take long for the mosquito's to feed on me so I had to keep moving I did not want to get bites all over. For awhile I stayed ahead then Nick jumped in front. We encountered our first spider web on the trail itself and when I say spider web I mean some of these blocked the whole entire trail. The size of the spiders were quite large some of them were red and black. While others were yellow and black. We must had hiked over a mile straight as Nick cleared away the webs every ten feet. So we decided to call this Spider Trail.

We walked through some marshy areas where there were wood planks that we were able to walk then we came across a series of three bridges some went over small little creeks. We did not notice anything strange just a few deer tracks on the trail itself very small ones though. I heard a sound off to the distance a crashing noise it was not loud but none the less any noise I hear does catch my attention as a paranormal investigator. We walked for about two miles and the eco system was changing its rumored that there are six eco systems here and we walked into a forest with many pine or evergreen trees since there was many needles on the ground. Then we passed another area that had hundreds of palms, while we seen another area that was very dark due to some very giant trees. So many different sceneries. I heard a dog in the woods maybe a wild one which is often talked about here. We smelled some chemicals in the woods perhaps they were spraying for mosquito's earlier.

I was just anxious to find the ghost town or get to the river at times we felt cold spots Nick mentioned that it could be that we are getting close to the water. Its hard to say but we crossed a bridge made of 3 logs it was really awesome felt like we were in some adventure movie accept we were living it. We crossed after I had Nick take a photo of me on it probably with my belly hanging out due to eating 2lbs of seafood stir fry before heading out haha. 

We knew we had to be getting close and the sun was just starting to go down. We finally reached a very wide open area that went four different directions we took the one to the river.  The other one we know would take us back to the car because it just loops around. The other two were unmarked perhaps we theorized they could lead to the wells or foundations.

We arrived at the river bank and I was disappointed because I did not see foundations or even the steamboat dock but then I looked down and see a rail sticking out of the ground and a stone slab. This was what was left of an old railroad bed. The tracks ended at the river as if at one time a Trestle crossed the river. Nick and I were watching some nice sized bass jumping around and we also heard alligators. I seen at least two gators swimming around oun in the water it was real peaceful. Off to the distance we could see some wide open areas perhaps that is where the foundations were but the sun was going down so finding anything in such thick forest would be nearly impossible. I did not feel very comfortable here felt a little watched from the distance. I did my bigfoot call just to see if something would respond back.

Nick and I set off back down where we came from I did have plans to take a different way back. Since the trail looped around I wanted to take that to see if we seen anything different.  However before I made my turn to get on that trail I found a road to the right looked as if many road there 4wheelers back here which the road was blocked by guard rails so we went around it and came to an area that once again split off. I believe that this was the wagon road where years ago some would use as a means of travel. We took the wagon road so far it seemed endless as we could see for hundreds of feet woods. But we took it awhile in hopes to find other remnants of the ghost town. We then decided it was time to start heading back it was almost pitch dark out. We took a unmarked trail for quite a ways seen a ripped and torn shirt all mangled in some bushes kind of odd. We heard a plane at first it sounded like a scream but we stood still listened longer.

Eventually we kept on the trail and it came back onto the railroad bed and the trail we hiked on to get here. At this point night had set in and honestly you would be amazed at how easy it is to make one wrong turn on the trail since there are a few pathways that dead end. So we had to be careful of this. The owls were out I heard a few occasionally nothing strange at this point. Nick was clearing some of the spiders off one hit me in the head, then I had one on my glasses it fell off, and anther one was on Nick's arms it was very hard to see the spiders and all the webs. I almost could not help but to laugh at it every palm or tree we passed we would be eating webs. I was pulling spider webs off my glasses, chin, legs and ears. 

Nick was walking in front of me and I was in back when 15' away he ran face to face with a black bear just staring at him on the trail. It then took off very fast I thought at first it was going to head at us but dashed for the woods I caught a glimpse of it the bear seemed to be scared of our lights.

I think the more we headed back to the truck the faster we started to go fatigue was starting to set in. We had gotten lost only once when we came across an area that dipped down which dead ended no matter how many times we tried to retrace our steps we could not find out where the trail went next. Then I turn to my right with my flash light and we found the log bridge we knew we were saved.  

We had hiked for awhile but we were making good time Nick thought he heard a few voices I felt something behind me as we past one cold spot. I looked Nick was gone because I was in the middle of fixing something. But something on a psychic level really pressured me like it was chasing me out. I was not comfortable. What was even worst is we heard a gun shot or firecracker not far off in the distance. The first one was followed by a second one a few minutes later. Maybe it was gator hunters on the river as Nick said but there was no lights coming from that direction.

We also then really close by heard what sounded like an owl but it was weird at first it sounded like voices then you could heart a long strong out woooo type of sound. At first I thought we had something paranormal close by but none the less it was an odd owl type of sound maybe the longest sound I ever heard one make. Almost like a scream but less high pitch. So at this point the wildlife was starting to become abundant and of course I have done my share of Bigfoot investigations I know what can be out there just watching from the brush.

The moon was finally coming out but there is so many trees here it was barely shining onto the trail not like them Warren Pa moonlit hikes this was different. There was so much brush I felt watched no matter where I turned a few times like something was in back of me. I also thought I heard some movement like maybe a branch break off in the distance. So lots of sounds setting in.  We were starting to become tired out and about one and half miles to the truck was all that remained. I thought a few times I heard voices Nick mentioned he may have to at one point he had me quiet down like he heard something. I know in one area it smelt very musty perhaps the marshes had given that off.

I like to leave what happened opened there is lots of stories told up here so anything is possible. As we reached the end of the trail my flashlight was dim and my batteries on the camera were low I could see my flashlight reflecting off the headlight. What a relief it was to be back to civilization. Our biggest concern would have been who is waiting for us when we arrived back. We took off our gear and  Nick turned on one of mans best investigations AIR CONDITION.

In conclusion to tonight's report it turned out to be a really nice investigation we got to see some wild life, some of the prettiest forest in the state of Florida and look into a historical ghost town. We pieced together a estimate of how much hiking we did tonight and we did over 8 miles so that just shows how tenacious we are on bringing you a story.  We plan on returning a couple more times since there is a few other trails we want to take. I do hope on our next trip we find some foundations, wells and the dock which is said to still exist. But with storms here many things tend to be demolished.

It worked out real well tonight I am so glad to have a investigator like Nick on the team I always need people with hiking experience especially for places like these.  We did a lot of hiking and much remains to be seen here. There is a lot of weird looking trees some irregular shaped, some roads are made of sand, some trails may lead to a foundation we do not know. But It was nice to get out of town and connect with mother nature a little and I am sure we took some very nice photos as well. 

We had a few experiences with cold spots, feeling watched, a couple noises in the woods, I heard a voice and even way off a scream of some kind but very faint. So there was some activity in these woods. Tonight turned out to be quite an adventure now its time to rest my weary self to bed. I cannot wait to see tomorrow how many mosquito bites I sustained anybody want to donate some repellant to the organization haha. But as I told Nick you know you did a good investigation when you are hurting and I sure am fatigued carrying a bag for 8 miles feels like a ton of bricks. But we are lucky we did not get lost now I am sitting here at the computer still pulling spider webs off me and this adventure in the future will open up a whole new chapter into future explorations.
Peace,
Rick

               

           

Subj: [ParanormalFlorida] Re: Tonight's Investigation Report...  
Date: 7/2/2004 1:48:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time 
From: nick_knight98@yahoo.com  
To: ParanormalFlorida@yahoogroups.com  

Hi all,

          St. Francis Trail & Ghost Town

Was suppose to meet Rick at 6pm but got out of work late so arrived 
at 6:30pm. After a short drive we arrived to the trail head and like 
Rick said there was a map (Map wasn't too good was more trails then 
what was posted). We grabbed out equipment and hit the trail. The 
trails were not straight but took numerous twist and turns which is 
normal for trails in wilderness.. I have hiked quite a bit in my 
life in FL, British Columbia and places in between. While hiking we 
were feasted by one of FL residents.. SKEETERS.. They did not bother 
me too much. We also ran into huge spider webs with big 
spiders. they were everywhere so we decided to call it Spider Trail. 
Rick was leading at first but he was too slow so I took lead (Must 
of been his big dinner before hand that slowed him down). On the 
hike we saw many different FL ecosystems which was great to see and 
many Rick seen for 1st time (Rick was like a school boy in a candy 
store ... wide eyed and amazed). We hiked for over an hour, saw 
many birds and small animals we also sighted numerous deer tracks. 
The air felt cooler after awhile ..Rick thought it was supernatural 
but I been in woods longer and pointed out it was because we were 
nearing water. areas around large bodies of water cool faster then 
inland (example Daytona near ocean cools down faster then Orlando). 
We crossed a number of small bridges and paths till be hit a huge 
fork so we headed to one going to river. We reached the river and 
saw and heard a couple gators, saw an otter swimming down river, and 
large bass feeding (wish I had my fishing pole). It was a very nice 
spot but didn't see any foundations. Rick did his Big Foot call but 
no response. Before we left we notice a rail road track so we were 
close but it was getting dark. We went down a road looking but only 
saw a lot of deer tracks. Got dark so we headed back...we headed up 
trail and I encountered a black bear maybe 8 feet away and it was 
looking at me. I told Rick but it ran off ..Rick only saw glimpse. 
It was a very beautiful animal. After the bear we hit a dead end 
after walking around for a few Mins we found the log bridge. We heard 
owls and ran into webs in which I almost "kissed" a spider. We heard 
gunshots in distance ...maybe gator hunters or poachers. we got 
little nervous. A loud long owl screech  startled Rick but I told 
him it was an owl no worries. We worried maybe someone could be at 
my truck and made plans in case. We arrived to my truck at little 
after 10:30pm and I turned on A/C.. felt nice. It was a very fun time 
and too bad many missed out. We did get some Pics of orbs and nature 
and we will return again.

Nick