Historic haunts: Can you guess which West Palm Beach haunted house Zak Bagans has visited?

Lianna Norman, Palm Beach Post
·7 min read

Palm Beach may not be as haunted as St. Augustine reportedly is, but we have some ghost stories of our own in South Florida.

Palm Beach is actually rumored to share a ghost with Florida’s oldest town: the spirit of Florida oil tycoon Henry Flagler, who died 110 years ago in 1913. And Flagler isn’t the only spirit rumored to roam the Palm Beaches. There have long been whispers of a witch that traps the souls of children in a coral cliff underneath a castle beside the ocean and gossip of graves forgotten under buildings.

If you’re interested in taking a self-guided ghost tour this Halloween, here’s a roundup of some spooky spaces in Palm Beach County.

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Where is the Witches Wall in Palm Beach?

The Witch’s Wall, or Witch’s Castle, is tucked right behind the Palm Beach Country Club and The Beach Club on Country Club Road. The road cuts through a mini mountain of coral, creating rock “walls” on both sides of the street.

At the top of the coquina mound sits a castle-like house. Below the house, in the wall of rock beside the road, there’s a hole with bars on the opening. It looks like a small, rugged jail cell if you’re just driving by. That barred hole has been the genesis of generations of local campfire stories: From the story of a mother forever mourning the death of her only son, to an unhinged witch who once lived atop the hill and trapped children in the coral jail cell.

But we do know what's behind the bars at the Witch’s Wall today. It’s a water pump, as the area is the location of a water pumping station for West Palm Beach, according to a 2015 article from the Palm Beach Daily News.

Cost and how to visit: It's free to visit the Witch's Wall, but there isn't a sidewalk or safe space to stand near it on the road. Your best bet is to take a scenic drive through the coral cut and slow down to catch a glimpse if you can.

You can find more on all the local legends tied to the Witch’s Wall in Palm Beach here.

Is Henry Flagler’s Palm Beach mansion haunted?

In February 1902, Henry Flagler and his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, moved into a stunning 75-room mansion that still stands in Palm Beach today. Some say they never left. Flagler died in 1913, partly due to injuries he sustained from a fall he took in his Gilded Age mansion. Mary Lily died four years after him, in 1917.

In 1974, a night watchman for Flagler’s former mansion said he woke up from a nap at 3:30 a.m. one night to find Flagler’s ghost standing in front of him. He claimed to have gotten a good look at Flagler, who was wearing a dark suit and tie, before he vanished.

According to the blog Hauntedhovel.com, Flagler’s ghost is still fairly active in the mansion and is reported to dim lights and be heard walking through empty rooms and corridors.

“There are many stories about how he likes to make himself known, with the common reports of his presence coming from the area which used to be his offices,” the website says. “He was known to spend huge amounts of time in his office and it seems even after his death he's not prepared to let it go.”

Cost and how to visit: If you buy a ticket to visit the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, which includes Flagler's mansion, you can take a free tour. The museum offers free tours every week, from Tuesday through Saturday at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m.

Admission to the museum is $26 for adults and 13 and older and $13 for kids ages six through 12. Admission is free for kids 5 years old or younger.

Were bodies found under the Norton Museum of Art?

The Richard Hone house, at 211 Plymouth Road, is one of the oldest homes in West Palm Beach.
The Richard Hone house, at 211 Plymouth Road, is one of the oldest homes in West Palm Beach.

In October 1902, Richard Hone, a pineapple grower whose house still stands in West Palm Beach, was murdered in that home on Plymouth Road. Hone sat at his kitchen table, writing a letter to his sister in England. His wife, Mary, sat close by reading, when one of Hone's employees fired a gun through their window, killing Richard. 

The cemetery that Hone was buried in, Lakeside Cemetery, was given to the city of West Palm Beach to be turned into a park, which Art Collector Ralph Norton eventually flipped into an art museum. The city moved all the burials across the street, to Woodlawn Cemetery – or so they thought.

In 1985, Richard Hone’s headstone and a few other forgotten graves were found in a crawl space underneath the Norton Museum of Art’s auditorium.

Cost and how to visit: You can buy general admission tickets to visit the Norton Museum of Art here. Admission for students is only $5 with a valid school ID and $15 for seniors. General admission for all other adults is $18. Kids 12 and under get in free.

What is the haunting of the Riddle House?

The Riddle House was the gatekeepers house at a cemetery in West Palm Beach.  An accountant who got caught fudging the books hanged himself in the rafters.  Many people have seen his ghost.  Grown workmen have be known to run from the attack screaming and totally walking off the job, refusing to return.  The accountant hanged himself on the main beam.
The Riddle House was the gatekeepers house at a cemetery in West Palm Beach. An accountant who got caught fudging the books hanged himself in the rafters. Many people have seen his ghost. Grown workmen have be known to run from the attack screaming and totally walking off the job, refusing to return. The accountant hanged himself on the main beam.

Continuing with the trend of early 20th century haunts: Last but certainly not least on this list is the Riddle House (no, not the one from “Harry Potter”). This West Palm Beach historical house was built in 1905 and is one of the most haunted places in Palm Beach County.

It’s actually haunted enough to have earned a visit from the king of ghost hunting, Travel Channel’s Zak Bagans.

“The Riddle House is one of the most active haunts in southern Florida,” According to Ghost Adventures’ page on Travel Channel’s website. “One visitor who had arranged for a private tour was struck in the head by a piece of wood in the staircase.”

Bagans and his crew spent a night locked inside the house in 2008. The Riddle House episode was the fourth episode of the show’s first season and aired in November 2008.

Many reports of hauntings are centered around the riddle house.  Florida Ghost Chapter has photographs of glowing orbs floating in the attic of the house.  Workmen have been spook and literally run out of the attic screaming, refusing to return to work on the grounds of Yesteryear Village.  During the early days when the first buildings were being moved many workers and volunteers were lost when they heard children crying.  When the workers went to investigate and found no children in sight many of them walked off the job, refusing to return.

The house was originally used as a funeral parlor and later used as a private residence for West Palm Beach’s first City Manager and Superintendent of Public Works, Karl Riddle. The home used to sit next to Woodlawn Cemetery. It was the house for those who oversaw the cemetery and kept an eye out for grave robbers.

In the 1920s, when Riddle became the city manager, a part of the job was to oversee the cemetery, so he moved into the house. Soon after, one of Riddle’s employees took his own life in the attic, which sparked a series of unfortunate events.

Afterward, Riddle couldn’t seem to keep his household staffed. Employees reported hearing chains rattling on the stairs and murmuring voices and most quit.

That was just the beginning of decades of paranormal activity. Although the house has been moved across town, to Yesteryear Village, rumors of hauntings remain. Some have reported a woman in white who disappears when she is approached.

Are you brave enough to tour the Riddle House?

Cost and how to visit: Yesteryear Village at the South Florida Fairgrounds is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdaysfrom 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $7 for kids ages six through 11 and free for kids ages 5 and under.

It will be closed Saturday, October 14, Thursday, October 19, and Thursday, October 26 and Friday, October 27.

If you want to take a guided spooky ghost hunting tour through the Riddle House and the rest of the village, there will be one this Saturday. The guided ghost tour is $35 per person and there is a maximum amount of 30 people that can go on the tour. You can buy tickets here.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: What is the haunting of the Riddle House? And other spooky spaces