Eternal Shadows: The Spirits That Haunt Tampa’s Oaklawn Cemetery

Abrar Abid

@abrar104120 · 18 Jun 2025

Eternal Shadows: The Spirits That Haunt Tampa’s Oaklawn Cemetery

Nestled beneath the swaying oaks and Spanish moss of downtown Tampa lies one of Florida’s oldest and most unsettling cemeteries—Oaklawn Cemetery. Established in 1850, Oaklawn was meant to be a place where the “white and slave, rich and poor” could be buried side by side, but in death, as in life, unease lingers.

While the cemetery holds the remains of Tampa’s early elite, war veterans, pirates, slaves, and yellow fever victims—it is what refuses to rest that keeps people returning with cameras and chills down their spines. Locals whisper of ghosts, strange shadows, and an energy that hangs heavy in the air, especially after dusk. According to those who dare to wander its crumbling paths at night, Oaklawn is very much alive with the dead.

👻 The Noose That Never Disappears: The Ghost of Charles Owen

In 1882, the quiet of Oaklawn was ruptured by a brutal act of mob justice. A man named Charles Owen was accused of breaking into a wealthy family’s home and attempting to assault a young woman. With little trial and even less mercy, an angry mob hanged Owen from a tree. His body was eventually laid to rest in Oaklawn, but his tormented soul may never have left.

Visitors have reported seeing a dark silhouette swaying from a tree limb near his grave, the rope groaning against the wind though the branches remain still. Paranormal researcher Deborah Frethem, in her book Haunted Tampa: Spirits of the Bay, notes chilling reports of a shadowy figure hanging in mid-air, visible only at twilight. Others say they’ve seen the man’s ghost walking between the graves—his eyes sunken, his mouth twisted in a final scream.

Some claim the spot where he was buried is inexplicably cold—even during Tampa’s scorching summers.

🌙 The Wandering Cuban: Vincent Martinez de Ybor’s Restless Spirit

The renowned cigar magnate Vincent Martinez de Ybor is also interred within Oaklawn’s iron gates, though it was Cuba, not Florida, he dreamed of as his final resting place. According to legend, Ybor never found peace, and now his confused and disoriented spirit is said to drift among the tombstones—mumbling in Spanish, searching for a homeland that no longer welcomes him.

Some nighttime visitors report hearing the soft crunch of shoes on gravel behind them, only to turn and find no one there. Others have spotted the outline of a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, standing still among the tombs, fading as you approach.

🕯️ Unseen Watchers and Nameless Souls

Oaklawn has long been a hotbed for paranormal investigators and ghost hunters, many of whom swear the cemetery is a portal between the living and the dead. Online forums are filled with chilling stories—shadows that dart from one headstone to another, the sensation of being followed, and phantom whispers that call your name.

Visitors often leave the grounds with more than just photos. Some speak of headaches, sudden nausea, and dreams filled with unrecognizable faces staring blankly into the void. Those brave enough to stay after dark report hearing moans rising from the ground, and at times, childlike laughter echoing from nowhere.

💀 The Strange Love and Death of William and Nancy Ashley

While no specter has been formally tied to them, the tragic story of William and Nancy Ashley is the most emotionally haunting tale in Oaklawn.

William, a white man from Virginia, came to Tampa in 1837 with Nancy, a Black woman he “owned”—but treated as his wife. Though the law forbade their marriage, the two lived together in quiet devotion for over 30 years.

When William died in 1871, he was buried in the whites-only section of Oaklawn. A year later, when Nancy passed, racist burial laws refused her a spot next to her beloved. But William’s executor defied convention—opened his grave, and laid Nancy’s body inside with him.

Their shared headstone reads:

“In life in death they are not separated...

Stranger, consider and be wiser—

In the grave all human distinction of race or cast mingle together in one common dust.”

Today, some say the wind near their grave carries a sad melody, as if a ghostly lullaby binds them in love and loss. A few claim to see two shadowy figures holding hands, silently walking beneath the trees at dawn.

🌫️ Oaklawn: A Cemetery That Refuses Silence

Whether it’s the echoes of injustice, the anger of the falsely accused, or simply the emotional residue of centuries, Oaklawn Cemetery is no ordinary graveyard. It pulses with stories, weeps with memory, and—if the legends are true—breathes with spirits.

If you find yourself in Tampa, you may be tempted to walk its mossy paths and read the names carved into weathered stone. But don’t linger too long… some eyes may still be watching from beneath the soil.