The Ocala…Chapter by Chapter

In 2022, I published Haunted Ocala National Forest through Arcadia/History Press. The book represented over six years of research and investigation that began on my first trip to Astor to speak at the library there. Almost immediately, I realized there was something odd about the place. Having heard whispers of crimes and cults against the backdrop of a forest, I was immediately reminded of the Freetown State Forest and my first book Dark Woods: Cults, Crime, and the Paranormal in the Freetown State Forest. There was something about the energy and the stories of weirdness and misdeed that connected these two places in my mind. Freetown was 5,000 acres. By contrast, the Ocala is 388, 480…and with a Florida twist. Imagine if the entirety of the Bridgewater Triangle but without the triangle and throw in famous serial killers.

Over the next few years, I discovered it was not just official Ocala National Forest impacted. I developed the idea of The Ocala. There is the city of Ocala. There is the Ocala National Forest. Then there are all the small towns, many not even touching the trees and dirt trails, suffering from the Ocala Syndrome. I dubbed this (with many dirty looks from locals) The Ocala. It’s a term I developed to describe the whole picture.

The book, part of the Haunted America Series, was written to be a frightening yet friendly journey through the heart of the forest and the towns dealing with its shadow. This meant many of the stories I heard and the rumors I followed up on could not be part of the book. There was something too dark and too complex for this kind of book. When I then published Ghostly Tales of the Ocala National Forest for a younger audience, many of those stories became even more watered down.

This is my attempt to put some of that other material out there, chapter by chapter, from episodes and travel journals from Tripping on Legends to some of the written and audio resources I used to write the book.

Keep coming back as the page develops over the next few months.