The Most Haunted Hotels in St. Augustine

Posted: 02.25.2025 | Updated: 02.25.2025

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is 200-300 years older than most American cities. In that time, they’ve managed to pack in a whole lot of history, from battles to love stories to murders. Many of these tales didn’t exactly have a happy ending — which has led many spirits to linger around the oldest city in America. 

While there are plenty of haunted buildings around St. Augustine, some of the most apparition-active locations are hotels. From potentially the most haunted hotel in America to a B&B filled with soldier spirits from the past, there are several excellent choices if you want to stay in a spooky accommodation. To increase your chances even more of spotting a specter, book one of the best St. Augustine ghost tours with Old City Ghosts.

What Are the Most Haunted Hotels in St. Augustine?

While there are plenty of places that claim to be the most haunted hotel in Florida, St. Augustine has three inns that could easily claim the title:

• The St. Francis Inn
• Casa de Solana
• Casa de Sueños

We’ll let you be the judge for who you think deserves to be named St. Augustine’s most haunted hotel. 

St. Francis Inn: The Ghosts of the Star-Crossed Lovers

In the mid-1800s, Major William Hardee owned the St. Francis Inn. He ran a tight ship and had hired his nephew to help. 

The nephew, a young man, soon fell for one of the servants — an enslaved young woman from Barbados named Lily. The two were said to be madly in love and would sneak into unoccupied rooms to get alone time together. 

Well, one day, Hardee stumbled upon the lovebirds. He sent the woman away and forbade his nephew from trying to find her. 

With no record of where his beloved was sent, the nephew was utterly heartbroken. Rather than continue working for his uncle, he chose to end his life. While it’s not clear how he died, it’s believed it was either by hanging himself from the rafters of the attic or jumping from a third-story window. 

Did Lily find out about her love’s death during her life? Or did she spend the rest of her life believing he never sought her out? While we can’t know for sure, it’s safe to say that Lily was equally as heartbroken as her beau. It’s believed that she continues to remain at the St. Francis Inn, trying to reunite with her beloved in the afterlife. 

Lily’s Room

The guest suite that now occupies where the attic was 150 years ago is referred to as “Lily’s Room” because of all the otherworldly activity that happens within the room. 

Dozens of staff members and guests have experienced different kinds of unexplainable encounters in this room. This includes:

• A guest’s purse being thrown across the room, emptying its contents onto the floor.
• A guest waking up under the bed — having to yell for help to get out. 
• A guest’s make-up bag being moved to under an open window. Despite it raining and the windowsill being drenched, the bag remained dry. 
• Another guest’s cosmetic bag was inexplicably filled with water. 
• A bride was awoken by a strong kiss, only to find that her groom was still fast asleep. 

A ghost dressed in white has often been seen around Lily’s room, as have other shadowy apparitions. Strange noises are often heard on the floor as well, from screams to moans. 

Several paranormal investigators have inspected the room, with one including the following entry into their notes:

“Approximately 2:15 am, a tall, slender Hispanic male, dark, wiry hair pulled back into a short ponytail, dressed in a white silky shirt and dark trousers, appeared on the left side of the room. He paced back and forth in the space between the bed and the dressing table from the window to the open door leading to the sitting room. He exited the door leading into the sitting room. An older male, dressed in brown, with a brown tri-cornered hat, appeared from the left side of the room, walked on through to the sitting room. Neither seemed to be aware of the two people in the bed.”

Casa de Solana: a Soldier Forever On Guard

Casa de Solana is one of the oldest accommodations in the country, and it may also be the most haunted bed and breakfast in the U.S.

The more than 250-year-old B&B resides in the seventh-oldest house on the oldest street in St. Augustine. The home was first owned by Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana, one of the first Spanish settlers in St. Augustine in the mid-1700s. 

Solana married his first wife, Mary Mitchell, and they had two children together. Because Mitchell was Protestant, however, their marriage was never officially recognized and was eventually dissolved. Solana soon married his second wife, Mary Mastres — whom he had 11 children with. 

It’s believed that one of the Marys is the spirit who is seen moving around Case de Solana today, wearing a white dress. 

The Ghosts of the Military of the Past

Outside of the fine woman dressed in white, there are a few different spirits who appear around the B&B in their military uniforms. 

One is known as Fredrico, a Spanish soldier who was killed while standing guard outside the hotel. He’s often seen near the entrance and in the courtyard: continuing to protect the building where he took his final breath. 

Additionally, an officer dressed in a Mounted Dragoon uniform (a special division of the Spanish Army) can be seen sitting in a wingback chair in different suites. As Solano himself was a Mounted Dragoon, people believe this may be his spirit, still calling the building home centuries after his death. 

Casa de Sueños: the Ghosts of the Former Funeral Home 

Before it was a three-star hotel, the land under Casa de Sueños housed a very different business: a funeral parlor. 

For 20 years, the owners operated one of the most popular funeral homes in town. Coffins were available for purchase in the showing room, while headstones were displayed out front. In the back, of course, was the mortuary — where hundreds of bodies passed through over the decades. 

It seems that some of these former customers haven’t been able to move on in the afterlife and now haunt the guests who stay in the hotel. One regular ghost is Randolph, who guests will see watching them from the shadows. 

There may be more nefarious spirits at play within this hotel, as some guests have seen child-like spirits playing in a corner. Yet, when the spirit turns to look at the guest, they have no eyes. Apparitions have also been seen with a face but no mouth. 

Rather than stick around to see if these shadowy figures have malice in mind, the guests will quickly rush off to the safety of the light.

Haunted St. Augustine

From haunted inns to possessed breweries, St. Augustine has a lot to offer a phantom-interested visitor. If you want to learn the sinister tales of St. Augustine’s past — and possibly spy some of its most famous undead residents for yourself — book a ghost tour with Old City Ghosts. 

To learn about other haunted hotels and B&Bs around the U.S., follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. To read about other Florida-based ghost stories and spooky locations, check out our blog. 

Sources:

• https://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/blog/haunted-st-augustine/
• http://www.staugustineghosttours.com/
• https://stfrancisinn.com/ghosts/
• https://casadesolana.com/blog/st-augustine-haunted-historic-bed-and-breakfast-inn
• https://staugustineghosttours.com/haunted-history-of-casa-de-suenos/