The Old City Gates

Posted: 10.29.2025 | Updated: 10.22.2025

In a city with a reputation for being one of the most haunted places in America, it’s no surprise that people often wonder if the Old City Gates in St. Augustine are haunted. These towering stone pillars date back to 1808 and have stood witness to countless historic events, from victories to tragedies. But are they one of the many haunted places in the Oldest City?

Join Old City Ghosts to discover the terrifying, tragic, and titillating tales that make St. Augustine’s real history much stranger than fiction, and led to it being one of the most haunted cities in the country. 

Are the Old City Gates haunted?

It’s hard to miss the Old City Gates when visiting St. Augustine. They’ve become a local landmark and a popular spot for photos. 

But those who visit at night often get something unexpected in their photos, and some visitors even have a chilling encounter with a spirit who has been lurking near the stone walls for centuries. 

History of St. Augustine’s Old City Gates

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in the continental United States, 

With more than four centuries of history, the city has collected numerous ghosts, making it one of the most haunted cities in the country. 

The Old City Gates are part of what is known as the Cubo Defense Line, which the Spanish started building to protect the city after witnessing the horrors of the British burning the city in 1702. While much of the Cubo Line is long gone, the huge gate remains.

Like the iconic Castillo de San Marcos, the Old City Gates are built of coquina, a type of limestone mostly made up of bits of shells. For some mysterious reason, there are many haunted structures made of coquina, including the Castillo itself. 

Some believe there’s a special energy about coquina that leads to hauntings, but others think it’s simply because coquina buildings tend to be very old. We suggest visiting some of these haunted coquina structures and drawing your own conclusions!

The Ghosts of the Gates

While locals and visitors alike agree that St. Augustine’s Old City Gates are haunted, there are a few different theories about who the ghosts are and how they came to be there.

The Girl in the White Dress

A little girl is known to haunt the Old City Gates. Local legend says she died during one of the many devastating yellow fever epidemics that swept through the city, and that her family may have left her body near the gate on their way out of the town to escape the stigma that led to people who had an infected person in their household being shunned. 

Some claim to see the little girl waving at them from just inside the city gates, but they can’t tell if it’s meant to be friendly or a warning to stay away. If she is in fact a victim of yellow fever, she may be trying to warn others not to come too close and suffer the same fate she did.

While her true identity is unknown, she picked up the name Elizabeth at some point in history and the name stuck. Whether this was her real name or not, she seems to understand that people who show up at the gates and call out for Elizabeth are talking to her. 

One couple claims that the more they spoke to Elizabeth during their visit, the more orbs showed up in their photos of the gate. When they shared their story of encountering Elizabeth, a paranormal investigation group contacted them with an EVP recording they’d taken at the gate. After the investigators asked if there was a little girl there, a feminine-sounding voice on the recording replies “She’s dead”. 

Invisible Invaders 

While people tend to attribute any haunted activity at the gate to Elizabeth simply because she’s the best-known ghost here, it’s likely that this spot’s blood-soaked past has also contributed to the unexplained occurrences here. 

Since the gates were designed as part of a system to protect the city from attacks, it’s believed that many deaths occurred near the gates, both on the attacking and defensive sides. The spirits of these fallen soldiers may be responsible for some of the icy chills, orbs, and touches from invisible hands that people assume are the little girl. Which would you rather encounter?

Neighbors

They say location is everything, and in the case of the ghosts at the Old City Gates, that may be the case. While the gates have a fascinating history of their own, they also stand just steps away from the notoriously haunted Huguenot Cemetery. The cemetery was originally a potter’s field where criminals and people who couldn’t afford a proper burial were interred, but it later became part of a church cemetery. 

Although there are at least five people named Elizabeth buried in the cemetery, none are the right age to be the little girl who appears at the gates. But there are dozens of yellow fever victims here, many of which are children, so one of these graves may hold the true “Elizabeth”, especially if her body was abandoned by her family like the legend says.

Many believe that the cemetery’s origins as a potter’s field, which would have become the final resting places for many who suffered violent and excruciating deaths, may be why the Old City Gates are haunted. Anchored here by their sudden or horrific deaths, the spirits trapped in the cemetery may be desperately searching for an exit to the afterlife, and what better exit than a gate?

Haunted St. Augustine

Having a centuries-old haunted gate right next to a haunted cemetery would be remarkable in most cities. Still, in a place like St. Augustine, you’ll find fascinating history and terrifying ghost stories around every corner. From haunted hotels to the jaw-dropping deaths of the Prohibition era, there are dozens of terrifying true tales just waiting to be discovered here.

Join Old City Ghosts to discover St. Augustine’s secrets, scandals, and restless spirits as you visit some of the most haunted hotspots the city has to offer.

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Sources:

• https://www.ourhauntedtravels.com/post/the-little-girl-of-the-city-gates-st-augustine-florida

• https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1841297/huguenot-cemetery

• https://staugustineghosttours.com/huguenot-cemetery/

• https://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/blog/the-city-gate-and-the-cubo-defense-line/

• https://staugustineghosttours.com/most-haunted-places-in-florida/

• https://staugustineghosttours.com/castillo-de-san-marcos/

• https://staugustineghosttours.com/the-most-haunted-hotels-in-st-augustine/