Haunted Key West: Cursed Treasure at the Shipwreck Museum and the Restless Dead of the Key West Cemetery

Key West Ghost Stories: The Final Chapter of Our Haunted Key West Series

We’ve wandered through haunted saloons, shadowy lighthouses, and historic homes filled with more than just memories. For the final stop in this Key West series, we’re heading straight into the heart of the island’s maritime past and its most famous resting place for the dead: the Key West Shipwreck Museum and the Key West Cemetery.

The Shipwreck Museum: Maritime Hauntings and Daddy Long Legs Ghost

Standing on the site of Asa Tift’s 19th-century wrecking empire, the Key West Shipwreck Museum is a 65-foot tower overlooking the Gulf. While it showcases treasures from the island’s wrecking past—most notably artifacts from the Isaac Allerton, the richest shipwreck in Key West history—it also hosts a terrifying collection of Maritime Hauntings.

Staff and visitors report Paranormal Activity Florida that includes shadows flitting between exhibits, phantom footsteps on the second floor, and cold chills in empty rooms. The museum is said to host at least 13 spirits, none more unsettling than a figure nicknamed Daddy Long Legs Ghost: a thin, skittering shadow seen crawling walls and ceilings in the basement.

The museum also displays a 64-pound silver bar from the wreck of the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, a shipwreck tied to curses and countless lost lives. Guides warn that this Cursed Silver Bar should not be touched by anyone heading out to sea, lest they invite the disaster that claimed the original treasure.

The Key West Cemetery: Bone Island’s Witty and Restless Dead

Just a short walk away lies the Key West Cemetery, 19 acres of history where an estimated 100,000 souls rest—more than four times the island’s living population. Born out of tragedy after an 1846 hurricane swept away the original graveyard, the cemetery is famous for its quirky, often humorous, epitaphs.

The most famous epitaph belongs to B.P. "Pearl" Roberts, whose tombstone famously reads: "I Told You I Was Sick Epitaph." This blend of dark humor and history is unique to Bone Island.

The cemetery is also a hotspot for Key West Ghost Stories. Visitors report:

•The Little Girl: A child’s voice inviting them to play, leading them to her grave.

•The Protector: The stern spirit of a Bahamian woman, said to appear when people disrespect the grounds—perhaps a protector of the dead.

The cemetery is the final resting place for many figures whose stories we’ve explored, including the unmarked grave of Elena Hoyos and the Otto family of Robert the Doll.

As we close this chapter of our Haunted Key West series, these two places feel like fitting bookends: the Shipwreck Museum, filled with stories of daring, disaster, and restless spirits from the sea, and the Key West Cemetery, where those who built this island’s story lie side by side, some still watching.

To hear a deep dive into the curse of the Cursed Silver Bar, the tragic modern haunting of the museum tower, and the full story behind the I Told You I Was Sick Epitaph, be sure to listen to the dedicated episode on the You Two Scare Me Podcast.