St. Petersburg’s Mirror Lake has a long, dark history that will send shivers down your spine.
Photo courtesy of the City of St. Petersburg
Every October, folks inquire as to the most haunted spot in town. Some ask if it’s the Vinoy or the Don CeSar, the Sunshine Skyway, or the Greenwood Cemetery. While these all have wonderful spectral lore associated with them, the truth is that one of the most eligible areas I have encountered in Pinellas County is Mirror Lake in downtown St. Pete.
I first heard of the haunted activity in 2010, with a mysterious “Lady in White” story.
She appears during the new moon, standing on the shore, wandering forlornly. Some say that she walks into the water and vanishes, or that she walks in and eventually re-emerges on the other shore.
One thing is universal: If anyone tries to approach or talk to her, she disappears.
Mirror Lake’s Dark History
While that may sound odd to some, the lake has a long, dark history.
It likely started off as a swampy depression in the earth that was later expanded by locals to hold stormwater runoff. When Tampa became a holding station for soldiers in the Spanish-American War, the lake turned into St. Petersburg’s primary water source as Tampa was using theirs for the soldiers.
When the city developed a municipal water department in 1899, the site became Reservoir Lake and continued to be a primary natural resource for the town.
Here is the first dark twist: In May 1914, the body of a man named WM Boone was discovered. He had been shot, and his throat was also cut, so severely that the head was almost severed.
His body was thrown into that lake.
Mirror Lake’s sign photographed in 1947.
Photo courtesy of Florida Memory
The following year, perhaps to diminish this grim act, the lake received a name change. It was no longer large enough to sustain the town, and a new reservoir was constructed.
Catherine Belle, a member of the Audubon Society, impressed by its placid surface, suggested the name Mirror Lake, adopted in 1915. However, that was not enough to stop an influx of August rain that same year; the park flooded due to a lack of adequate drainage.
Despite this, the lake was an integral part of early downtown St. Petersburg.
The park houses the Mirror Lake Library, the oldest library in the city established in 1915 with a Carnegie Foundation grant. Next to it is the world’s oldest shuffleboard court and the original million-dollar St. Petersburg High, now Mirror Lake Condos. City Hall is within walking distance, as is the Federal Courthouse. The Universal Unitarian Church is on its west bank.
[Read more below]Read part one and two of the Unitarian Universalist Church in St. Pete Investigation.
In 1959, an art class took place next to Mirror Lake.
Photo courtesy of Florida MemoryThe Lady in White
However, as the city grew, so did the lake’s fatalities.
In 1933, a man fleeing police jumped into the lake and drowned. Two years later, a notorious murder happened, and it might be the core of the “Lady in White” legend.
In September 1935, the body of a 38-year-old nurse, Myra Hayssen, was found in Mirror Lake. She had been beaten and her face mutilated with a pocket knife. Before her death, she was last seen going on a drinking spree with two men she met. The nature of her death made it a media sensation, followed by readers nationwide.
It ended when the two men were found and convicted of her murder.
Even though she was not wearing her uniform, the memory of a nurse, who would have been clad in a white uniform at the time, may linger in the minds of the public and provide fuel for the rumor.
A St. Pete High Tragedy
Others believe that the mysterious apparition was of a student who attended St. Pete High and died of a tragic car accident. Her spirit is forever trying to return to the school she loved.
After the high school was converted to a junior high school, some students and residents attested to one gory pastime: Watching the police haul out body after body from the lake.
This 1945 postcard depicts the junior high location next to Mirror Lake. At the time, some students supposedly would watch the police haul bodies out of the lake in between classes.
Photo courtesy of Florida MemoryA Timeline of Deaths
But these are not all of the deaths related to the spot.
The 1940s saw three more drowning deaths, and the body of a premature infant girl was found. The 1950s saw the drownings of two people and the suicide of a third.
Reports of mysterious exploding fish in the lake also circulated; a newspaper article interviewed marine scientists who explained that the lake had a layer of silt producing methane. Fish caught up as the gas bubbled up to the surface would inhale the substance that caused them to expand, float to the surface, and eventually explode.
Ten deaths took place in the 1960s, including one possible suicide, one definite suicide, and the body of a premature baby boy found by the lake. One woman attempted suicide, but was rescued by a passerby.
In the 1970s, there were two deaths and one possible suicide. 64-year-old Vernice Viola Brown was murdered and thrown into the lake in August 1974.
[Read more below]Read part one and two of the St. Pete’s Mari Jean Hotel Investigation.
A man feeding birds from a park bench along the shore of Mirror Lake in 1954.
Photo courtesy of Florida Memory
During the ’80s, the lake had two more drownings. In 1986, two men were murdered in an apparent weapon/drug dispute nearby on Arlington Avenue.
The 1990s had three more deaths, including 45-year-old Michael Scheumeister, who was found at the lake dead from blunt trauma to his upper body in August 1997.
Post millennium, the deaths did slow down.
The next death was Marcia Elliot. A popular waitress and budding jewelry maker, she was known for walking her dog, Angela Bassethound, around the lake. Her body was discovered under a tree at the shore in July 2004. It was labeled a homicide and resulted in the conviction of the man accused of her murder.
There was an intoxicated transient, who, after attacking an 81-year-old woman, attempted to evade police by jumping into the lake. He drowned in April 2009. An unidentified man was reported as running into the lake and drowning in May 2016. In 2019, a man fell asleep on a park bench and never woke up.
SPIRITS of St. Petersburg and Mirror Lake
In 2020, the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg, a paranormal investigative group, wanted to participate in the World’s Largest Ghost Hunt. This event, now converted into the National Day of Ghost Hunting, was an attempt to see what results occurred when teams around the world did concurrent investigations.
Since it was during the pandemic, we decided to invite the public to meet at Mirror Lake, where we could socially distance in a safer outside environment. Those who met us there picked up EMF meters and walked around the lake, using basic technology and sensitivity to see what they could pick up at the site.
The SPIRITS of St. Petersburg, a paranormal investigative group, used EMF meters around the lake to see what sensitivities they could pick up at the site.
Photo by Brand Stark
The overlapping reports indicated a spectral connection between the water and the library building. The spot near the rubber tree on the east shore had multiple hits as people sensed a presence and picked up readings. It is an area where some unhoused people have, in the past, created a natural shelter.
Since then, we have visited the rubber tree and brought equipment, along with a list of names from those who passed in the area after the year 2000.
One name consistently brings a positive EMF result: Eric Hall.
Hall was a transient who died in the lake. Other than confirming that he is still there and happy, he has relayed to sensitives that he just wants people to remember him.
It took us until 2025 to compile an archival list of names from those who have passed in or near the lake. It is worth rechecking to see if we can further narrow the identity of who might still be lurking by the lakeside.
For those thinking of taking a cool dip there, don’t.
Swimming is not allowed for good reasons. In 2009, a study of the lake showed that the bottom had a 4-foot layer of silt that works like quicksand. Perhaps it’s best to walk the lake during daylight, appreciating the respite it brings to the noise of city life, and maybe to take a moment to contemplate the afterlife while looking into that deceptively placid surface.
If you have a paranormal story or a location, contact brandybstark13@gmail.com.Want More Haunting Stories?
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