{"id":168354,"date":"2026-02-25T10:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/168354\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T10:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:21:07","slug":"theres-a-huge-myth-about-this-stretch-of-i-4-in-central-florida-heres-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/168354\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a huge myth about this stretch of I-4 in Central Florida. Here\u2019s the truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Some residents in Central Florida may have heard about a supposedly cursed stretch of Interstate 4 known as the \u201cDead Zone<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, it turns out that the rumors about this section of the highway may have been made up.<\/p>\n

The phrase was first coined by the late historian and author Charlie Carlson in his 2005 book \u201cWeird Florida<\/a>.\u201d It describes a parcel of land along the southern part of the I-4 bridge over the St. Johns River.<\/p>\n

Area of the Interstate 4 “Dead Zone” (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Per its name, the spot is known for lacking cell reception \u2014 though that\u2019s not the only weird feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are claiming to see all kinds of things \u2014 orbs floating across the highway, apparitions on the side of the road hitchhiking, phantom trucks, you name it,\u201d Carlson wrote.<\/p>\n

According to Carlson, this part of the highway was built over the remains of four German immigrants who died of yellow fever in the late 1800s. Their bodies had been buried in the woods with no last rites, he claimed, though the land was eventually bought by Carlson\u2019s grandfather roughly 100 years later.<\/p>\n

[BELOW: Take a look at the restaurant ranked as America\u2019s most haunted]<\/p>\n

However, Carlson added that the land was eventually purchased by the state in the late 1950s to pave the way for the new interstate. Since then, the site has been struck by Hurricane Donna, a tractor-trailer truck carrying frozen shrimp jackknifed right above the graves on the opening day of Interstate 4, and some have claimed to see \u201cwispy balls of light that zigzag just above the pavement,\u201d Carlson noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been more accidents per year in such a small quarter-mile section of highway than all the other sections of highway between Daytona and Tampa,\u201d Carlson explained.<\/p>\n

Photograph of crash scene at Interstate 4 “Dead Zone” (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

WAS IT ALL A PRANK?<\/p>\n

While reporting on this area in 2023, News 6 reached out to state officials with the Florida Department of Transportation to determine whether any of these claims are true.<\/p>\n

An FDOT spokesperson explained that this stretch of the highway hasn\u2019t seen \u201can unusually high number of crashes,\u201d though apples-to-apples comparisons with other sections of I-4 can be difficult.<\/p>\n

But earlier this month, News 6 spoke with author and historian Mark Muncy, who used to work alongside Carlson when it came to researching strange Florida stories.<\/p>\n

Mark Muncy, author of “Freaky Florida” and host of the Eerie Travels podcast (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

And according to Muncy, the whole legend stemmed from a grudge over that land.<\/p>\n

As Muncy told it, the land had been owned by Carlson\u2019s father, but a family member was injured at some point in a tractor accident near an old gravesite on the plot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they came up with this story that, \u2018Oh, it must be cursed! It must be haunted!\u2019 \u2014 that sort of thing,\u201d Muncy said. \u201cIt was just a family tale, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

However, when the I-4 project kicked off, state records show that the land was taken from Carlson\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

County records from 1959 show that the state provided over $7,000 for a parcel of land that was partially owned by Charles Carlson, Sr. (Public Record)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey eminent domain that portion of his family land, and Charlie\u2019s dad never forgave them,\u201d Muncy explained. \u201cAnd so Charlie never forgave them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Muncy claimed, Carlson crafted the legend of the \u201cDead Zone\u201d on I-4 as a small act of revenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people have spotty cell reception there, but that\u2019s because it\u2019s between Sanford and Cassadaga…\u201d Muncy said. \u201cIt\u2019s already got a kind of weird reputation because Cassadaga, so there\u2019s some truth to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson himself passed away in 2015 of multiple myeloma cancer. Known as the \u201cMaster of Weird,\u201d he specialized in writing about paranormal and strange places and events from all across the state.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Some residents in Central Florida may have heard about a supposedly cursed stretch of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[104,6919,28,4566,30,29,2457,4569,4568,2647,1014,2546,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-168354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-features","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-fables","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-news","14":"tag-history","15":"tag-i-4","16":"tag-interstate-4","17":"tag-sanford","18":"tag-seminole-county","19":"tag-strange-florida","20":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}