{"id":1570,"slug":"egmont-key-florida","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Egmont Key sits at Tampa Bay's mouth — an island that held two histories on one small landmass: the detention camp where Seminole prisoners were held in 1858 before forced removal west, and Fort Dade, the Spanish-American War-era coastal fortress whose ruins now sink into the sand.","The Seminole detention is the file's darkest register — a holding island for people being deported from their homeland, the removal's last Florida ground before the ships west. Fort Dade's batteries are the file's second layer — a whole military town's ruins dissolving into the island's scrub."]},{"heading":"Figures in the ruins","paragraphs":["Local lore describes figures among the fort ruins and lights in the overgrown batteries — the file's haunting being the island's layered dead: the Seminole detainees and the fort's garrison reportedly sharing the ground that held them both.","The lights in the batteries are the file's signature — Tampa Bay's collections retelling the account of the ruined fort's illumination, the overgrown concrete reportedly still lit."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Egmont Key is the archive's double-layered file — an island that held deported Seminoles and a coastal fort, keeping figures in the ruins and lights in the batteries. The detention and the garrison are the record; the island's dead are the lore.","An island that was a holding camp and a fortress keeps both populations — the file's suggestion being that Egmont's ruins hold everyone the island processed."]}],"name":"Egmont Key","aliases":[],"type":"ISLAND","type_label":"Island","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","ISLAND","FORT"],"groups":["dark-history","maritime"],"desc":"The US Army detained Seminole people here before forced removal in 1858.","full_desc":"Egmont Key is an island in St. Petersburg, Florida. The US Army detained Seminole people here before forced removal in 1858. It sits in the archive under dark history, forts and islands. The dossier holds 1 reported claim, 1 legend and 2 documented facts — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors. The dossier keeps the place and the story in the same record — which is what the archive is for.","address":null,"city":"St. Petersburg","county":null,"state":"Florida","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":27.762727,"lon":-82.644131,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"History sourced from Seminole Tribal Historic Preservation Office; no paranormal claim added.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":69.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":4034,"type":"HAUNTING","description":"Local lore describes figures among the fort ruins and lights in the overgrown batteries—retold in Tampa Bay collections. The account has been recorded since 20th century. Open country keeps its stories differently — Egmont Key in St. Petersburg, Florida files its reports in weather and distance. It survives as local folklore, which is to say it survives because people keep telling it. The report is preserved in sources like 'Koreshan State Park'. It's the kind of claim that outlives debunkings — too many witnesses, too few explanations.","evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","evidence_label":"Local folklore","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":"20th century","approx_date":null,"confidence":0.3,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Koreshan State Park","url":"https://www.floridastateparks.org","publisher":"Florida State Parks","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The US Army detained Seminole people here before forced removal in 1858. The landscape's recorded history gives the file real substance underneath the lore. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. 'Egmont Key' documents the entry. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Egmont Key","url":"https://stofthpo.com/egmont-key/","publisher":"Seminole Tribal Historic Preservation Office","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"Seminole prisoners were detained on Egmont before forced removal west; Fort Dade served the Spanish-American War era. The record dates it to 1858-01-01–1898-01-01. The site's documented natural and human history is the record the rest of the file stands on. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The record appears in 'Koreshan State Park'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1858-01-01","date_end":"1898-01-01","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Koreshan State Park","url":"https://www.floridastateparks.org","publisher":"Florida State Parks","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Local lore describes figures among the fort ruins and lights in the overgrown batteries—retold in Tampa Bay collections. Reports in the file date to 20th century. Open country keeps its stories differently — Egmont Key in St. Petersburg, Florida files its reports in weather and distance. The claim is neighborhood knowledge — retold locally, verified nowhere. The account appears in 'Koreshan State Park'. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":"20th century","evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","source":{"name":"Koreshan State Park","url":"https://www.floridastateparks.org","publisher":"Florida State Parks","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Access details are unverified; research before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Egmont Key","url":"https://stofthpo.com/egmont-key/","publisher":"Seminole Tribal Historic Preservation Office","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Koreshan State Park","url":"https://www.floridastateparks.org","publisher":"Florida State Parks","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"The US Army detained Seminole people here before forced removal in 1858.","incoming_value":"The island at the bay’s mouth—Seminole internment and a crumbling fort.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"full_description","existing_value":"Egmont Key is a island in Florida. The US Army detained Seminole people here before forced removal in 1858.","incoming_value":"Egmont Key is the island at the mouth of Tampa Bay—site of Fort Dade’s ruins and a documented dark history: Seminole prisoners were held here before forced removal west on the Trail of Tears.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"current_status","existing_value":"HISTORIC_SITE","incoming_value":"ACTIVE","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"History sourced from Seminole Tribal Historic Preservation Office; no paranormal claim added.","incoming_value":"Lore enrichment; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":{"title":"Egmont Key State Park and National Wildlife Refuge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egmont_Key_State_Park_and_National_Wildlife_Refuge","desc":"United States National Wildlife Refuge and state park in Florida","extract":"Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge and State Park is a National Wildlife Refuge and State Park located on the island of Egmont Key, at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Egmont Key lies southwest of Fort De Soto Park and can only be reached by boat or ferry. Located within Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge and State Park are the 1858 Egmont Key Lighthouse, maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard, and the ruins of Fort Dade, a Spanish–American War era fort that housed 300 residents. Egmont Key is located in Hillsborough County Florida on a narrow strip of the county that extends along the Tampa Port Shipping Channel.","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Egmont_Key_lighthouse01.jpg/330px-Egmont_Key_lighthouse01.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":75,"lat":27.58625,"lon":-82.761389},"counts":{"claims":1,"history":2,"legends":1,"entities":0,"sources":2}}