Haunted hotel guide · Cedar Key, Florida
The Haunted Island Hotel, Cedar Key
An 1859 general store turned hotel on a Gulf Coast island, with ten rooms, a famous old bar and, by its own count, about 13 ghosts.
Cedar Key is a small fishing town on a cluster of islands in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Gainesville and Ocala, and the Island Hotel is its oldest and most famous building. It began in 1859 as Parsons and Hale’s General Store, survived the Civil War when Union troops burned almost everything else in town, and has been a hotel under one name or another since the early 1900s. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984.
Few hotels in Florida embrace their ghosts like this one. The hotel’s own website tells the stories in detail: Bessie Gibbs, who owned it for decades, locking guests out of Room 29; a Confederate soldier standing at attention by the balcony doors at sunrise; a former owner said to have been poisoned by his manager; and a boy whose remains were found in the basement cistern. By the hotel’s count there are around 13 spirits for just ten rooms.
Island Hotel at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 373 2nd Street, Cedar Key, FL 32625, in the small downtown a block from the water
- Built 1859, as a general store with 12-inch walls of seashell tabby and oak
- Most haunted spots Room 29, Rooms 27 and 28, the second-floor balcony doors, the front of the hotel and the basement
- Best-known ghosts Bessie Gibbs, Simon Feinberg, a Confederate private, a woman in Rooms 27 and 28, and a young boy
- Booking the haunted room Rooms are numbered 23 to 36. Request Room 29, or Rooms 27 and 28, when you book with the hotel.
- Good to know Ten rooms, all with private bathrooms and ceiling fans but no TVs or phones. Floors slope where the building has settled.
The ghosts of the Island Hotel
Bessie Gibbs
Bessie and Loyal Gibbs bought the run-down building in 1946, restored it and gave it the name Island Hotel. Bessie lived at the hotel for more than 26 years, became something of a local legend, and died in 1975 in a fire at her cottage in Cedar Key.
According to the hotel, she has never really left. Guests say furniture and pictures are moved, doors close by themselves, and people who step out of their rooms find themselves locked out. Others describe a figure that resembles Bessie walking through rooms and walls at night. A seance held to contact her, which the hotel itself calls unscientific, concluded that she is the most dominant spirit in the building and that Room 29, her old upstairs bedroom, is the most haunted room.
The soldier at the balcony doors
The hotel’s most unusual story is a soldier. Guests have reported a private in the Southern army standing at attention just inside the second-floor balcony doors, usually around sunrise. The sighting lasts only a few seconds, but the hotel says dozens of guests have described it. The building was used as officer quarters by both sides during the Civil War, which may be why the story attaches itself here.
Simon Feinberg
Simon Feinberg bought the building in 1914, called it the Bay Hotel and added the second-floor balconies. The hotel’s history says he had religious objections to liquor, discovered his manager, Markham, running an illegal still in the attic, and died of what was called food poisoning after a dinner meeting to discuss it. When the annex was remodeled in 1999, workers found copper condensing pipe of the kind used in stills.
Feinberg is said to walk the hotel at night, appearing briefly to startled guests and staff. In the hotel’s words, he is harmless, unless your name is Markham.
The woman in Rooms 27 and 28
Guests in the adjoining Rooms 27 and 28 describe a shy, friendly woman who sits on the bed at night, kisses them on the cheek and vanishes in a smoky haze. The story says she was a prostitute murdered during the hotel’s Prohibition years as a speakeasy, though the hotel itself notes the murder is undocumented.
The boy in the basement
The saddest story begins before the Civil War ended. A nine-year-old boy hired to sweep the store was seen pocketing something, chased out the back door and never seen again. About a year later, workers cleaning the five-foot-deep cement cistern in the basement found a child’s skeleton. The story holds that he hid in the tank and drowned, and that he still hides in the dark, uneven basement, reached through a trap door at the back.
And the rest
The hotel lists other spirits too: two Native American men, a fisherman and a tall, thin man nobody has identified. Reported activity includes flickering lights, doors opening and closing, cold spots, drafts and the feeling of being followed. The Fox series Haunted Inns & Mansions filmed here in 1999.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Room 29: Bessie Gibbs’s upstairs bedroom, a king room with a shower. The seance named it the most haunted room, and one investigator quoted by the hotel calls it a possible portal.
- Rooms 27 and 28: A queen and a twin room that can be booked together, with a private bathroom across the hall. This is where the woman who kisses guests on the cheek is reported.
- The second-floor balcony doors: Where the Confederate private is seen at sunrise. Set an alarm and watch the doors as the light comes up.
- The Neptune Lounge: The old bar, named for its picture of King Neptune and decorated with Cedar Key murals from 1945. Jimmy Buffett played here in the early 1980s.
History of Island Hotel
Major John Parsons and Francis E. Hale built the structure as Parsons and Hale’s General Store, which also housed the post office. The hotel dates it to 1859; the National Register nomination, as summarized on Wikipedia, gives 1859 to 1861 for its construction. It was built of seashell tabby with oak supports and walls about a foot thick, which is one reason it is still standing. During the Civil War, blockade runners used Cedar Key to move cotton and lumber, and when Union soldiers burned the town they spared the store and used it as officer quarters and a warehouse. Confederate forces retook the town shortly before the war ended and billeted their own officers here.
After the war it was a customs house and post office, and naturalist John Muir mentioned it in his journal at the end of his thousand-mile walk from Kentucky. In the 1880s it was a restaurant and boarding house, and President Grover Cleveland is said to have spent a night. The 1896 hurricane nearly destroyed Cedar Key and badly damaged the building.
In 1914 Simon Feinberg bought it, renamed it the Bay Hotel and added the balconies on the south and west sides. It became the Cedar Key Hotel in the 1920s and Fowlers Wood in the 1930s, when it ran as a speakeasy and brothel and survived several fires. By World War II it was close to uninhabitable.
Bessie and Loyal Gibbs rescued it in 1946, named it the Island Hotel and made its bar a gathering spot for visitors including Pearl Buck, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Myrna Loy and Richard Boone. A 1950 hurricane blew off the roof. Loyal died in 1962, and Bessie retired in 1973 and died in 1975. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1984.
Cedar Key was hit by Hurricanes Idalia, Debby and Helene within 13 months in 2023 and 2024. The Island Hotel and Restaurant was on local TV’s list of open Cedar Key businesses by November 2024, and in May 2026 owner Bud Adams told WUFT that the hotel had not taken on water. It is run today by Bud and Laurie Adams, with ten guest rooms, a dining room, the Neptune Lounge and Bair’s Cave.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Book direct for Room 29. The hotel’s own booking page lets you choose a room; third-party sites usually do not.
- Read the ghost page first. The hotel’s website has a full page of its ghost stories and history.
- Plan for no TV. Rooms have no televisions or phones, which suits a quiet night listening for footsteps.
- Check the hours. The dining room is listed as open 5 to 9 PM and the Neptune Lounge 4 to 9:30 PM, Tuesday to Sunday. Cedar Key is still rebuilding after the 2024 hurricanes and its grocery store has not reopened, so call ahead on 352-543-5111.
- Watch the sunrise. The soldier is reported at the second-floor balcony doors at dawn.
- See our guide to haunted hotels in Florida for more places to stay.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Haunted hotels in Florida: every haunted hotel in the state, ranked and mapped
- The Don CeSar, St. Pete Beach: the pink palace and its lovesick founder
- The Vinoy, St. Petersburg: a 1925 waterfront grand hotel with its own ghost stories
- Haunted hotels in Florida
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Island Hotel in Cedar Key haunted?
It is one of the most famous haunted hotels in Florida, and the hotel itself says it has around 13 spirits. The best-known are former owner Bessie Gibbs, a Confederate soldier and Simon Feinberg. These are guest accounts and local legend.
Which room is haunted at the Island Hotel?
Room 29, Bessie Gibbs’s old bedroom, is the most famous. Rooms 27 and 28 are linked to a woman who sits on the bed and kisses guests on the cheek.
Who was Bessie Gibbs?
Bessie and her husband Loyal bought the building in 1946 and named it the Island Hotel. She lived there for over 26 years and died in 1975 in a fire at her cottage in Cedar Key.
How old is the Island Hotel?
It was built as Parsons and Hale’s General Store, dated 1859 by the hotel (1859 to 1861 in the National Register record), and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984.
Can you book Room 29 at the Island Hotel?
Yes. The hotel lists its ten rooms individually, and Room 29 can be requested when you book directly with the hotel.
Is the Island Hotel open after the hurricanes?
Yes. It was listed among Cedar Key’s open businesses in November 2024, and in 2026 its owner said the building had not taken on water during Helene. Call ahead, as the town is still recovering.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Island Hotel: Ghost stories and history
- Island Hotel & Restaurant (official site)
- Wikipedia: Island Hotel (Cedar Key)
- Florida Rambler: 6 haunted places in Florida
- WUFT: Cedar Key makes progress in recovery nearly two years after Hurricane Helene (May 2026)
- WCJB: Businesses start to reopen on Florida Gulf Coast after hurricanes (Nov 2024)
- Inside Climate News: After three hurricanes in 13 months, Cedar Key considers its future
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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