If you’re looking for something to do that’s fun for the whole family and you don’t want to spend too much money, we have a solution that is not only fun but historic and educational. It’s located right in the heart of downtown Brooksville, in Hernando County. It’s the Brooksville Heritage Museum / May-Stringer House.
This attraction has two sides, a fun side for the whole family, and a dark side fit for adults over the age of 18. By day, the house is a representation of life back in the 1840s, and one of the first houses settled in Brooksville under the Florida Settlers Act, which gave settlers 160 acres to use as long as they reside in Florida. It’s also filled with wonderful antiques and history from around Brooksville, making it the Brooksville Heritage Museum. By night: a real haunted house for those interested in the paranormal.
Historic Museum by Day
The day tour talks about the home and all the artifacts inside. It was the former home of the Mays’. After the deaths of Mr. May’s wife and two daughters, he moved away, and the house was next inhabited by Dr. Stringer. Dr. Stringer re-designed the house in the unique fashion it now remains, with the tower, because he wanted to have the largest home in the area. Stringer also made the 7 gables to represent the “House of Seven Gables,” something he always admired. After his family moved out, the place was abandoned, and looters destroyed most of the home. The house was later restored to its current condition by the city of Brooksville. They reopened the house as a heritage museum of Brooksville’s past.
The house has a replica one-room school house, a doctor’s room containing medicines and tools typical of what Dr. Stringer would have used on his patients, a telephone/telegraph room, a war room decked with U.S. Military uniforms from the Civil War to World War II, and so much more
The museum offers a guided tour, that lasts around an hour. Admission is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for children, Tuesday to Saturday from 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. The tour will give you the history of the home as well as Brooksville’s great past. All money goes toward the upkeep up of the home.
By Night… the Hauntings
Due to its grim past with death the house is considered by one of the most haunted places in Florida; the May’s lost 3 people in the home, his two daughters and his wife giving birth. Dr. Stringer used the house as a sanatorium during the days before hospitals were around, so many of the terminally ill patients died miserable deaths from causes like Small Pox, Yellow Fever, Scarlett Fever, and others. The home was also the scene of the first “drive by” shooting in Hernando County (actually “ride by” because the crime was committed on horseback). It’s also said that a WWI soldier returned from war to marry his fiance, only to find that she had married another man when he was away; he then went upstairs and was said to have hung himself in the master bedroom. That claim can’t be proven so it’s only a rumor that may or may not have some truth to it. The May-Stringer house is said to have 8 spirits who reside in the dwelling.
The tour lasts 2 hours! Starting with a history tour of the house concentrating on the most active rooms, they give you more information to the secrets the house holds than you get during the day. In the second hour, you are released into small groups to pick rooms and do seances and readings.
This tour has an age limit: nobody under is 18 allowed. It costs $20.00 per person and reservations are required. The tour starts at 6:00 P.M. and is offered Friday to Sunday only. The tours will be canceled for groups less than 6.
I personally took both of these tours, the daytime and haunted tours and found them extremely interesting and educational. The house is a work of art in itself and the EVP’s caught during the haunt were phenomenal. For the price, I highly recommend trying these tours and help support the Hernando County Preservation of old homes and history.
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I’ve lived in Brooksville my entire life. I drive by this house maybe every other couple of days, and I’ve always known the story behind it. I haven’t been inside yet, but I fully intend on going one day. My sister’s been, and said she’s never been so freaked out in her life. The home is beautiful and along with the stories behind it, it’s truly a work of art.
i heard that a boy on a tour went their and was killed!!!! is this true cuz me n my frens wanna go there but were afraid cuz were only 14 n dont wanna die yet. but i kno its haunted cuz when u drive by it theres a little girl an an older person with a knife(idk if it was a boy or girl) standing looking out one of the windows!!!!! ITS VERY SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Always
Katie<3
yea the house is very awesome my mom went in there for the haunted house when she was pregnet with me and she said its scared her to death cause the whitch but its very cool i have been in there a lot of times and i love reading about the history there its pretty and cool there is alot of old stuff in there and it is haunted
the house is not scary i’ve been there thousand times its awesome
how do we sign up for the tour??
i love this place to death . I gave tours here for ab out two years. I was in the attic on a tour and a woman was thinking to her self that this house wasn’t haunting she looked at picture on the racks and when she looked at it. the picture lifted up from the rack moved forward and dropped to the floor everyone was afraid at that time we had down to the bottom floor. Then a few weeks later everyone was the parlor waiting for the next tour and the potty flushed and the sink went on.
After living in Hernando County for 13 years,i never have gone.Sounds very interesting.as i heard about it from friends
When I was younger, around seven, the girl scout troup I was apart of went there for one of our trips. Me and two of my close friends Shannon and Marissa stuck together. When our troup reached the attic the three of us heard a soft crying. It sounded as tho a young girl was crying. Needless to say we were freaked out. when we tried to tell the other girls the didn’t believe us. They couldn’t hear it. When I reached middle school I decided to to a little research and it turns out we were right. The was a little girl in that room and she was the youngest daughter who died at age three. She was the child the mother was having when the mother died. I’m now in college, I havn’t been back there yet. I wouldn’t mind going back for the night time part and focusing my energy on Jessie May’s room.
I finilly did the night tour this past summer 2010, i was up stairs on the second floor and our team had asked some questions about the school teacher and on our evp a voice came across saying had to leave, pregneat. then we were in the hall way on the second floor, there were newspapers on the wall old ones we had a flash light on them and one didnt have a year on it and i said i wonder what year this paper is. a little girls voice came across saying 1888. then i heard my name called that was really interesting because i do not have that common of a name. also as we first entered the house to take the tour we were split into two groups and as we started our tours we heard on our evp more little cakes. this is a very interesting place to go to i hope more people can help support this place and come to where the paranorma really happening, it is real.
I was born in 1977 and lived there for a short period as a toddler. My parents have some scary, strange stories of that place. Their babysitters never lasted long because of the paranormal activity. I have yet to visit it as an adult.