Tarpon Springs is a small Greek-American community on Florida's Gulf Coast, about 30 minutes north of Clearwater, known worldwide for its sponge diving heritage and Greek Orthodox culture. After dark, city centre Tarpon Springs tells a very different storey.
This is the original Tarpon Springs ghost tour — the one that was so good it was copied. Led by Ace Chapman, a screenwriter and longtime local guide who has been leading this tour for over three years with Silent Slayer Ghost Tours. The history he shares belongs to these streets. It is researched, documented, and told with honesty.
The tour centers on Marshal Ruben Jones, described by a former Mayor as “the toughest, meanest, killingest man” in Tarpon Springs. Elected Marshal for 12 straight one-year terms beginning in 1906. Nobody dared run against him after one challenger was shot in the back while walking home from the sponge docks at Spring Bayou. Jones was tried and acquitted on grounds of self-defense. He retired in 1920 and was found with more than 80 bullet wounds on a hunting trip shortly after. The case has never been solved. His gold badge — cast from two $20 gold pieces — is now on display at the Tarpon Springs Police Department.
The route passes the Cheney House, built around 1890 for John Cheney who financed the sponge industry and invented the diving suit that revolutionized it. The Old Dry Goods Store built in 1884 — once selling coffins with “embalming if necessary” before becoming the Vinson Funeral Home where Marshal Jones himself was embalmed. And the Old Saloon Building where the 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef filmed its famous fight scene. The original back bar is still there.
Guests use dowsing rods on the platform of the historic Train Depot and a spirit box during select moments of the tour. Many have heard their own names called back. There is also Mary — a documented spirit presence in city centre Tarpon Springs who has been recorded responding to Ace on demand, including turning her streetlight on and off at a guest's request. On one occasion the light exploded. Her full storey is shared on the tour.
No costumes. No actors. No fake equipment. No scripted performances. The original Tarpon Springs ghost tour. Running since 2023.
