Forgotten Ghost Towns in Green Swamp of Florida - Stewart Family Plot & Hitching Ride With Locals
Exploring the Green Swamp of Florida
Transcript
0:02
today's adventure begins with my shadow
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waving as a recording of this Thursday
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December 29th 2022 I have a new mirror
0:11
that I got the bike shop here
0:13
well over in Celebration
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that they installed this morning for me
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and also a new bicycle pump
0:21
I have parked here this is not my car
0:23
but I have parked here someone else
0:26
also is but probably put the kickstand
0:28
up
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I'm going on a little bike ride now I
0:31
have passed by this before
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when I was pre-planning this a few
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months ago and this gate was locked
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and according to my estimates could be
0:39
about four and a half miles down this
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road
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and I figured a bike would make more
0:45
sense than hiking five miles there five
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miles back to something that I really
0:49
have not pinpointed the precise
0:50
destination here in the green swamp
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Wilderness preserve here in Central
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Florida
0:57
Wildlife Management Area
1:03
now at another point the skate might be
1:03
locked again but today it's not I
1:05
probably could drive up in there but
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since I have the bike I'm taking the
1:08
bike says speed limit 20. does that
1:11
apply to bicycles or just cars
1:15
you probably get this up to 20 miles per
1:17
hour through here
1:18
oh six people camp out here also it's
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gonna be nice because there's a little
1:23
shade
1:24
a little sunny or it's warmed up a
1:26
little bit
1:27
than it was last week welcome everyone
1:29
Adam the woo here over a hundred years
1:31
ago an event transpired at a homestead
1:34
down this way quite a ways now I was not
1:36
able to look on satellite view there is
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no street view on this dirt road
1:39
obviously after I veered off the
1:41
pavement up there so I'm kind of
1:43
guesstimating
1:45
on where this is going to be but I have
1:46
a general I think I know where it might
1:47
be
1:48
gonna head that way to an event
1:51
a not so happy event
1:53
that transpired over 100 years ago at a
1:56
homestead that I'm hoping some of the
1:58
remnants are still back there join me
2:00
and whatever else I pass by
2:03
I think there's a car approaching
2:05
yeah people are camped out here and they
2:08
don't call it the swamp
2:10
for nothing the green swamp
2:13
I think that's a park ranger that looks
2:15
like a park ranger
2:17
park ranger approaching
2:19
join me
2:21
sunny it's nice out got Waters in the
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backpack too Waters phone charger even
2:25
though I have no cell phone signal just
2:27
in case
2:28
join me shall you this is kind of a nice
2:30
little area out here
2:31
so evidently that gate the one time I
2:33
came by here months ago that was locked
2:36
since then they have opened this area
2:38
you can bring tents out here and
2:40
camp
2:46
it's kind of neat
2:46
again if the gate's open you can just
2:48
drive your car back here
2:50
I'm opting for the bicycle
2:52
1918 was the date that I am referring to
2:55
I looked it up so that would have been a
2:58
hundred
2:59
and four years ago
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there was a family out here that had a
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little Homestead
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and it ended tragically
3:07
a family member
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someone in relation to them tried to
3:11
steal well did steal 500 dollars
3:15
over a matter of five hundred dollars
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their lives ended
3:20
out here down this road all right
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there's only maybe a quarter of a mile
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before approaching this other little
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area
3:26
says please drive slow this is the green
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swamp official sign
3:31
for the Wildlife Management Area
3:34
and there's a little office over here
3:36
you can check in out if you're going to
3:38
stay or whatnot I just asked the lady at
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the little stand here she asked what I
3:43
was doing out here and I explained it
3:44
she kind of told me where I was going to
3:46
need to go
3:47
and told me kind of where it was so I'm
3:49
on Main
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even though it's a dirt road it's known
3:52
as Main Street main grade
3:54
she says so I'm here where the arrow is
3:56
kind of like a shirt I have on
3:58
but you go up main she said go right
4:00
past powder grade and it's going to be
4:03
up here on the left somewhere there
4:05
should be a big tree she said the only
4:07
reason the gate is open because right
4:09
now
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it's hunting season
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if it wasn't the gate would be locked so
4:14
sometimes it is sometimes it's not it's
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at the end of January they'll close the
4:18
gate for a couple months and then when
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turkey season rolls around in Spring
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they might reopen the gate again so
4:23
that's that's the explanation
4:25
of the gate once you pass the campground
4:29
you do have to check in right there so
4:31
they're going to ask what you're doing
4:32
here
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she noticed I had the bicycle set out
4:35
for a bike ride I said yep
4:37
so you have to kind of explain yourself
4:39
try to pass by there should come out
4:40
that's what you're doing
4:42
but you can bring a bike out here and
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ride around
4:45
also that speed limit sign right there
4:47
back up to 20. went from 20 to 15. back
4:50
up to 20. I think I'm going like seven
4:53
baby I don't know maybe not
5:06
yeah this is much easier than walking
5:06
this and the terrain
5:07
it's a little bumpy but not too bad got
5:10
some big wheels on this bike so
5:13
as of now I'm okay
5:14
I feel like this is good Bigfoot
5:16
territory out here well skunk ape
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Florida's more skunk cake Terry oh
5:22
slipped a little bit what if this
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happened
5:24
might have slick
5:26
what just happened
5:28
all right Maine to Orange Lake now
5:31
here's a big tree
5:33
but this is not the road she mentioned
5:36
there's a big tree here though not just
5:39
Sasquatch is what's the plural Sasquatch
5:42
not just Sasquatch skunk Apes
5:45
or Bigfoot type of terrain
5:49
but I'm sure there's quite a few Gators
5:50
in there
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a one lane bridge wheeled Vehicles only
5:58
foreign
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Bridge
6:03
maybe even the swap thing down there
6:07
the movie The Swamp Thing love it
6:13
perfect area for the swap thing I think
6:13
I love about that original Swamp Thing
6:14
movie
6:15
is when he grew his arm back
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you know his arm was like ripped off or
6:19
something and ended up growing back out
6:21
like a twig started to like poke out of
6:24
where his like arm was and grew into
6:27
another arm
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I always remember that
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I haven't seen the Gators yet they're
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I'm gonna keep looking for some Gators
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too there's a series of really nice
6:38
very well constructed Bridges like the
6:40
third or fourth one
6:42
that I've gone over but take a look at
6:44
this scenic
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real Florida Beauty here through here
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the Cypress knees the cypress trees
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this is about as real Florida as you can
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get right here
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this is how horror films start a lot of
7:30
downed trees from storms
7:33
there's one that's been uprooted
7:36
our first inclination is to walk across
7:38
this
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a goonie style but
7:41
I don't think that'd be wise I could
7:43
probably sink down in there
7:45
and another uprooted tree over here
7:52
see the root system there
7:55
is a really good time of the year to do
7:57
this because I would imagine the summer
7:58
time this would be brutal out here in
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the heat because there are some unshaded
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areas
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there are a few bugs too some flies
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little biting gnats but nothing too
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extreme
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nothing too extreme
8:13
but they're out here
8:38
this is definitely out here a Waze
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how about five miles
8:40
but I have reached the corner of Maine
8:43
and powder
8:45
so I'm looking for a big tree somewhere
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up here
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distinctive tree a lot of Puddles and a
8:51
little a little bit of flooding out here
8:53
left over from some storms and whatnot
8:55
as this vehicle goes by
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I do believe
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I don't know why I believe that but I'm
9:07
thinking this is the trick there's a
9:08
path here
9:15
okay there's a lot more bugs
9:15
as I walk deeper into the woods
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is this it oh I see I see the little
9:20
cabin back there
9:22
came and put my bike right here
9:25
this Homestead out here I believed
9:27
belonged to Sarah also known as Sally
9:30
and Isham Stewart
9:36
and it's not too far off the road so
9:36
where my bike is my bike's right there
9:38
where was my bike
9:39
's right there
9:41
the road I was riding in on isn't too
9:43
far looks like maybe 50 75 yards give or
9:47
take
9:48
off of
9:51
Maine
9:57
even though it's a dirt road they
9:57
consider it the main road
10:15
oh yeah look over there
10:15
there is their home
10:18
where they spent their last moments
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about it a few articles and a few
10:36
website posts and whatnot a couple other
10:39
people have been out here as well
10:41
but I wanted to kind of see this with my
10:43
own eyes very interesting story here in
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the Backwoods
10:46
of Florida
10:49
another vehicle going
10:51
down the road over there you can hear it
10:54
car going by
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over here is their final resting place
11:07
now it is said from what I was reading
11:09
that the
11:10
the couple was not discovered for an
11:13
entire week
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afterwards someone's pulling back up in
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someone's pulling up in there probably
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wondering what my bike's doing out there
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maybe I should get my bike and pull it
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up a little farther in here
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someone out here my hunter out here
11:44
doing a little sightseeing also wanted
11:47
to see the The Headstone
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walk back over there in a minute but
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was where they lived right here
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notice the ferns the grass growing on
12:03
top of the roof here
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and then you got the wood foundation
12:16
down here
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flowers
12:23
growing out of the stump
12:33
this is still standing 104 years later
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got some mud daubers up here
12:41
a little humble abode for the couple
12:41
Stewart's
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okay I'm over listening to the
12:50
the guy with his daughter he said that
12:51
this might not have been part of the
12:53
main house might have been just like a
12:55
subsidiary section of the house
12:57
very interesting let me go talk to him
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okay I just got some really good info
13:01
from a local who grew up in this area
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when he was a kid him and his family
13:05
he's a his family is a ranch out in this
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but when they were younger they would
13:09
Round Up cattle out here and he showed
13:12
me he told me an area I could go to
13:13
after this there's going to be some
13:15
remnants and some some other buildings
13:17
and whatnot but he was saying that this
13:20
was like the shed this was a pump house
13:22
back there contrary to what I have seen
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on the interwebs of course you can't
13:27
really trust the internet
13:28
that was not the house the house was
13:30
here this is according to a local
13:32
Rancher who was out here showing his
13:34
daughter
13:35
the spot who I talked to I always had to
13:37
get them on camera
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but his car his truck pulling off over
13:41
there he said this is where the
13:43
foundation was and it kind of makes
13:44
sense it kind of looks like this is
13:46
where a foundation you can see his truck
13:49
pulling off over in the distance he also
13:51
said there might be a Mule Barn back
13:54
over here too so I'm gonna go try to
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find a Mule Barn now according to him
13:57
his story that the money
14:00
was buried and kept the 500 which back
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then you know 100 years has a lot of
14:06
money
14:07
was buried under the floorboards
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of the pump house or the the shed
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but this
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is where they had their very final
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moments sleeping in bed
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and it just kind of all ended here
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and I believe it was the grandson we
14:26
look it up again real quick I believe it
14:28
was the grandson and his friend that
14:31
stole the money
14:32
and then just title it Joshua Browning
14:35
who was Sarah Sally's grandson and his
14:38
friend John Tucker and these bugs are
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wild
14:43
they were the ones
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man bugs
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her own grandson
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five hundred dollars
14:52
supposedly buried
14:56
according to a local
14:59
and the floorboards not here
15:02
this is not where the this is not their
15:03
house
15:04
I'm sorry this was their house
15:07
not this
15:14
but that's where the money
15:14
was hidden and stashed obviously because
15:16
she was a he was the grandson
15:19
he knew where the money was
15:21
now what floorboard could it have been
15:23
underneath
15:24
so here's the floorboards here
15:32
could have been it could have been
15:32
anywhere in here you know when I first
15:34
looked at this it does look like a very
15:35
small accommodations but a hundred years
15:37
ago you know this is just like humble
15:38
accommodations for someone
15:40
got the tin roof up here
15:57
very interesting
15:57
I do love that this is still standing
16:06
I don't want to say it's like a real
16:06
life murder mystery like or whodunit or
16:08
anything like that
16:10
because it's not a mystery it was proven
16:16
but it is a very interesting story over
16:16
a century old
16:18
there's still some relics left okay with
16:20
the foundation here where the house was
16:22
and the pump house where the money was
16:23
stashed over there
16:25
there's a few other people coming over
16:27
here another truck is pulled up
16:30
I think there's gonna be this many
16:31
people out here but I guess people are
16:32
in the area
16:33
they get done
16:34
if they got to get done doing hunting
16:36
and stuff out here they want to stop by
16:37
and see the Stuart Homestead there's
16:39
this board here
16:40
now I don't know if this was originally
16:42
on the house
16:43
or if they place this on there after the
16:45
fact
17:23
to his wife
17:23
said he had the ax
17:25
chopped them up
17:33
it says it right there
17:33
oh there's a little more info by Sally's
17:35
grandson Joshua Brownie and his friend
17:36
John Tucker
17:43
this is a headstone that was placed here
17:43
way after their original headstones were
17:47
you know a week later
17:48
they were seen
17:50
they were found
17:52
and on the property of their house
17:56
they were laid here
17:58
got one larger one and then one smaller
18:00
one down here
18:10
okay there is a date on there as I say
18:12
1917.
18:24
and then here's a smaller headstone
18:35
all right got some more local info it's
18:35
interesting so this says 1918 but if you
18:38
notice over here on these
18:41
this is inscribed
18:48
now I'm also getting some conflicting
18:48
reports from two of the locals that
18:50
gentleman was out here showing his
18:51
granddaughter this spot
18:57
yeah here doing some hunting decided to
18:57
also show some of his relatives some
19:00
history out here he was saying that this
19:02
really was the house he's kind of
19:04
reiterating what I was kind of reading
19:05
on the internet that they had to remove
19:06
the wall and they pulled the bodies out
19:09
in the bed
19:10
and then brought them over here that's
19:13
kind of conflicting what the first
19:14
gentleman said I kind of believe the
19:15
first gentleman though this kind of
19:16
makes sense
19:17
that might not have been the house also
19:20
the guy and his granddaughter who are
19:22
now pulling away in that truck over
19:23
there also confirmed that there are two
19:26
houses over this way the first guy was
19:28
telling me about called the Ellis
19:29
property and the guy that just walked
19:31
off the second gentleman that I talked
19:33
to
19:33
stated that it was not 500 in cash it
19:37
was gold possibly 500 worth of gold or
19:40
maybe a lot more gold
19:42
he was saying according to his account
19:44
as being a local
19:45
passed down
19:47
through generations of stories
19:49
that the gold was never found so the
19:52
grandson never got what he thought was
19:54
going to be his reward his jealousy
19:57
that the family which I do believe that
19:59
the house was here
20:02
he had found all the gold
20:04
this could have been gold could have
20:05
been 500 this could have been their
20:08
this could have been their house
20:11
there could have been 500 under the
20:13
floorboards here or there may have been
20:14
a pile of gold under the floorboards
20:18
I do love how stories morph and are told
20:21
through generations whether you know if
20:23
they are true or not
20:26
could be true the wall over there could
20:29
have been removed so they could have
20:30
been pulled out by their bed through
20:31
there
20:32
doesn't make a lot of sense on why that
20:34
would be fact but it could be
20:36
or someone could have just made that up
20:38
and then through the years
20:40
it's restated and reiterated so many
20:42
times that it becomes true
20:45
one thing that is for certain though
20:48
they did perish here
20:50
on this property whether it be in this
20:53
whole pump shed Shack Barn
20:56
or in their Homestead right there
20:58
that has been demolished and torn down
21:01
because they are laid to rest right over
21:18
I'm not seeing a mule house out there
21:18
no mule house remnants could have been
21:20
over in here
21:21
I'm gonna make my way back to the bike
21:23
see if I can find the Ellis property
21:26
the only reason I know it's called the
21:27
Alice property is what the last guy told
21:29
me I'm just going off of what locals are
21:31
telling me
21:32
all unplanned
21:34
something rustling over there
21:42
be a deer a bear
21:42
maybe just the wind
21:45
an interesting Tale
21:58
biting flies and
21:59
I can't hear one by my ear well you
22:01
can't hear it because it's by my ear but
22:06
I can't imagine the Summers as even like
22:06
way more prevalent with bugs
22:12
this could be the real house I don't
22:12
know
22:14
as you know an interesting story
22:17
this would make sense this would be a
22:19
house but I think we're in reality
22:21
the house was right there the first
22:23
gentleman said
22:38
going only off of what two locals just
22:38
told me so there will be a bend in the
22:41
road so I got my bike parked here the
22:43
bend goes to the left extremely to the
22:45
left they said do not follow this this
22:48
should be a pathway Into the Woods
22:51
again this is a horror film start I'm
22:54
gonna see if there's another former
22:55
Homestead back in here
22:57
just based on the two locals that
22:59
approach me it does make sense that this
23:00
would be a former cow pasture because
23:02
you got some of the barbed wire up here
23:04
that has seen better days
23:12
I don't know how far I want to root Into
23:12
the Woods
23:13
especially as I said this is the season
23:15
when people are out here trying to get
23:17
the game
23:19
and I'm not really dressed appropriately
23:21
with bright colors
23:23
so I don't know
23:24
I don't know how far I want to go off
23:25
into the woods it's pretty muddy that
23:27
way too it's like flooded back in there
23:30
maybe not the best idea and I I don't
23:33
even know if this is the road
23:43
there's another
23:43
a little kind of sort of Road there
23:46
got some tracks there too
23:49
now I'm gonna go back it could be
23:51
anywhere back in there
23:52
why not even exist anymore it might just
23:54
be local going off their memory of when
23:56
they were younger
23:58
if it is back there
24:00
a lot of flooding and rain water
24:01
standing rain water back in there as
24:03
well
24:05
and the swamps
24:07
and I do not have a good cell phone
24:09
signal it's got like one bar sometimes
24:11
no bars another time
24:13
can't really look much up
24:15
probably wouldn't be able to see it on
24:17
satellite view anyway
24:18
if it's just remnants but
24:23
at least I got the spot I was looking
24:23
for a lot of standing water
24:30
I'm gonna I'm slowly coming back up but
24:30
when I actually went a little further to
24:31
try to find the other spot which I
24:33
couldn't
24:34
when it comes to the Stewart Place
24:37
which is over in the woods over here
24:40
I stumbled on a video a while back from
24:41
a guy named Florida Trailblazer that's
24:44
how I originally found out about this
24:45
place and then I kind of did a little
24:47
Deep dive on my own
24:48
through other stuff we want to give a
24:49
little mention to him
24:51
he's how I originally heard of the spot
24:54
like a year ago it took me till now
24:56
to get out here
24:58
glad I checked it out okay now I'm
25:00
second guessing myself
25:01
here's another sharp turn maybe this was
25:04
what the locals telling me about and
25:06
this is the path
25:08
gosh I have a second guessing myself I
25:10
don't know
25:16
I don't see anything back in there and I
25:16
sure don't want to go
25:17
yeah I'm not gonna have a walking back
25:19
in there back over at the Stewart place
25:21
now it's right here about to do the four
25:23
and a half mile bike commute back over
25:27
stay hydrated though first
26:12
after talking to that gentleman and his
26:14
family he said he's been going around
26:15
this premises out here for five or six
26:18
years knows this place like the back of
26:20
his hand according to him well I'm
26:22
paraphrasing
26:23
he does not know any of the other cabins
26:26
I was referring to that are down there
26:28
could have been the other local maybe it
26:30
was a memory from his youth that he's
26:33
recalling according to this guy third
26:35
local I've talked to today he confirms
26:37
according to him he does not know of any
26:40
other cabins that are down there that
26:41
are still standing and the Stewart house
26:43
is back in there kind of interesting
26:45
three different groups of families came
26:48
out that guy was showing his
26:51
his family the Stuart house and the guy
26:55
was showing his daughter earlier and
26:57
another guy was showing his
26:58
granddaughter
26:59
and these aren't people these are people
27:00
that are out here doing other things
27:01
they're like oh I got into a tail a
27:04
little folklore a little true story
27:07
out here in the Florida swamp Wilderness
27:10
okay I've been riding my bike for about
27:11
two miles I'm almost towards back
27:13
towards the end
27:14
and one of the original locals had told
27:16
me where it was is going to pick me up
27:19
in his truck I'm going to throw the bike
27:20
at the back and he's going to take me
27:21
down there he's approaching now in this
27:23
truck again this is how horror films
27:26
begin
27:28
everything
27:29
you didn't have a flat dude oh no no
27:31
he's taking me back out there
28:24
okay all the way back now that's the
28:26
Stewart's Place there
28:28
so I'm backtracking all that way
28:41
I love locals kind locals hopefully this
28:41
ends well you start the day you have no
28:43
idea
28:50
in the back of the truck
28:50
yeah this is the right spot this is
28:52
where I was
28:53
yeah well later not it's right there
28:56
oh okay very well yeah so they're over
28:59
there in the woods
29:02
he hadn't been a long ride I'm going
29:04
back if you want to yeah I'll just check
29:05
it real quick and I can kind of right
29:07
back that's like a five mile run yeah
29:24
two houses right here
29:24
so there's one and there's the other one
29:26
there's one hand there's one there and
29:28
one there are two thousands look at this
29:31
thing
29:33
this is great
29:35
yeah
29:37
would I pass right past this look at
29:39
this thing oh my gosh
29:42
this is amazing
29:45
porch here
29:47
oh there's another one around the back
29:49
oh yeah there's two side by side
29:57
holy cow this is amazing
30:05
this is someone's home right here
30:05
was someone's home
30:13
that is awesome
30:16
and I appreciate it wow
30:27
that's cool this is in better shape than
30:27
the sewer place
30:29
yeah they were really in good shape
30:32
I actually think somebody has put some
30:34
implants offer
30:36
the last time I was here there was a
30:38
window there
30:40
oh right here yeah
30:43
where the lady was down
30:45
he said so you said someone from the
30:47
Lakeland Gazette
30:48
somebody over the years it took the
30:51
payment or something off and they said I
30:52
did the quotas from Lakeland years ago
30:55
oh the Lakeland newspaper newspaper to
30:58
come here and we're doing a story and
31:00
took pictures on this and the other one
31:01
and I I was out here talking to me
31:05
about his hands
31:07
that had me
31:08
probably 30 years ago
31:11
was this the one that they said maybe
31:12
there was like a ghost in the window of
31:15
and they developed the film look at that
31:17
wow did somebody stand in the way
31:21
it's neat
31:22
what was the people who owned the
31:24
property's name Ellis Ellis that's what
31:26
it was I couldn't remember what you told
31:27
me this is Ellis Homestead and I think
31:29
this is actually older than that one
31:32
oh there's another one back there let's
31:34
do it of the Stewart one yeah
31:36
well I went right along that main road I
31:38
missed didn't even see this
31:44
are they worse in the summer I hear the
31:44
bugs oh yeah they hadn't been bad for a
31:46
few days
31:54
look at this bathtub
31:54
there's the bathtub
32:02
what season is it right now
32:02
okay
32:06
gotcha
32:07
oil
32:21
this is great yeah thanks thanks for
32:21
showing me this
32:23
yeah that is awesome so this was the
32:24
spot I was at I just walked too far down
32:31
it's over in the woods there I walked
32:31
all the way down there with a flooding
32:32
West
32:55
that's gonna do it for today
32:55
from the back someone's truck that I
32:59
just met
33:01
a couple minutes ago
33:12
I'll see the next video on the Vlog is
33:12
over
34:03
this is how
34:03
horror films begin