Ma Barker's House

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Ma Barker – once Public Enemy #1 – met her end along with her son Freddy at this lakefront house in Ocklawaha, FL. The town does a re-enactment of the shootout (which consumed more than 2,000 bullets) every January. Some say the Barkers’ spirits still haunt the place.

The house – still kept as it was in the 1930s – went up for auction in a much-advertised event in late 2012, but no one met the minimum bid of $1 million.

If you've had a paranormal experience here, or have any additional information about this location, please let us know!



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    Geographic Information

    Address:
    SE 132nd Terrace
    Ocklawaha, FL
    United States

    Get Directions »
    GPS:
    29.04139414928762, -81.93323743347713
    County:
    Marion County, Florida
    Nearest Towns:
    Silver Springs Shores, FL (6.8 mi.)
    The Villages, FL (7.6 mi.)
    Belleview, FL (7.9 mi.)
    Lady Lake, FL (8.6 mi.)
    Fruitland Park, FL (12.5 mi.)
    Wildwood, FL (13.7 mi.)
    Lisbon, FL (14.7 mi.)
    Silver Lake, FL (16.0 mi.)
    Ocala, FL (16.0 mi.)
    Leesburg, FL (16.3 mi.)

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    Comments (15)

    1. Kate Ma Barker was my grandfathers cousin and every year on her death anniversary we would visit the home and at night on a full moon u can see kate on her back porch just standing there.

    2. Who do I call if I want to buy this house? My boyfriend and I live in the area and we are trying to buy a house together and this one sounds perfect for us.

    3. I never got email on the questions i asked yesterday. Maybe someone could tell me on this website. Comment Below and please tell me, the price estimation on the house, if the house is up for sale and the phone number of who i can call to get a tour of this house before we buy it.
      Thanks,
      Ella

    4. We dont really care about what happened 100 years ago. We just want a place where we can have the beach in the backyard. We want a place to raise our daughter, some place quite and nice. We dont believe any of these ghost stories, its probably an urban legend like the rest of them. So whenever some one could respond would be great.

      • Hi Ella, This property was last auctioned by Sotheby’s with a minimum bid of $1 million. The state is considering buying it for $899k and adding $100k to address the deferred maintenance issues. I do have other beach properties available well under the $1M mark and far superior properties available for $1M. If you would like to contact me. 352-362-9222 http://www.prettypennyproperties.com
        Allison Penny

    5. Just last weekend we took a ride out there and well let’s just say Snuck onto the property, because we didn’t know if we were allow to look around, well we snapped pictures and wow what I found was a white female shadow in the window and a males fave in the door and also found a males face and clearing wearing a vest with a white shirt in another window. I would love to have been able to get inside. I hope whom ever purchased this property does good things with it like a bed and breakfast and keep all the original furnature that is in there! It was amazing to see.
      Respectfully, Michelle Tangaro, citrus Speings, Florida

    6. For more information, visit Tampabay.com or Google (Retired NY) Officer Don Weiss’ ghost story that was published in late October. Please see the video and decide for yourself.

    7. I’ve got a haunted tale concerning this house with a twist at the end.
      I’m related to the then owners of the home through marriage. I spent several summers in the 80s during and after high school staying in the home, enjoying activities on Lake Weir during the days and family and friends in the evenings.

      One particular summer afternoon when a lot of family was in town, after a day of water skiing, I went upstairs where the bedrooms were to crash for a little bit when it was later but still light out. At the same time, unbeknownst to me, the party moved to the house next door. I woke up sometime afterword to a pitch black house and could clearly hear a man talking in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, but was unable to make out what he was saying. For years there were rumors of the house being haunted and though it creaked during the night sometimes, and with the occasional raccoon scrambling around in the attic, nothing until that point convinced me it was.

      My imagine started to run wild and for a few moments I sat frozen in the bed, but curiosity soon took over and I had to find the source of this clearly audible voice! Got dressed quietly and slowly felt my way downstairs for fear of turning on any lights and alerting whoever or whatever it was. There was in the stairwell a landing where the stairway split with one way leading to the front porch that faces the lake, and the other into the kitchen which was where the taliking man’s voice was still emanating. As I peeked my head into the unlighted kitchen, there was a glowing red object that immediately caught my eye and I instantly knew this was who I was hearing! A restless apparition of Fred Barker?

      Not quite, lol. While I was asleep the phone rang and that’s what woke me up. Back then you could listen to someone leaving the message in real time and that was the voice I was hearing. I assume it was my groggy state that didn’t allow me to make sense of the words. And lastly, this answering machine had a lighted red digital display of how many messages were on the recorder which gave off the eerie red glow. No haunting but a fun memory!

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