Florida's DEAD ZONE

The Dead Zone is a small, quarter of a mile tract of Interstate 4 found in Seminole County--just north of Orlando and at the south end of the St. John's River bridge.

In the mid to late 1800s, the area was known as St. Joseph's Colony, a small Roman Catholic sponsored settlement.  The settlement never did thrive due to the high rate of disease and natural disaster...and when four family members (two adults and two children) succumbed to yellow fever in 1885, there wasn't even a priest to deliver the last rites.

The family was buried, and the settlement turned over to agricultural land.  The owners of the parcel of land holding the graves of the small family worked around the burial site, never disturbing the graves.  Locals dubbed this area the Field of the Dead, although no paranormal activity was ever reported.

In 1960, the state of Florida took possession of this property to extend the interstate.  The graves were noted, but were considered historically insignificant...and the highway's eastbound lanes built directly atop.  During construction, Hurricane Donna roared through the area, temporarily setting back construction...and was seen by many as a first warning sign of what was to come.

Today, this small section of highway is plagued with a host of paranormal problems.  When most people think of a "Dead Zone," it generally means an area where cell phones do not work.  In THIS Dead Zone, cell phones are still operable, but are subject to strange, staticy interference and even messages from what many believe are voices of the dead.  Radios also tend to act up, and strange fog and light anomalies are witnessed.  There also seem to be a higher number of phantom hitchhikers and phantom vehicles, mainly trucks.

Even more disturbing is the high rate of accidents this 1/4 of a mile stretch of highway sees.  According to one source, over 2,000 accidents have been reported between 1963 and 2006-just in that quarter of a mile stretch!

The above info is from Suburban Legends by Sam Stall