The Sunshine Skyway Bridge crosses Tampa Bay between St. Petersburg and Sarasota, Florida on Highway 41. The bridge is about 5 1/2 miles long and was originally built in 1954.
The stories of the hauntings started in the 60s and 70s and the stories tell of the ghost of a blonde haired girl wearing a T-shirt who is seen at the top of the bridge. Witnesses have also reported seeing her hitchhiking on the approach to the bridge. Some reports say people would even pick her up and she was very anxious to get to the other side of the bridge. She appeared to get more nervous as she got to the top of the bridge and the drivers found out that when they turned around once they reached top the bridge that she had vanished. To this day she’s never been identified but it is believed that she is one of the many people who committed suicide by jumping off the original sunshine Skyway Bridge. She seemed to appear most when it’s foggy.
In May of 1980 in the original southbound span of the Skyway bridge was destroyed when a freighter ran into it on a stormy day. It seems that the young lady hitchhiker ghost hasn’t been seen since that span was destroyed more than 20 years ago. However, the tragic accident of 1980 appears to have spawned another haunting of the Skyway Bridge. This one involves the Greyhound bus that was on the bus that was on the bridge that morning and plummeted 200 feet down into the water of Tampa Bay when the bridge collapsed. None of the people on board the bridge board the bus survived and 35 people total were killed. Witnesses have reported seeing a shadowy image of the bus driving down the remaining span of the bridge involved in the accident which then turned into a fishing pier. They say they can see the driver staring straight ahead doing his job and others say there’s a lady at the back of the bus looking out the window smiling and waving. The bus just keeps right on driving and disappears at the end of the pier. So are the stories true? You could always take a trip down to St. Petersburg and drive across the bridge and find out for yourself…