SoFlo Weird Show Mia Laurenzo

Two fantastic, dark, and eerie stories are featured in Freaky Fiction. The first is Deb Rogers' debut novel, Florida Woman. It's the story of one woman's journey to redemption after going viral for committing an outrageous crime she never intended to commit. When she seizes the opportunity to redeem herself by volunteering at a monkey sanctuary, she soon realizes something far more sinister is going on and wonders if she is in more danger than she was before. We interviewed Deb at the Miami Book Fair to talk about the inspiration behind this intriguing tale. Then, we read Bob Carr's Conch Chowder, a deliciously good story about friends, fishing and tasty conch chowder with a mysterious secret ingredient. Sometimes you just don't want to know how it's made.

One town in Florida has a rich history and unsolved mysteries. There are miles of tunnels beneath the city that may have been used for smuggling, cigars once held secret messages with instructions to launch the Cuban rebellion against Spain and there's a park belonging to Cuba with rogue chickens running wild. This is Ybor City, Tampa’s premier historic district. This gem of a city has a unique and twisted past. In our final episode from our Tampa trip, we speak with Gary Mormino, one of the foremost authorities on Florida history and culture, to get the inside scoop on the city's roots.

The SoFlo Weird Street Team met up with award winning author and reporter Craig Pittman, at the Miami Book Fair. Pittman, a Florida native, worked for The Tampa Bay Times, where his environmental reporting garnered him multiple regional and national honors.
He is the co-host of the Welcome to Florida podcast and the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country. The Florida Heritage Book Festival named him a Florida Literary Legend in 2020. We spoke with Craig about his work, what he enjoys about this strange and bizarre state and his book Manatee Insanity: Inside The War Over Florida's Most Famous Endangered Species.

In another installment of our SoFlo Weird Street Team Tampa Trip we explore the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. Taking up an entire city block at 52,000 square feet, which includes 6,000 just for the kitchen, and seating for up to 1,700 people, the Columbia holds the title for the largest Spanish Restaurant in the world. Over 100 years old and with 5 generations of family run ownership, we sat down with the current owner and operator Andrea Gonzmart Williams of the Columbia Restaurant Group to discuss the trials, tales and success of this Tampa gem.

The SoFlo team met Brian Kramer and Donna Lyman of Paranormal Adventures on a late-night ghost hunt at the St Augustine Lighthouse. They discuss their investigations and give tips on what they've learned on their paranormal journey as the busiest ghost chasers in Florida. What's strange is how their interest in ghost hunting began. Then we highlight a few of Florida's apparitions, Specters, and Spirits.

The SoFlo Weird Team hit the streets of Tampa to explore it's sordid past. Historic Ybor City was once a hotbed for criminal activity during prohibition, only second to New York City. From bolita and bootlegging to a turf war that led to the Era of Blood, we sought to get the real scoop on the seedier side of Tampa’s history with mob expert, author and historian, Scott Deitche. Then, we take a look at the women who had an active role in Tampa’s old bolita lotteries in Tales From The Vice Squad.