Mysteries of the Marsh

Hello there! I'm Samantha, an eighth-generation Floridian with roots that go back so far, you'd think my family sprouted from the sawgrass.  

My fascination with Florida's untold stories started early. Family road trips meant stopping at every historical marker, abandoned building, and local museum along the way. History wasn’t just something in textbooks—it was my playground. With an Indian burial mound down the street and parents who thought ghost hunting in century-old buildings was the perfect family bonding activity, I learned early on that every corner of this state has a story to tell. Hurricanes meant treasure hunting on the beach, searching for that glint of Spanish silver. Fishing trips were lessons in patience, standing thigh-deep in coastal waters, watching the tides change. And if Florida taught me anything, it’s to never leave home without bug spray. 

For years, I’ve spent my time painting marine life and working on a Southern Gothic novel set in another bayou-shrouded state.  But then, last year, plans emerged to repurpose Jonathan Dickinson State Park, and something inside me snapped. How could a place so steeped in Florida’s history be dismissed so easily? That’s when I realized these stories needed a voice—someone to unearth the shipwrecks and ghost towns, to chronicle the hurricanes and hell-raisers that shaped the Florida we know today.  That’s how Mysteries of the Marsh was born.  

I’ve always been drawn to stories that matter, especially the ones that slip through the cracks. In Florida, every legend, outlaw, and unsolved mystery is tangled up with the land itself—woven into the swamps, the shifting coastlines, and the dense, untamed wilderness. This podcast is my way of pulling them from the shadows and bringing them back into the light.  

Mysteries of the Marsh is my love letter to the state that raised me, and I can't wait to share it with you.