Cassadaga is a small community in Volusia County, Florida, sometimes called the "Psychic Capital of the World." The Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp was founded here in 1894 by George P. Colby, a medium from upstate New York, and the community has been home to practising psychics and mediums ever since.
The camp is a compact neighbourhood of wooden houses and small shops set among Spanish moss-draped oaks. Several dozen registered mediums offer readings from their homes — you can walk up to one of the posted signs, knock on the door, and book a session. Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, the place has an undeniably strange and atmospheric quality. Colby Memorial Temple holds Sunday services open to the public, including mediumship demonstrations.
The Cassadaga Hotel, built in 1927, is open for overnight stays and has its own resident psychics. The small bookshop on the main street stocks an eclectic collection of metaphysical literature. Cassadaga is about half an hour north of Orlando, making it an easy and unusual day trip — or, if you stay the night, a genuinely atmospheric experience in a place that is unlike anywhere else in Florida.