Be afraid: Tampa's spookiest haunted places

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How do you get into the Halloween spirit?

There's no shortage of haunted houses and spooky thrill rides this weekend, but for a truly ghostly experience in the Bay Area, you don't need to head to a theme park. Many of Tampa's historic buildings are said to be hot spots for paranormal activity and Ybor City is at the heart of it.

For a side of the spirit world with your steak, the Carne Chophouse Restaurant is said to be haunted by numerous ghosts. Employees say strange things happen in the restaurant's second story kitchen.

"I do some food running so I'm in the kitchen a lot up and down the steps so I definitely feel like there's an energy difference between the downstairs and upstairs," said host Michael Hambrick, who'd been told the restaurant is believed to be haunted but had never been told one of its tales.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily for him, Ybor City Ghost Adventures tour guide Chrissy Koplenik was in the restaurant Friday to fill him in.

"Legend has it that a fire fire broke out in the kitchen in the 1800s and all of the kitchen workers died that night," explained Koplenik, who says a mobster shot and killed through a front window haunts one of the dining room's booths.

"They say that if you sit here long enough you can actually feel the mobster sit next to you," said Koplenik.

From jilted lovers, upset actors and a drowned child at the Cuban Club to a deranged doctor haunting the former Don Vicente Hotel, Ybor city has no shortage of ghost stories. Its haunts have helped put Ybor City on the Travel Channel's Top 10 Most Haunted list.