The Princess & the Plantation: Anna Madgigine Jai and the Ghosts of Kingsley Plantation

Kingsley Plantation is often remembered for its hauntings, but the person most often reduced to legend is the woman who ran it. In this episode, we learn about Anna Kingsley (born Anta Madjiguène Ndiaye, also known as Anna Kingsley, Anta Majigeen Njaay or Anna Madgigine Jai,): a West African princess who was enslaved as a child and later became a plantation matriarch, landowner, and one of the most powerful free Black women in Florida before the Civil War.By tracing Anta’s life alongside the ghost stories tied to Kingsley Plantation in Jacksonville, Florida, this episode explores how history, race, and folklore become entangled...and how racial attitudes determine what stories are preserved and what shape they take.https://citegeistpod.com/Have a ghost story you want to share? Leave a voice note or send an en email at https://citegeistpod.com/contact Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/citegeistpod Personal Instagram: http://instagram.com/joshua.spellmanChannel illustration by GiAnna Ligammari: https://virtualgia.com/GiAnna's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtualgia.zipRoyalty Free Music: "Behind the Veil" by 8er41 Underwater sounds - loopable by carmsie -- https://freesound.org/s/329915/ -- License: Attribution 3.0SOURCES“1860 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com.” n.d. Accessed January 3, 2026. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/7667/records/7331642.“AncestryLibrary.Com - Florida, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1810-1974.” n.d. Accessed January 12, 2021. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/8993/images/005886187_00016?usePUB=true&_phsrc=eBA241&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=120668.“Anna and Zephaniah Kingsley.” 2018. Celebrating Our History, September 22. https://uncoveringjax.wordpress.com/anna-and-zephaniah-kingsley/.“Anna Kingsley: A Free Woman.” n.d. OAH Magazine of History, 3.“Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley - Division of Historical Resources - Florida Department of State.” n.d. Accessed January 3, 2026. https://dos.fl.gov/historical/museums/historical-museums/united-connections/women-in-history/anna-madgigine-jai-kingsley/.“Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley (1793-1870) - Find a...” n.d. Accessed January 3, 2026. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7698327/anna_madgigine_jai-kingsley.“Black History Month: The Ghosts of Kingsley Plantation.” 2011. Haunt Jaunts, February 25. https://www.hauntjaunts.net/black-history-month-the-ghosts-of-kingsley-plantation/.Card, Michael. n.d. “Guest Column: The Amazing Inter-Racial Story of Anna and Zephaniah Kingsley.” The Palm Beach Post. Accessed January 11, 2021. https://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/20191103/guest-column-amazing-inter-racial-story-of-anna-and-zephaniah-kingsley.Groove, Buddha. 2019. “The Spiritual Significance of Peacocks.” Balance, November 29. https://blog.buddhagroove.com/the-spiritual-significance-of-peacocks/.Jacksonville, Mailing Address: 12713 Fort Caroline Road, and FL 32225 Phone: [phone] Contact Us. n.d. “Anna Kingsley: A Free Woman - Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve (U.S. National Park Service).” Accessed January 11, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/timu/learn/historyculture/kp_anna_freewoman.htm.Jaxson, The. n.d. “Old Red Eyes And The Ghosts Of Kingsley Plantation.” Accessed January 9, 2021. https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/old-red-eyes-and-the-ghosts-of-kingsley-plantation/.leral, La rédaction de. n.d. “ANNA KINGSLEY... ou ANTA MADGIGIN NJAÏ - ANTA MADJIGUENE NDIAYE.” Leral.net - S’informer en temps réel. Accessed January 11, 2021. https://www.leral.net/ANNA-KINGSLEY-ou-ANTA-MADGIGIN-NJAI-ANTA-MADJIGUENE-NDIAYE_a263761.html.Schafer, Daniel L. 2018. Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner (Revised and Expanded Edition). University Press of Florida.Soergel, Matt. n.d. “For UNF’s Dan Schafer, Local History Is Life’s Work.” The Florida Times-Union. Accessed January 4, 2026. https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2018/05/16/for-unfs-dan-schafer-local-history-is-lifes-work/12218949007/.The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered, dir. 2024. Anna Kingsley. 16:35. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTKmew88jSg.“Weird Florida.” n.d. Accessed January 10, 2021. http://www.weirdus.com/states/florida/road_less_traveled/old_red_eyes/index.php.Wikipedia. 2020. “Kingsley Plantation.” June 29. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kingsley_Plantation&oldid=965199923.Wikipedia. 2021. “Zephaniah Kingsley.” January 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zephaniah_Kingsley&oldid=998872813.