Hundreds of people on land and on Lake Weir came out to watch as the Barker Hideout home, a historic icon in Marion County, moved to a safe location across the lake.

  • Barker Hideout Home on Lake Weir
  • Site of 1935 FBI shootout that killed the Barker gang
  • Marion County saving home from demolition
  • PREVIOUS STORY: Jan. 16, 2015 -- Haunted Ma Barker house for sale

Barker as in Ma Barker, the matriarch of the Barker Gang, which met its end in this very home in 1935 during a shootout with the FBI.

"They finally were able to catch the Barker Gang and this was part of history that we thought needed to be preserved,” said Marion County Commissioner Kathy Bryant. “So the best way for us to move it was to move it to Carney Island."

The developers who purchased the property said the home would be taken out if it wasn't moved. The county only had a few days to do something.

The county now plans on recreating the scene at the park where Ma Barker and her son Fred hid from law enforcement while on the public enemy list until the FBI found them in 1935.

That's when the longest shootout in FBI history ensued. Historians say you can still see many of the bullet holes inside the home where Ma Barker and Fred Barker both died fighting.

Now that the home has been moved to a new location, locals just hope it continues to tell those stories for future generations.

Marion County is applying for grant programs and is looking at other financial options to build the park. For now, they have created a space at the Carney Island State Park where the home will safely stand.

The Marion County Tax Collectors Office has a section of its website on the Barker Hideout Home, including a vintage photo gallery (WARNING: Graphic Photos).

A haunted house?

(Reported in 2015)

Aside from being a historical landmark, the Barker house also has a reputation for the supernatural.

The owners of the house have long traded stories of furniture moving on its own and conversations in empty rooms.

A Medium held a seance in the 1970s, and told the owners that she had convinced Fred Barker to leave. But Ma Barker refuses to be evicted.

The medium also said the home was a playground of sorts for all kinds of dead mobsters -- including Al Capone.