Originally named the River Runt Spook Floaters, the band played their first gig on July 4th, 1987 at Julie and Donny Davis's 4th of July party. The party was in the neighborhood of Summit, in Anderson Township, Ohio, on the east side of Cincinnati. The band played in the back yard.

The original lineup was Mike Holmes (vocals), Dan Hamilton (guitar, vocals), Matt Jones (drums) and John Geoppinger (bass). Within a few months, Jeff Kearney (keyboards) and Teresa Geoppinger (vocals) also joined the band.

In 1994, the band shortened the name to Spookfloaters and began recording their first CD. Scott Carnder joined the band (bass). The CD, Floatation, was released in the summer of 1996.

The band has had a bunch of additional members, including Jim Connerly (piano, organ), Joe Dzurko (keyboards), Darrin Johnston (trumpet, cornet), Greg Stearns (guitar), Mark Bransfield (percussion, volcals), Greg Moore (woodwinds), Tom Tallisch (sax), Brian Olshesky (sax), Steve Pensky (keyboards), Andy Highlands (keyboards), Ken Fullam (keyboards), and more...

The band's current keyboardist, Max Monks, joined in 2003.