This beautiful campus holds some interesting secrets. Many of the buildings on campus were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and some believe his ghost still wanders the campus, perhaps admiring his work. Some say Wright held Pagan or Wiccan beliefs, while this can not be confirmed he was once quoted saying, "I believe in God, only I spell it Nature."
History
The oldest private college in Florida, Florida Southern was founded in Orlando in 1883 as South Florida Institute. Soon afterward, it moved to Leesburg. In 1885, a college curriculum was added and the college was opened to male and female students. In 1901, the college moved to Sutherland, now Palm Harbor, and in 1906, it was renamed Southern College. The college moved several more times until arriving at its current location in 1922, in 1935 the Trustees adopted the name Florida Southern College. The college comprises more than 60 buildings and is home to the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world. Wright's architectural legacy continues with the commissioning of Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale school of Architecture and a Wright scholar, to design state-of-art dormitories and a humanities building for the College.
Hauntings
Tunnels Below School: Apparently many of the tunnels have been closed for years. Solid reports about the tunnels are hard to come by other than a "creepy feeling", but many swear they are haunted.
Freshmen Women's Dorm: Supposedly the site of several suicides, no solid reports of hauntings but stories about odd noises are often told. Reports that the son of the first President of the college haunts the girls dorm, supposedly he passed away there when he was very young and his spirit still plays in the area.
Water Dome: Ghosts have apparently been seen in the area of the Water Dome.
User Annie Gitana Writes:
In 2006 I began to study at Florida Southern College, I was working on my B.S. in Accounting and most of my classes were in the building right next to the water dome and the library. I used to work all day, so I went to school at night. Classes were from 7-10PM and I would dread the walk at night to my car, when the hallways were empty.
FSC is beautiful during the day, but very creepy at night. The campus and buildings were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and they say that his ghost still haunts the chapel. There are stories Wright was pagan, or even wiccan. The buildings are beautiful, the light coming in through all the windows seems to play on the walls, there are some bricks that have small holes with different colored glass in them so when the sun shines through it is a carnival of colored spots on the walls. Incredible yet strange.
At first I thought I was seeing things, but I could swear I saw shadows moving almost every night. I would hear footsteps, but I would think that since the ceilings were so low that it could be an echo of my own footsteps, of course I would look back and no one was there. I would hear whispers sometimes, and I hated having to go to the bathroo m. Anyway, after a year I changed schools. So when I saw your post I remembered my experiences there.
I know there is an urn containing the ashes of the first president there, people say that they see shadows there and you can feel a cold breeze.
Some stories that fellow students told me was that there are haunted tunnels under the university, that the theater is haunted, and that the first presidents son haunts the girls dormitory. They say he died when he was still a little boy and that the girls would hear footsteps, a ball bouncing, furniture moving and the little boy laugh.
I also heard stories of guys seeing a woman in a flowing gown. And that you could see ghosts around the water dome and strange music would be heard there sometimes.
Contact Information
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