By day, we hear cheers and chants at the pass of a touchdown, but who’s to blame for what goes bump in the night?
FSU is known for its nostalgia, and with over 160 years of history, it is natural for people to assume us lively college kids are not the only ones roaming around campus. One place a haunting may occur: Westcott. While today the Westcott fountain is the place to dive into on your twenty-first birthday with friends at your side, this location had an entirely different reputation back in the 1830s. Known as “Gallow’s Hill,” this now scenic entrance to campus was the location for public executions in Tallahassee. The first hanging recorded was that of a mother who brutally ended her own child’s life. It is said that many that strange noises and hollers can be heard walking past the fountain at night, leaving people wondering if it is the cries of the departed.
For any freshmen music majors in Cawthon Hall, beware of the fifth floor where unusual activity is bound to occur. The story goes that on a hot and sunny day in 1949, when Florida State was an all girl’s intuition, a female student was killed after a quick storm approached and lightning struck the top terrace. The female, Jenny, was not found until days later by her roommates. Since then, residents attest to hearing odd voices and footsteps, having their doors close on their own, and even feeling another presence with them. Sarah Cawthon Edward, the woman who the building is named after, is also said to haunt the halls. She worked at Florida State as a Dean, counseling young women and apparently took her job very seriously. With the Roaring Twenties coming into full swing, so came more drinking, smoking and loose morals, all of which she just could not handle. It is said that this took an emotional toll on her and she was put in a sanitarium after having a nervous breakdown. She never quite recovered from the breakdown or loss of her job and with this, it is said that she still occupies her own building, watching carefully over all the residents.
A less known tale, but still just as frightening, is the story behind the Keen Building. Dr. James Velma Keen performed experimental lobotomies on the top floor, but stopped getting funding from FSU after it became common knowledge that lobotomies were more harmful than helpful to the brain. Dr. Keen did not let this stop him. He would lure homeless people off the street to be his patients, bribing them with food and shelter. Then he would drug them, lobotomize them, and throw them back to the streets again. Since then, the lights in his old experimenting labs never go out and people still wander if it is Dr. Keen himself up all night continuing his unethical procedures.
So this Halloween season, remember to pay extra attention to these haunting sites while passing through in your costumes and chowing down on your candy. You never know who might be watching…
