Located in the heart of St. Augustine, Florida and taking up several blocks is Flager College. The centerpiece of the entire college is the original Ponce de Leon Hotel building which is considered by the college as a masterpiece of the Spanish Renaissance architecture. Ponce de Leon now serves as a residence hall for students living on campus.
Henry Flagler, who had a rocky relationship with his son Harry put his son in charge of the hotel after his hotel coordinator quit. After a year Harry quit after a fight with his father and returned to Columbia College in New York. He ended up never talking to his father again but did make it to his deathbed but found him unconscious and too late to make things right.
The hotel would go on to serve the high society before being discovered by the movie industry which would make it a popular place to film. The luxurious hotel would soon be the last of three Flager hotels to remain during the Great Depression and drafted into the service for housing and training during World War II.
The hotel would close in the year of 1967 but soon would reopen as a Junior College in 1968 by Dr. F. Roy Carlson. Henry's grandson, Lawerence Lewis would soon get involved due to the Jr. College having financial problems and ended up helping it grow in a 4-year college that still offers some of the top-notch education.
But enough history, let's get into the fun part - the hauntings.
The residence hall, Ponce De Leon, supposedly is home to three spirits found throughout the college according to haunted houses websites.
The first spirit is said to be Henry Flagler himself. Henry died falling down at his Palm Beach home and was laid in state in the hotel's rotunda. But, apparently when it was time to carry the body of Henry out, the doors of the hotel slammed shut and then opened once again to carry his remains to the Mausoleum at Memorial Presbyterian Church.
When a Janitor was cleaning the floor, he saw a thumbnail picture of Henry's face. Some claim that Henry's spirit is trapped in the rotunda. Could this be his way of keeping on eye on his once beloved hotel and the living inhabitants of it?
The other spirit is said to be Henry's second wife Ida Alicia who was the nurse for his first wife. Legend has it she was pushed over the edge by playing an Ouija Board, which I sort of find believable but kind of don't, hey, who I am to know these kinds of things?
It's said Ida haunts the east wing and searches up and down the halls of the building. One student was awoken in the middle of the night to see a female figure staring at her. When she would come back to her room, she would see Ida's face on the door at times.
And the third is said to be Henry's mistress who is described as the women in black. Henry had an ongoing affair with the women who always wore black. When his wife would come home from her trips to help with her mental disorder, he would keep her in a suite far away from his wife and not allowing her to leave the room. It's rumored she went crazy from depression and ended up hanging herself.
The women in black are said to haunt the top floor of the west wing, wandering around perhaps looking for Henry or someone or something else?
More information of the spirits still haunts Ponce de Leon can be found on St. Augustine's ghost blog website.
While spirits still haunt the halls of Ponce de Leon, students can ensure that along with their education a never-ending hunt to find the restless spirits wandering the halls.
