Stetson University what better then one of Florida's oldest colleges. At first when moving here to Deland I was so anxious to visit Stetson to look at all the pretty college girls but then I came to the realization that this is a old private college probably with alot of history and ghost to go with that history. I think I had more luck with the ghost then one of the first dates I had since I recently moved to Deland Florida.  I took a lady to Stetson and we sat in front of the fountain on a starry night. Unfortunately she ended up hurting my feelings and cut the date short and I thought to myself here I am sitting here on this bench knowing that a 2 weeks before my date I caught some ectoplasm on the grounds just a few feet away. So if the college women let you down, dump you, ditch you do not fear because the ghost will not let you down here. Stetson is full of many ghost tales I am sure like many universities but seeking the ghost out now that's another task. But when I first drove past it I said wohhh what a eerie looking tower then I was taken.

Stetson is a pretty eerie campus at night most buildings are brick some look Spanish style some are very large while others look like old mansions like the admissions.  The campus is split up by a main road some buildings are dorms, others are halls Etc. So walking around late at night again can be pretty foreboding. I did not spend alot of time my first investigation here I covered the monolithic tower, main building, few halls and the admissions area. But just to walk the grounds and take your time is a real treat. There is so much energy on the property and not just from cute college girls giggling with there books or the ones on roller blades smiling at me  ha but the age of the college and beautiful architecture really makes your mind wander. I believe that the tower is haunted and oldest building on site. I do not need facts to back this up I been working long enough with ghost to know where they are but generally no matter where I walked I felt very watched and even followed. There is alot of trees on campus, bushes, basement windows, the tower, Etc for something supernatural to hide just waiting to be discovered. Perhaps this is why my first visit here I produced some results it is because often people pay no mind to ghost when they visit a college rather they party, drink, live it up and forget about the unseen.

There actually is one ghost story that has been passed around for quite sometime on campus many many years ago. Once there was a secret society like most colleges have where they will use secret words, do dares, task etc etc. Well once there was a lady probably a female college student where four members of this secret society adored. All four men were infatuated with this woman she was very beautiful. Well the men were one night horsing around and the female somehow became unconscious. The men thought they killed her on accident and they panicked. So they took her body and rolled her car into a nearby lake. Well the sad thing was the woman was still alive and she drowned to death. Well over the years the men were haunted by the past but more so her ghost came back. Those that dared talked about it said that her ghost appeared as solid as we are in the physical world and that her ghost looked like you or I. All four men responsible died of strange deaths but more of fright. What scared them was it the ghost of the drowned female coming back from the grave or was it years of guilt? They say that her ghost still roams the campus particularly around Elizabeth Hall where I captured a lot of activity my first visit here ironic isn't it and I did not even have a clue.

Then their is a story about a ghostly dog which was buried near the tower which currently is in the restoration process. Recently August of 2005 I received an email about Chaudoin Hall being haunted. I was told the second floor study room is haunted very late at night. I was told that one early morning roughly 2am they were studying when the desk they were sitting at leaned forward and fell back knocking their papers over. They went to adjust the desk and found out that it did not move at all the person bolted out of their.  Apparently this has happened to others students as well.

We do hope to bring you a few more investigations in the future on the campus we want to take our time with it and each time we go bring you better photos which we will get. Stetsons is one of the most well known colleges in central Florida. Perhaps it is haunted because despite its a place of education it is also a place of religion and like most religious structures we investigate we find them to be more haunted then any other place. But perhaps when  you think about it people die at colleges from drinking and drive, to murders, to accidents its a part of life and its a college from the 1800s where many professors had lived out there years teaching here and passed. So there is alot that remains to be seen here and perhaps in the future we will take some photos inside but basically we wanted to capture something on film and show the public that there is something supernatural at this campus. Many mysteries remain so join us as we walk the dark grounds at night down alleyways, hills, halls to bring you ghost of Stetson.

© By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight

History

By http://www.stetson.edu 

Florida’s first private university, Stetson University was founded in 1883 by Henry A. DeLand, a New York philanthropist, as DeLand Academy. In 1887, the Legislature of the State of Florida enacted the Charter of DeLand University as an independent institution of higher learning. The University’s name was changed in 1889 to honor John B. Stetson, the nationally-known hat manufacturer who gave generously of his time and means to advance the quality and reputation of the institution, and who served, with Mr. DeLand and others, as a founding trustee of the University. The first charter stated the object of the University should be “to promote the general interests of education, and to qualify its students to engage in the learned professions or other employments of society, and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life. Stetson’s first president, Dr. John F. Forbes, clearly described the commitment to teaching that has been a hallmark of the University throughout its history:

“Buildings, libraries and apparatus are good and give added power, but the vital contact of students with a vigorous and stimulating mind and heart--this is the sine qua non of a successful education . . . The most important thing is to find men and women of large heart and mind, apt to teach and full of enthusiasm and stimulating power . . . to develop in the student the habit of independent judgment -- of investigating statements and principles for oneself, and thus for oneself discover their truth or falsity.”

Today, Stetson University is a non-sectarian, comprehensive, private university composed of individually strong undergraduate programs in various colleges and schools, and a selected group of academically distinctive graduate, professional, and continuing education programs. We seek academically talented individuals with leadership potential and records of personal growth and community service. We promote and support scholarly and creative activity among students, faculty, and staff as a means to enhance learning, teaching, and professional development, and as a contribution to the broader base of knowledge.

Approved by the Board of Trustees, February 4, 2000