Annie Lytle Elementary School #4 is said to be one of the most haunted places in downtown Jacksonville. Today many drive on the expressway passing by the school viewing its giant billboard that is attached to its roof. Its not only a historical site but its a place of many urban legends, tales, vandals, homeless, and occultist. 

The school was built in roughly 1917 with sort of a Greek revival architecture. I use to have more information then went out to Vegas and lost it. From what I know is the school was named after one of its former principals.  The architect that designed it was Rutledge Holmes and was built by the Florida Engineering & Construction Company which costs $250,000. At one time it overlooked the Riverside Park nearby which is full of homeless people until the I-95 was built. The school was closed in 1973 and despite all the rumors that are told there has never been a single death on the property.  Some say the school closed in June of 1960 I am not sure which one but being abandoned for so long it now is in deplorable condition. 

Over the years many legends have been passed around about the school. The first one is about ceremonial rites of passage that occur here. People say that its a place where many dark cultist practice black magick. I can see signs of this as we encountered many upside pentagrams and other occult symbols around the building. 

The roofs were made of wood and are collapsing but the school itself is made of brick and concrete so most of it is pretty solid. There is signs a fire did occur here as part of the school is very burnt you can see that in the courtyard area.

Anyhow many will here perhaps old stories about a janitor that took the kids in the basement and killed them.  Some say a furnace explosion back in the 60's killed many children, teachers and the janitor and that's why its haunted. Others say the principal was a cannibal and the students that fell asleep in class were sent to him. He then would gut and hang them in a closet of an unused room. Others say the principal went on a killing spree. It is true that there was a furnace accident but nobody was killed in the incident this much I know. 

The school eventually was purchased in the late 90s by Atkinson and Knight when they wanted to build condominiums over it. But much has been debated whether the building should be restored or demolished. There was a fire in 1995 caused by a homeless person probably trying to keep warm. The only police report on the building is a rape where one homeless person sexually assaulted another. 

Despite the evidence of dark rituals that have been performed here most of the other stories you hear are not true. I have read information that people here children ghost, see apparitions in some of the halls, and other odd noises. I am not sure how true it is but this is one eerie looking building.

Unfortunately I did not enter it our new investigator was to scared and stayed behind so this cut our group down to 3. Jason stepped in the school briefly and I peaked my head in but I did not want to leave Ariel behind since her knee was bad she could not make the climb. So we had to abort an inside mission. But from what I seen in the auditorium the roof was collapsed and there was alot of graffiti. 

I do hope for a second visit not sure if we will fit in the itinerary since I will be moving out of Florida in the future due to the lack of investigators, member support, or publicity of all the great work we have done. However if its possible I will try so I can bring some internal paranormal photography.

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Rick-AngelOfThyNight

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