Ghost of Henry Flagler still inhabits college rotunda

Historic City News received reports recently that Henry Flagler and his second wife, Alice, may have taken up permanent residence in the rotunda of the former Ponce de Leon Hotel; a hundred years after their deaths.

Returning students of Flagler College, whose campus occupies the late 19th century architectural landmark building, have had many ghostly experiences that are believed to be attributable to the hotel’s iconic founder.

“In life, Henry Flagler vowed he would never leave his beloved hotel, and it appears he may have kept his promise,” Toni Ray Land writes in an article for Florida Fringe Tourism. “I have always loved the strange and unusual, so I jumped at the chance to come aboard Florida Fringe Tourism. My research is critical in the selection of locations that are featured.”

Long time ghost hunter and member of Peace River Ghost Tracker, Land is an expert in the study of the paranormal. She has investigated many famous ghost sightings in Florida, including the Old Jail in St. Augustine and the haunted opera house in Arcadia.

Henry Morrison Flagler was the oil tycoon who aggregated and built what became the Florida East Coast Railroad, running from Jacksonville to Key West.

Along this line, he built several resort hotels. Although he lived and died further south in Palm Beach, the elaborate Ponce de Leon Hotel resort in St. Augustine was said to be his favorite; and, when he died in 1913, his body was shipped back by train and laid in the rotunda.

According to reports of the day, when the pallbearers began to carry his casket from the hotel to the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church for entombment, the rotunda’s huge doors mysteriously slammed shut as if blown by the wind. The doors were re-opened and the procession continued on to the church.

That afternoon, when the janitor was cleaning up in the rotunda, he reported finding something unusual. There at his feet, he saw the image of Henry Flagler’s face in one of the floor tiles.

The tile was first noticed on the day of the funeral, and is still there today.