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Mirror Lake Condos
Jan. 2, 2021
This is one of those investigations that I have waited decades (literally) to do. This location has been covered in multiple sources (newspaper, books, and teelevision).
History:
Public school: 1919-1926
High school: 1926 - 1931
Saint Petersburg Girl's Junior High School: 1931 - 1964
Mirror Lake Adult Education Center: 1967 - 1985
1991: Transfomed into condominiums
2004/5: Remodeled
Structure: Four story building facing the lake with an atrium in the middle; Mission Revival Style
Reported activity:
Starts as early as the 1940s via the students, staff, and faculty.
3, 4, Attic floors: hallway and residential lights flicker (checked but no known cause found).
Sounds: scurrying, scratching, sounds of a dog scratching at doors
Police have been called due to lights/activity but areas are found locked, no one in there, and activity stops. Only when the police leave does the activity start again.
First floor, foyer: 16 year old male, buzz cut, white sweatshirt with dark stripe in middle, dark pants is seen -- appears to be a full bodied apparition. Walks with his head bowed on the 3rd, 4th floors and is seen in the auditorium. Is seen walking through walls or closed doors. Looks down as if looking for something or as if holding something in his hands. Some think he is looking at a photo of his girlfriend, or remorseful that he did not confess his love to her before an untimely death. (oral legend, not confirmed). Seen at 11 PM to 4 or 5 AM.
There are deaths of students recorded; car accidents, wars, murders and other such things. The sweatshirt appears to b a pattern from the 1950s.
Sounds of ghostly students and staff walking the halls.
Information from: Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore Vol. 3. Greg Jenkins. 2007. Sarasota: Pineapple Press
From the Tampa Bay Times (2005): https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/09/26/school-spirit/
Residents reports: "I was crossing my bedroom one day, and I looked down the hallway. I saw a man standing with his hand on my dining room chair, looking over the biology lab where I live. He was a thin man, maybe 5 feet 10 inches, wearing a white shirt and a thin gray tie." (Man vanished within seconds).
"Giggling girls who are never seen, old-time music without a radio and flying shoes are but a few of the incidents that seem to imply that Old St. Pete High is haunted!"
"One resident isn't sure if she's visited by two young girls or a boy and a girl. She has heard giggling and whispering and, occasionally, she says, they like to tilt her pictures".
Also knocking on doors. One contractor working on the roof heard someone coming up the roof hatch, but when he looked it was empty. The next day, he found a heavy piece of material moved from its location. No known reason.
One person saw their shoe being thrown down the hall.
Brandy: I remember watching a program that talked about hauntings, possibly "Unsolved Mysteries" that talked about the building. The sounds of school children in the halls, bells ringing between classes, and a biology teacher haunting the building. Also a vague memory of some sort of "odd object" -- like a large ball of energy -- rolling through the building.
Home owner reports: A ghost cat has been seen on the second and third floors. It is possibly the cat belonging to a former principal when it was a school. Also, "my son saw an attractive woman walking in one of the 2nd floor hallways. He looked away briefly, and when he looked back, she was gone. Also, my husband and son were doing work in the bedroom closet when they heard knocking coming back through the wall at them from the other condo, but when the two went to talk with the other condo owner, she was just walking into the building. She hadn't been home during that time and did not make the noise."
Home owner also reported that her sister had an experience seeing the ghost cat. "The cat was the only thing that I saw walking down the hallway. It was like a tiger cat, but gray and white striped." She also reporting hearing sounds from the other bedroom in the condo, even though its occupant was away travelling.
Other: One resident said that he felt as if he were being choked (though attributed perhaps to health rather than haunting). Second floor.
One resident told us that she has a light that turns itself on so often that she ended up taking the lightbulb out to stop it. (First floor/foyer area).
Another resident reported seeing the ghost of her own cat (first floor).
Listen to the 16 second point, "Get Out". This sound was captured both on audio recorder and on video.
