Annie Russell Theatre

The Haunting

Annie Russell is widely believed to haunt this theatre named for her in the early 1930's. She was a teacher and director at Rollins College. She has been seen and even spoken to by numerous people. There are stories of former students who had encounters with Annie while working in the theatre on audition pieces, sets, or lights. One story in particular that sticks in my mind is there was a guy who was working alone in the theatre on the light grid. Suddenly he fell off the ladder. He was all alone in the theatre and lay there for a few minutes. Someone came in a few minutes later and saw him laying there. The person immediately went to call an ambulance and was told that they had already been called and one was on it way. A minute later, an ambulance appeared and took the injured boy to the hospital. There was no one in the theatre when that boy was initially injured. There have been other stories of people seeing Annie's statue (a bust of her head) moving across the theatre. Also, Annie had a seat that she always sat in when she watched rehearsals- that seat has often been heard banging up and down, pulled down when no one was sitting in it, and clapping has been heard coming from that area of the theatre.