Annie Russell Theatre

Opened in 1932 at Rollins College and the longest continuously operating theater in Florida, this Italian Romanesque Revival building was named for Annie Russell, a celebrated English-born stage actress who came out of retirement to star in the theater's inaugural season, taught at Rollins until her death from lung disease in 1936, and was honored through a gift from her friend Mary Louise Curtis Bok; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Generations of students and staff describe Annie's ghost, said to wear a lavender gown, appearing in the balcony and applauding performances during rehearsals — her old seat is sometimes heard banging down on its own, and a bust of her likeness has reportedly been seen moved across the theater. Spotting Annie is considered good luck in the theater department. Others report full-body apparitions, floating mist, orbs of light, a top-hatted figure known as the "middle-aisle walker," and a less welcome presence attributed to a former campus security officer. One well-known account describes a student who fell from the light grid while working alone; found injured minutes later, he learned an ambulance had already been called before anyone else knew he'd been hurt.