Jaxlore: Folklore, Urban Legends, and Regionalisms

3. The Devil’s School: Legend Tripping with Annie Lytle
Jacksonville – Brooklyn


Image courtesy of David Gano

The former Annie Lytle Elementary School, alias Public School Four, has been called the “most haunted place in Jacksonville,” a reputation Metro Jacksonville has covered before. With urban myths abounding, the abandoned landmark is the premier local site for “legend-tripping”: the right of passage in which young adults brave locations associated with frightening legends for purposes of initiation, rebellion, or simple entertainment.
 
The schoolhouse dates to 1917, a time when the city considered education such a lofty imperative as to demand monumental architecture. It was renamed in the 195os after its longtime principal, Annie Lytle Housh. The school closed in 1960 after years of decline due to age, size limitations, and isolating expressway construction. The building became an administrative facility until being condemned and abandoned in 1971.
 
Legend-trippers started flocking in soon after, attracted by two key qualities: the formidable edifice is foreboding, and yet highly visible. It can be seen from I-95, firing many a youthful imagination and ensuring that well-placed graffiti will be seen by thousands. Around the 1980s, the age of heavy metal and moral panics about satanic cults, the building gained a reputation as a haven of diabolical activity, increasing its legend-tripping cachet and earning it the nickname “The Devil’s School.”



Image courtesy of YourMainParadox

Legend-trips begin with an “introduction”, where trippers recount legends about the destination.  The “Devil’s School” is reputed to be haunted, and has accumulated several outrageous legends accounting for this. Common variants tell of schoolchildren killed by a boiler explosion; by a psychotic janitor; or, most absurdly, by a cannibal principal who devoured students sent to the office.  As with most tripping situations, the stories have no basis in reality and vary from telling to telling; their true function is to set the appropriate mood for a trip into the tenebrous unknown.

Next comes the “enactment”, or what actually happens on the trip. This may involve “sensing” the resident spirits or performing some designated activity. As nearly any photo of the building shows, enactment at the Devil’s School often involves graffiti tagging. Finally, departing trippers craft “retrospective personal narratives” about their experience to include next time around.


Image courtesy of David Gano
 
Annie Lytle School means a great deal to First Coast legend-trippers, but vandalism, weather damage due to busted windows, and two fires have taken a heavy toll.  Fortunately, advocates now offer a way to explore the structure while helping preserve it through organized cleanups. Despite these travails, Annie Lytle Schools still stands, awaiting its chance at the renewal now sweeping Brooklyn.