JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – We've all heard the tales of Public School Number Four. Some say it's haunted and some tell ghost stories about the children who attended classes at Annie Lytle Elementary School.
It seems every October, people want to visit the so-called "haunted" schoolhouse below Interstate 95 in Brooklyn in attempts to see a ghost or spirit that haunts the abandoned building.
"There's rumors out there that the building is haunted ... that terrible things happened to kids when it was running as a school. ... The boiler never exploded and killed kids. ... The janitor never killed kids," said Paul Bremer, with the Annie Lytle Preservation Group. "It's all nonsense. It never happened."
The Annie Lytle Preservation Group has put up signs, letting you know the thing you need fear is a trip to jail, not ghosts.
"We don't want vandalism to happen anymore. We don't want graffiti to happen anymore. And, more importantly, we don't want anyone to get hurt in the building," Bremer said.
The Annie Lytle Preservation Group is warning trespassers that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has ramped up security ahead of Halloween. The group took to Facebook to warn people to stay out.
"We cannot stress this enough — YOU WILL GET ARRESTED IF YOU ARE CAUGHT TRESPASSING ON THE PROPERTY," the group said. "We partner very closely with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office - there are no excuses!"
"We had almost 10 people arrested just this weekend -- Saturday and Sunday in three different groups of people. JSO was here. Another group showed up to obviously get into the school. JSO ran them off," Bremer told News4Jax.
The group said there will be 24/7 security and members are adamant that the building is not haunted.
In the past, the old school building has been defaced, set on fire, broken into and littered with trash from trespassers.
ATTENTION!!! We cannot stress this enough - YOU WILL GET ARRESTED IF YOU ARE CAUGHT TRESPASSING ON THE PROPERTY. We...
Posted by Annie Lytle Preservation Group on Tuesday, October 22, 2019