Local legend has it that a girl committed suicide in the 1960s by jumping from the Beaty Towers, but no records of any such incident exists. Locals go even farther to say that Tom Petty (who was resident in Gainesville at around this time) wrote the song “American Girl” specifically about this incident. (Tom Petty himself says that’s just an urban legend.)
Anyway, a ghostly figure is reported in the Towers roaming the halls and some of the rooms. Things move without explanation, and strange sounds are heard throughout.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- Beaty Towers
Gainesville, Florida
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 29.6441511, -82.34048530000001
- County:
- Alachua County, Florida
- Nearest Towns:
- Gainesville, FL (1.1 mi.)
Alachua, FL (9.0 mi.)
Micanopy, FL (10.3 mi.)
Archer, FL (13.3 mi.)
La Crosse, FL (14.3 mi.)
Waldo, FL (14.5 mi.)
McIntosh, FL (15.3 mi.)
Hawthorne, FL (15.6 mi.)
Raleigh, FL (15.9 mi.)
Newberry, FL (16.0 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
You can’t open the windows in the beatty towers this definitely an urban legend.
@Jim there’s a tiny window at the bottom of the window below the little tables in the room that can open just enough for someone to squeeze through.
OK, now I don’t even remotely believe in ghosts, but it IS true that you can hear creaking. It is almost certainly from the elevators, but from where my room is, it sounds like it’s coming directly below the bathroom. It’s never above, or from the direction towards the elevator shaft. The sound is loud, echoing… Metal on metal creaking. Nothing paranormal of course, but Beaty is creepy.
It’s worst noting that the very first thing I noticed when I moved in is the smell of death that emanates throughout the hallways of the fifth floor. I haven’t noticed it on any other floors. But it honestly almost always smells like death on the fifth floor. It’s so bad that it almost always makes me feel like throwing up, so I have to run to my room holding my breath haha.
Also it is possible to go to the roof, at least of Beaty East (I am in West, with Innovation) because the Gator Amateur Radio Club has a giant repeater up there. Once again, ghosts are BS but I like paranormal roleplay, and it’s worth noting that that huge source of radiation may act as a magnet to paranormal activity.
If any place here is haunted, though it’s Murphree. That place is old and has always given me the chills. But Beaty’s creepy elevator creaks… glad I’m already in the bathroom because it makes me wanna piss my pants. Also the creaking is only in the night for some weird reason.
Also worth noting is that a lot of my stuff goes missing. I’d put something down, go out, and when I come back, it’s not there, and my roommate is not the type who would want to try to mess with me or come even remotely close to my stuff. 501B folks. Avoid it. If any room in Beaty is haunted, it’s 501B. And that’s coming from ab extremely atheist person who doesn’t at all believe in ghosts. x’D
Let me know if you would like us to debunk these claims of paranormal. Regards Paranormal Investigation Team aka PIT you can email investigators.paranormal@gmail.com
I lived in Beaty West this past fall semester and I too agree it is very creepy, especially the hallways since they are half lit by the lights above. One of the nights when my roommate and I were almost asleep in our beds we heard a rustling noise coming from the end of my roommates bed. It sounded like someone had a plastic bag in their hands and was vigorously crumbling it and tossing it around. We both thought we were just hearing things at first so we both disregarded the sound until it happened two more times. I then screamed for our roommate in the other room to come check it out because we always left our door locked so it couldn’t have been one of our other roommates kidding with us and it seemed to powerful and loud of a sound for it to be a rodent in a bag. When she came in to investigate she didn’t find anything in the room not even a plastic bag anywhere. It definitely sent chills down our spines but we finally sucked it up and went to bed. The incident never happened again after that night.