Cawthorn Hall

Dogwood Way (FSU Campus)

Tallahassee, Florida

Cawthorn Hall was named after a former professor named Sarah Cawthorn Edward Conradi was president of Florida State in 1910 when the college was an all women's college. One of his responsibilities was to hire staff . Mr. Conradi hired the widow Cawthorn as Dean to counsel the young women in appropriateness of "lady like behavior" to enable them to succeed in society. Mrs. Cawthorn approached her job duties with a serious attitude and worked diligently with the young woman, however as the end of the decade came and went …the roaring 20s brought students with new open ways of thinking, dress, flamboyant hairstyles, public drinking and smoking. With these women came streaks of rebelliousness that "Tissie" as Mrs. Cawthorn was called was not prepared for nor could tolerate. It is believed that "Tissie" suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to a sanitarium. Tissie never fully recovered from her ordeal and never got over the lose of her job at the college in 1925. For many years now students have been experiencing paranormal phenomena at Cawthorn Hall, lights turning themselves off and on, doors slamming, someone brushing past them, the feel of an unseen hand on a shoulder, the sound of a sigh, and some times the distant sound of weeping. Could this be the place in death that Mrs. Cawthorn who so loved it in life has chosen to return to??????????