#abandonedproperty

YES THEY DO! The thing is, we don’t always hear them because we’re not paying attention. AND sometimes we hear the message BUT it’s the messenger that we don’t want to hear from. AND SOMETIMES THAT MESSENGER FOLLOWS YOU HOME… February 2020 EVERY TRIP TO the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys has been eventful in some way, shape OR form. There’s always some knew find, whether it be an old dorm that…

WHILE I DO consider myself lucky to be able to help, this was one of those times when being “first” was definitely NOT something that I was excited about. If anything, I felt angry, sad & disgusted because had evil NEVER crossed the paths of these boys, this place would be nothing more than a bunch of abandoned buildings that yet another small town decided to let nature have its way with. Believe it OR not, I’d much rather be boring people with random photos of old cemeteries, instead of driving everybody in my world bat sh$t crazy with my incessant need to help get justice…Especially if it means that the events of Dozier NEVER happened! caged in AFTER SPENDING A considerable amount of time taking video of the front room, I could NO longer stall. It was time to see the rest. CLICK FOR VIDEO: Whitehouse Damage THE HALLWAY WAS not very long BUT the amount of horror packed into it was neverending. It was dimly lit, however, it was still easy to see the 3 narrow openings lining each side. They were doorways. I stepped through the 1st on the left & found myself standing in a room not much bigger than a broom closet.

NEAR THE TOP of the back wall was a small rectangle that allowed just enough light in to avoid being in total darkness. There was grating secured to the opening which casted a creepy pattern on the walls.

a room with NO view

ONE OF THE most disturbing things about these wannabe windows was how from the outside they looked full size. Whether they had originally been OR not, I don’t know BUT my gut tells me that they were intentionally built this way as to fool the outside world into thinking that all was on the up & up. THE NEXT TWO “rooms” were similar. The 4th had what looked to be some type of spigot coming out of the wall & the last room on the right had a toilet in the back corner. It then dawned on me that these were tiny jail cells. I looked more closely at the door frame & could see thick, rusted metal joints where the doors had once been attached. I WAS WELL aware of the claim that the Whitehouse was built specifically to be used for “solitary confinement”, however, the place wasn’t fit to hold animals let alone children. As I crossed the hall to enter the last room, I noticed a broken wood panel that sectioned off the hallway from a slightly larger room in the back. Carved into the wood were a bunch of names… “We Were Here” I RAN MY hand over the wood & closed my eyes for a second…And nearly peed my pants when a voice broke the silence! “I don’t think you’re supposed to be in here.” It was my husband (Did I mention that the hubs had come with me? No? Well it’s probably because he stayed in the car 95% of the time we were there!) who had apparently come in behind me. Even he was a shocked, commenting on how extreme it was to put children into such inhumane conditions. WELL NO SHIT…

THINGS CAN ALWAYS GET WORSE! YES THEY CAN! I would have NEVER believed that after what I’d already seen BUT I had yet to go into the horror that was the last room, so I had NO clue what was waiting for me…

the last room on the left

IT WAS THE 6th & final room (I’d find out at a later date that this wasn’t the last!) The last room on the right. This time there was a door on the back wall that led to the outside, although it appeared to be sealed off from the inside. The floors were caked with layers of muck but it was the back, right corner that had me concerned as on top of the old debris there were a bunch of pine needles, some of them singed, were arranged into a pile. There were cigarette butts stacked in & around the pine needles & ALL of it was covered with some type of oily substance. In the moment, I didn’t really know the importance of what I was looking at BUT I would soon enough…

THE ROOM WAS something out of a horror movie! If you want to see what it’s like fro the comfort of your own home, you can check out the movie “Saw”…You’ll get the picture. EVERY one of the 4 walls were covered with old stains…There were blood stains as well as stains that I’m pretty sure came from vomit if the smell was any indicator. Additionally, I noticed some paint in several places throughout the room. The pattern showed that it had been dripping down the walls, drying in the process. The paint was dark green, the exact shade of the outer trim was painted.

AND THEN THERE were the handprints…NOT just Handprints BUT also claw marks. So Long & deep that it was as if they were embedded into soft clay instead of the hard surfaces of the walls. They were everywhere. There was even one that looked like it was gripping the door frame, as if they were trying to prevent someone from dragging them off.

AFTER SPENDING A considerable amount of time inside of the hell hole called the Whitehouse, I honestly couldn’t stand to be inside of it for even one more minute. I felt that I had gotten as much evidence as I could get. I walked out with 2 videos & at least 200 photos. I took another few minutes to take a few more of the back & sides of the building, focusing on a particular depression in the ground. I had been given info from several former students that remains may be buried next to the WH. The depression was a perfect rectangle & the grass on top was brown. The grass all around this one spot was full & green, making it really stand out.

WHETHER OR NOT this is a grave, I really can’t say BUT I will say that I wouldn’t be shocked if it was.

A SIGN FROM BEYOND? I WAS BUMMED that it was almost time to leave. There was roughly 1200 acres that I wanted to explore & I knew that there was NO way I would be seeing even 1 entire acre. Every trip leaves me with the fear that something major will happen before I can get back. This time wasn’t any different. The ONLY bright spot of this trip were the big, beautiful butterflies all around me. In the past, it has always been still & quiet. NO animals (sans the freaking snakes!), NO crickets chirping, NO birds singing. Other than the constant buzzing of the prehistoric sized mosquitoes there was NOTHING!

IN MY HEART I’d like to believe that they were a sign of good things to come…Maybe even sent by the boys who had yet to make it home. In any case, it was encouraging to see a little bit of life in such a dark place.

PANDORA’S BOX IS WIDE OPEN A WEEK LATER I was back home editing the photos I had taken & decided to send an email to “M”, who had given me the info about the vandalism of the Whitehouse. I explained that the original photos he’d received (the same photos he’d sent to me) did NOT accurately depict the amount of damage that had actually been done. I also told him about the empty containers of flammable liquid that I found stuffed under a work trailer just a few yards away from the WH (Remember that oily residue & the singed pine needle in the WH that I mentioned earlier? Makes more sense now, doesn’t it?). The response I got was a mixture of excitement & frustration, along with a request to see the photos that I had taken.

flammable liquid

OF COURSE I immediately agreed & spent the next few days going through them all, picking out what I felt were the most important & numbering each one. I then created an index that included a description of every single photo & emailed everything as requested. Initially I held back on sending the videos that I had taken because I have tremendous respect for this man & his family…The last thing that I wanted to do is cause them ANY more pain.

IN THE END, I mentioned that I had them & finally decided to send them. CLICK FOR VIDEO: Whitehouse Video OUT OF THE SHADOWS WHEN I FIRST emailed those photos, I knew that they were going to be turned over to officials as proof that Marianna was still as corrupt as ever, however, it never occurred to me that the watermark on those photos would basically “Out” me! Fortunately, “M” caught it & was nice enough to ask me if I was Ok with having people know where they came from. I took a minute to consider the impact of my name being out there & decided to go for it. I told him to send everything as. I’d much rather know & be prepared than not know & be ambushed. If I made the decision at least I’d have some control (At least I hope!!) over the situation. AS OF TODAY, those 30 photos & 2 videos are continuing to create quite a stir around Tallahassee. In an email that I received around Thanksgiving, I was informed that “M’s” phone started ringing off the hook within 24 hours of him forwarding everything. He also told me that what I was doing was important, that I was doing a great job & it would be me & my generation that would ultimately see this through to the end once he & all of the others were gone. That made me sad to hear as I want him & the other WHBs to see a resolution in their lifetime. They deserve their happy ending. *CLICK LINK FOR MORE PHOTOS* Dozier Nov 2019 Full Album HIS WORDS MEANT so much to me. This is why I will continue to fight with them, even on the hardest days…And I will do my damndest NOT to let them down.

☆ IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW SUFFERED ABUSE, PASSED AWAY, WENT MISSING OR WITNESSED ANY WRONGDOINGS WHILE AT “THE FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS” AKA “THE ARTHUR G. DOZIER SCHOOL FOR BOYS” OR THE OKEECHOBEE SCHOOL FOR BOYS, PLEASE REACH OUT AT findingflorida.blog OR ANY OF THE CONTACT INFO LISTED BELOW!!☆

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ON A CHILLY morning in early November, under a clear blue sky, we pulled up to the South Campus of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. This would be my 7th trip to the school BUT this time would be very different! This time I wouldn’t be standing outside of the fence that surrounded the South Campus, trying to concoct a scheme to get inside because there was NO longer a reason to do so. While the tall fence remained in place, the gate keeping the world from finding out the truth was gone. I was FINALLY going to get inside! It was ALL happening on my 41st birthday…Talk about having a full circle moment! THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE WE DROVE RIGHT onto the main road that wound its way through the 1200 acres that made up the South Campus…And straight into the line of sight of a Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy who was exiting the campus. Well Damn, Here it was! I had fought for 4 years for access ONLY to be thrown back off when I was only feet inside! I held my breath & braced for a confrontation…It NEVER came! The deputy never even slowed down. He just looked over at us, saluted & nodded. WTF is up with this place??? An Old Guard Shack At The South Campus Entrance AS WE FOLLOWED the road up a steep hill, I tried to take it all in. There were buildings as far as the eye could see & a bunch of dorms off in the distance. Remnants of the havoc that Hurricane Michael had unleashed on the Panhandle were still visible everywhere BUT for the most part, this side of the road appeared to be in much better shape than the side that was the North Campus. WHEN WE FINALLY stopped, I got out to try to get my bearings. As I stood there & took everything in, I was amazed at how different it all looked closeup…And then I happened to look up & was surprised to see that I was standing under the AGDSB water tower. It was so massive that it looked like it was next to the sun.

MY PRIORITY WAS to find the Whitehouse & photograph it. A little over a month before, I had been given info that the WH had been vandalized. Upon being called out on this, an official responded to to a WHB (whom I’ll be referring to as “M” from now on) regarding the issue by sending a half-ass promise to look into the matter along with several photos of the outside of the small building. Unfortunately, the photos were taken from a good distance away & ALL of them were at an angle, so you couldn’t see much…Other than the yellow crime scene tape around the outside. For some reason “M” had been kind enough to forward me the entire interaction, photos & all. That was the exact moment that I had decided it was time to make another trip to Marianna. TAKING A DETOUR THERE ARE A number of things that the Arthur G Dozier School For Boys are known for (besides child abuse & murder). One of those things is the campus print shop. Initially, the print shop was used to print campus publications like “The Light”, however, it soon became another way to exploit the boys in order to make money by offering up printing services all over the State of Florida. At one point, ALL of the printing for our fine politicians in Tallahassee came out of Dozier…Guess that’s one way to get politicians in your back pocket… Boys Working In The Printshop ~ 1950’s

THE BUILDING AS a whole seemed to be holding up well, although a number of the windows had been broken. I stepped inside into a small room that was empty except for some type of equipment on the floor in one of the corners.

THE ROOM TO the left was large & bright with concrete floors. It looked like a garage with its big bay doors. Of course, those doors were broken BUT hey, at least the view of the property behind it was unobstructed.

ON THE OTHER side was a small,  L-shaped room. It was dark & the focal point of the room was some type of old printing machinery that was still bolted to the wall. Directly across from it was a door that stood partially open. I peeked in BUT there was NO way in Hell that I was going all the way inside because it was pitch black! I pulled out my flashlight & used it to scan the room. I was able to make out some shallow sinks on one side & a bunch of metal racks on another. A 3rd wall had some type of long, man made wooden table against it. Maybe this was an area used for photo development?

HAVING SEEN ALL there was to see, I  exited out the same way that I had come in & started back up the steep concrete path. It was as I reached the top of that incline that I saw it.                                             

A TIME CAPSULE FOR EVIL

THE MOST NOTORIOUS building at the AGDSB sat at the top of a hill, its white cinderblocks forming a perfect square. Looking at it from the outside one might think it was just another empty structure, quite possibly passing right by it…Except for the bright yellow crime scene tape framing its perimeter.

FEELING THE URGENCY to get to it, I started to run. It was when I was only about a foot away that I noticed the that the front door was slightly ajar. I was totally confused because that door should have been padlocked as the building had been permanently sealed back in a small ceremony back in 2008. I quickly closed the remaining distance & sure enough that door was open! But it wasn’t just open like somebody forgot to shut the door on their way out, it had been kicked in. In fact, whomever had broken in had used such force that the steel plate holding the padlock in place had been torn from the door, taking the wood with it.

IN MY OPINION, it was complete overkill considering that the OPEN padlock was hanging from the door frame, leaving me to believe that it was an inside job & the intention was to make it look like vandals came along & broke in.

front door damage

WHY GO TO such lengths to make people think that this was a random attack? Why even bother to vandalize the WH at all?? It’s been sitting here, locked up tight for over 11 years now & suddenly people are going to start strolling onto the property, bypassing 100 other buildings that were NOT secured, ONLY to come upon this postage stamp sized building, kick in the door & start wreaking havoc on the inside?? Oh, and let’s NOT forget that since Hurricane Michael, the AGDSB South Campus has had a new tenant; The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office…Located a mere 317 yards away from the WH! I CAN GIVE 2 words to sum up my thoughts on the random vandal theory; BULL SH$T!!!

I WAS SO pissed that I didn’t even realize that I had stepped inside. If I had to describe my 1st impression in 3 words, I would say it was filthy, musty & cold. It felt like the air inside was electric…Charged with decades of hate & fear. The front room ran the length of the building & wasn’t very wide. There were 2 good sized windows, letting plenty of the late afternoon sunlight in, so it was well lit…Of course after taking a look around I almost wished that it wasn’t.

THE ROOM HELD a small bathroom at one end & the dirty concrete floor had trash, including an empty cigarette pack that was too clean to have been there for long. An old fire extinguisher was lying on the floor next to the front door & there was graffiti on the walls which made me wonder exactly how long had this door been open?

WANTING TO DOCUMENT everything I saw, I took out my phone & started taking video. I spent a few more minutes in the front room making sure to capture the kicked in door, the graffiti, the garbage left behind, etc. & then stepped through the open doorway into that hall…What I saw will be with me forever.

TO BE CONTINUED…

☆ IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW SUFFERED ABUSE, PASSED AWAY, WENT MISSING OR WITNESSED ANY WRONGDOINGS WHILE AT “THE FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS” AKA “THE ARTHUR G. DOZIER SCHOOL FOR BOYS” OR THE OKEECHOBEE SCHOOL FOR BOYS, PLEASE REACH OUT AT findingflorida.blog OR ANY OF THE CONTACT INFO LISTED BELOW!!☆

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