Various accounts of paranormal experiences have erupted from FGCU’s South Village (SoVi) over the past four years. Reports of falling objects, out-of-place noises, and vanishing entities are unsettling and exciting the students that live there.

“I believe in ghosts, 110%,” former SoVi resident Sam Grizelj said. “When I encountered them, they seemed more annoying than threatening.”

Grizelj recalls multiple paranormal incidents that he experienced while living in Everglades Hall. One of which involved a fan “flying” off the fridge. Not long after Grizelj says he heard strange knocking on the wall separating the living space between him and his roommate. His roommate was not present during that event.

“There is always something in Everglades,” Grizelj said. “There’s always something watching you no matter if your cooking, doing homework, or doing laundry.”

In another case, Grizelj reported that he might’ve seen a ghost, nicknamed “Benjamin” by the residents, while doing laundry. He saw a boy with light-brown hair and khaki pants standing outside the lounge door on the 3^rd floor. He says the figure vanished without a sound once he went to go let him in. Grizelj claims that he didn’t hear the elevator, or any hallway doors, open or close during the boy’s departure.

I was shown security camera footage by student Marleigh Hall that captured one of the dryer doors spontaneously opening without anyone in the room. The clothes in the dryer began to fly out, tossed out of the dryer with what looked like no outside interference.

I investigated SoVi last October to try and figure out what was going on. I knew that Everglades was my point of interest, so I carefully scanned the area with an Electromagnetic Frequency Detector app that I downloaded on my phone. The app yielded no abnormal fluctuations on frequencies in Everglades and Biscayne, but it did pick up something interesting in between the walkway of the two dormitories.

The frequencies would pulsate, in and out of range and I was able to follow them. In other words, the frequencies were moving. There weren’t any students or electrical devices that could’ve interfered in my radius of detection.

SoVi Dining Supervisor Laurel Phelps says thar there have been numerous paranormal occurrences in the facility. Most of these events have taken place after or before business hours. Phelps says that she and other workers have heard the radio change in tone or randomly turn on without anyone touching it. She also says that employees have reported hearing voices when no one is around.

“Small things like trinkets, pencils, and personal items have gone missing on occasion,” Phelps said. “For me, in particular, I usually keep my office locked, but something always finds a way to hide or steal my belongings.”

These events could be a collection of random incidences caused by electronic malfunction and student routines, there’s no way to know. What’s for certain is that residents believe in ghosts and believe that their housing is haunted to some degree.

So, my answer to the question “Are there ghosts in SoVi?” is yes, without a doubt.

If you liked this article, be sure to check out my podcast on Eagle Radio, How To Cry “Monster”—the home of monsters, mysteries, and paranormal conspiracies. Our eighth episode was on the SoVi Ghosts, which includes details not mentioned in this article.