Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.
1 February
2 February
3 February
4 February
5 February
- 1891 – Henry B. Plant opens his Tampa Bay Hotel in Tampa, FL. The hotel would be transformed years later into Plant Hall, the central building of the University of Tampa. See also “Encounter at Plant Hall.”
6 February
- 2019 – Demolition begins on Kuhn State Memorial Hospital, Vicksburg, MS.
7 February
- 1856 – East Alabama Male College (now Auburn University) is established in Auburn, AL. See Auburn University Chapel, Ralph Brown Draughon Library, and Samford Hall.
- 1867 – West Virginia University is established in Morgantown, WV.
- 1967 – Fire destroys Dale’s Penthouse Restaurant on the top floor of Capital Towers Apartments in Montgomery, AL killing 26 people.
8 February
- 1878 – A tornado hits Augusta, GA destroying the city’s market house leaving one column standing, now known as the “Haunted Pillar.”
9 February
- 1944 – Elijah Parker is executed in Mississippi’s mobile electric chair in the basement of the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson.
10 February
11 February
12 February
13 February
14 February – St. Valentine’s Day
15 February
- 1919 – Sarah Louisa “Sis” Linn, an early graduate and owner of a boarding house on the site of the current Clark Hall, Glenville State University, Glenville, WV, is found bludgeoned to death in her rooms. She continues to haunt Clark Hall and the campus beyond.
- 1938 – The Pensacola, Florida Public Library opens inside Old Christ Church.
16 February
17 February
18 February
- 1861 – Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America at the Alabama State Capitol Building, Montgomery, AL.
19 February
20 February
- 1864 – Battle of Olustee is fought in FL.
21 February
- 1871 – The Springer Opera House opens with a benefit concert in Columbus, GA.
22 February
23 February
24 February
- 1926 – Capt. Hiram Peters is fatally injured while fighting a fire in Athens, GA. His spirit has returned to haunt his old firehouse which is now the Classic Center.
25 February
26 February
27 Febraury
28 February
- 1943 – USS Kidd is launched during World War II. It now serves as the centerpiece for the USS Kidd Veterans Memorial in Baton Rouge, LA.