“If this bench could talk,
Oh the stories it would tell,
Of kisses young and old,
If you sit, beware the spell”
At orientation each student is told about the campus including its history, its current accomplishments, and even the local folklore. From lobotomies on the homeless on the top floor of the Keen Building, to passageways beneath Landis of an elite secret order, and even to an electrocuted sunbather on the roof of Jennie Murphree Hall, there is an abundance of stories that will leave you wondering exactly how mysterious Florida State University can be.
One of the less malicious and less well-known treasures of FSU’s campus is the Kissing Bench. Stories say that a professor who frequently taught classes in the William Johnston Building would sit on the bench just outside on Landis Green during his breaks. He would wait here for his girlfriend (who later became his wife). When she came, the couple would spend time canoodling on the bench until it was time for his next class. Maybe it was fate or maybe it was the hormones, but the bench quickly became dubbed “The Kissing Bench.” It became so widely known as such that a marker was made for the bench, thus sealing its fate as a landmark on campus.
Superstitions surrounding the bench say that if you bring a lover to the bench and share a kiss with them, your fates will become entwined forever. Meet a couple who sealed their fate on the bench: Eddie Traczyk and Samantha King. “Oh the stories it would tell…”
Her Campus (HC): Tell us a little about yourselves.
Eddie Traczyk (ET): Samantha is a social work grad student and I am an economics second bachelors major.
HC: How did you two come to be?
ET: We met in Alpha Phi Omega and never really decided to be together. It just happened after months of sending time together and finally deciding that we were meant to be. I t took about 6 months of being together to officially call it a relationship. We’ve been together for almost 2 and a half years.
HC: Eddie, when did you know that you wanted to propose to Sam?
ET: We both knew we wanted to get married by our second year together but we didn’t think we had the funds for a romantic proposal/wedding. However, knowing Samantha’s obsession with romanticism I knew I had to do something to seal the deal, so I waited until the final night of our first cruise together to pop the question, presenting her a ring made of white gold with an aquamarine gem. Not your average engagement ring but social nonetheless.
HC: Indeed! Sam, did you know that Eddie was going to propose?
Samantha King (SK): I had no idea Eddie was going to propose. All I wanted was to spend time alone and get a drink for our last night on the ship. Then our friends showed up with a bunch of people that we met on the cruise so I actually got mad. I told Eddie that we should go join them because we were sitting by ourselves and everyone was just hanging out behind us. Then after he proposed I realized the whole thing was planned!
ET: Although I knew the answer I was still incredibly nervous nonetheless. The planning and coordination behind it was still nerve-wracking and there was always the possibility of spoiling things.
HC: Tell us about your experience with the kissing bench.
ET: In February of 2012 was when I told Samantha I loved her, and she told me the same on the kissing bench on Landis. From there was where our relationship really took off and blossomed into what it is today.
HC: Anything else you want us to know?
SK: Also a funny thing about the proposal is that I did not say yes right away. I thought that we were never going to have a formal engagement, so it came as a huge shock. I remember being in disbelief and asking “where did you get that?” instead of yes.
Another couple, Chris Mihokovich and Katie Torres, potentially entwining their fates together forever on the Kissing Bench.