The Haunted School

 "Earthbound"

 

My children attended a small Montessori school from preschool – 8^th grade. When my son first started going there, the school was sharing space with a local church but was looking to buy their own property.

When he was in first grade, they purchased a lovely little building which previously had been a funeral home. The funeral home had used the building for only viewings and services, no embalming which would have made the building unsafe for children due to the toxic nature of the chemicals used in the procedure. Plus, this knowledge made the building a little less creepy. Right?

Our young family had a modest income and when it came time for our daughter to also attend the school, I participated in a work exchange program and cleaned the school in exchange for a break on tuition. I spent many hours alone in this building on the weekends. It was a two-story building and it was the upstairs that would often give me the willies. There were multiple occasions when I thought that I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It didn’t feel malicious but it definitely felt present. There were many times when I just said out loud, “I know that you are here but I don’t want to see you.” At first, it took a lot of courage to buoy myself up and just keep on keeping on with the job at hand.

For six years, I cleaned the school. It was backbreaking work but given that the school district we lived in was below state standards in a state that was near the bottom of the national list, I was grateful for the opportunity to keep our children in this engaging, safe, and loving environment.

Eventually, I mentioned to the office manager that given my background and experience that I felt as though they were underutilizing me. Shortly after that conversation, I began working in the office. The current office manager, who wasn’t happy in her position, was glad to have me take over the reins. So, after that school year ended, I became the Office Manager / Operations Director.

In this role, I was at the school after hours nearly as much as I had been before because in addition to the office duties and teaching art, I was also creating and managing the annual fundraiser which was key for our small non-profit’s financial wellbeing.

The occasional moments of feeling an invisible presence continued. It was also during this time that the school's founder and educational director told me about how early on when they first moved into the building, she had gotten a phone call in the middle of the night from the fire department that the fire alarm had gone off. When they had entered the building, they ensured that everything had been locked up and that the alarm had actually been pulled from inside. She went on to tell me that she could feel a presence in the upstairs and then tried to reassure me that it wasn’t a bad presence.

Fortunately, I already felt fairly reassured about this just from my own personal experiences but it was unsettling to actually get confirmation from someone else.

In the spring of 2018, the decision was made that after 25 years of service to the community that the school would close. Our Founder / Director was ready for retirement and it seemed a natural time to have the small school come to an end.

It was sometime during these last few months of school being in session that I was in the building alone while the children going home were outside in car-line with the teachers, and the students staying for after-care were playing on the playground.

I was working on some flyers that needed to be sent home in the students’ weekly packets. I went upstairs to the teachers’ room where we kept the laminator, paper cutters, etc. and was cutting the flyers in half. Mentally, I was just in work-mode and was focused on what I was doing and what I would need to do next once I went downstairs. As I stepped out of the teachers’ room, approximately 30 feet in front of me coming out of one of the classrooms was a wisp of white ethereal something. It zipped in front of me and dematerialized. Its energy felt childlike. It wasn’t very tall, maybe 3.5 feet or so. I can still feel how the energy of it felt heightened, zippy, and playful. I knew it wasn’t a child, but something in me made me go to the other stairwell and check. I called down to see if anyone was there and then walked down and outside to where the teachers were. I quickly and excitedly relayed the story to the director and her co-teacher. I stayed quiet so that the children wouldn’t hear me. Imagine my surprise when the co-teacher, who had only been with us for that school year, said that she knew there was a presence upstairs because when she would stay late or come in on the weekends to work, she could feel it and once even saw one of the child-size rocking chairs rocking by itself! Whatever this spirit was it must have missed my many requests about not seeing it. Although, I do need to point out that this didn’t feel the same as what I had been feeling up there for so many years. When I would see things out of the corner of my eye, it was more adult-size. Feeling as though there were more than one wasn't very reassuring.

Over that summer, I was busy preparing all of the expensive Montessori materials for sale and was meeting with buyers. We also had the building listed for sale, so I was busy with that as well. While there were a couple teachers in from time to time, this was easily the most time I had ever spent alone in the school….day after day for six months.

The only reason that I think that I was able to do it is because the energy in the school felt positive. Other than feeling startled and a little spooked when I was first cleaning and having those experiences, I really felt very comfortable. People visiting the school for the first time would often comment on how good the energy felt in there.

In addition to selling all of the materials, desks, and chairs, we also were selling the lockers. We had them removed from the walls and placed in the front classroom on the main floor. Because someone could be seriously injured if they fell on them, we kept this classroom locked when buyers were there. Walking through this classroom was a bit of a shortcut for me to get to the ladies’ room, so on one particularly busy day when I was there alone, I unlocked the doors so that I could take my bathroom breaks more quickly.

As I went to go do just that, I opened the door and was frozen in place. The entire room smelled like it was filled with flowers, like a funeral home. I was shocked. I quickly went back to my office and started texting the director. She kept trying to come up with a logical explanation: maybe the windows were open? Nope. Maybe someone had walked through there wearing perfume? Nope. And so on. I knew in my bones that this had no logical explanation. I had been working in that building for 12 years. I had never smelled anything like this. I was the only person there and had been the only one there for days.

I took the long way around to the bathroom.

Every so often, I would get up from my desk, open the door and just poke my nose in. I did this many times throughout the day and the smell remained. It was strong and overpowering. It felt enveloping. Finally, around 3 pm that day, I did my sniff test and the smell was completely gone, not faded, gone.

As weird as this experience was and as freaked out as I felt at the time, I was left with the impression that it was a spirit showing appreciation for me and all of the hard work I had put in over the years to make the school a beautiful, loving place. Sure, it was startling but it really does make for a great story.

That was my last paranormal experience in the school. We went on to sell the building later that year and I often wonder if the ghosts are happy with the new owners, and if so do they bring them flowers too?