No Reason to Be Haunted — AllSupernatural

In November, I worked the sound system for a school one-act play. I'm usually up on stage, so I had never been in the booth before. It's a tiny room about fifteen feet above the last row of the auditorium, and it is reached only by a short staircase behind a door in the art hallway. The stairs are metal and extremely noisy - we all know to be extremely careful going up and down during shows. The top of the stairs can not be seen from inside the booth, as there is a landing at the top, and then another door. Now, so far as I know the building has no reasons to be haunted. My school was built in the mid seventies, but the fine arts building was added only six years ago, over what was once the old softball field. Only two students have died in the history of the school - in 1986 a first-grade girl died of cancer, and in 2003 a senior died during heart surgery in California.

The performance began at 7:00 - there was no reason for anyone to be in the building except for those involved with the show, and the few attendees. The director was watching in the audience. About ten minutes into the fifty-five minute production, I heard the noise of a footstep, a single footstep, at the bottom of the stairs. The other two girls in the booth heard it too, and we all looked over, expecting someone to come up. But there was nothing else. About two minutes later, we heard more footsteps, light as a child's, coming all the way up. They stopped before they got to the top, and no one entered the booth. They never went back down, but they came up again about five minutes later, only this time they were heavier. The spotlight girl was closest to the door, so she looked, prepared to tell some kid that they needed to leave, but no one was there. We tried not to think about it, and spent the rest of the play listening to Rhianna through headphones between clues.

That's not the only thing that's happened in this building. Last April I was washing off some paintbrushes in the art closet when I heard something fall over in the elementary art room, and I always get the feeling I'm being watched when I cross behind the traveler. My question - why would a building be haunted when no one has ever died there?

2 Comments

Chid Apr 21, 2009

I realize that this story is almost half a year old, but I think that the reason behind your school being haunted, besides only two deaths within the walls, could be chalked up to certain things. Tons of energy from the emotions of every previous and present student manifesting itself physically. It could have been a spirit trying to get in touch with someone there and it just happened to be on that night. I have been told that sometimes people would experience paranormal activity in a given location due to the time it occured, kind of like a loop with the same instance happening at the same time every year. Honestly, if you are curious, you should investigate one of the possibilities. But be careful, if you feel that you are in danger or you feel like you aren't welcome around a certain area, leave it alone and don't investigate further. Other than that, it was great to hear about this.

espenolie Aug 4, 2009

Did you ever have a favorite teacher? Did you ever feel like school was safer than home? Do you have cherished memories about school? Chid is right. Lots of emotion is attached to schools and sometimes it can cause hauntings.

I enjoyed your story. Try not to be afraid of these things, as it's probably just a child. Think of it this way: Perhaps the person was just as curious about what you were doing as you were of what he or she was doing on the steps that night. :)