In the early 00's I was an outside sales rep and my best customer was a charter school. Built in 1891 as a school for "Indians and Colored People", it operated for more than 100 years educating thousands of children from larger cities across the nation, focusing on farming and industrial trades. On its nearly 300 acres were six buildings, including two dormitories and an old frame church. I ended up spending multiple hours on campus every week performing various functions and tasks. I loved the school and staff so much I enrolled my daughter in their first Pre-K class.
Very early on, the Business Manager and I became friends and he told me what he knew of the history of the site and the Industrial school. He had been a lifelong resident of the town the school was in and knew much about it.
He also told me of "the ghost". Their ghost had appeared to nearly every member of the school staff, typically seen simply walking through the grounds in the early morning- and evening hours. At the time the entity was simply described as looking like an older man dressed in early 20th Century work-type clothes.
My first experience happened on the day the dedication ceremony was held prior to the charter school officially opening. Said ceremony was attended by numerous state and local officials. A dias had been erected in front of the chapel, with power for the sound system provided via a very long and thick power cable. As the chapel had no electricity run to it, the power cable had been run from the dormitory turned classroom building about 100 feet away. At the end of the cable was a monstrous black plug - think a 220 dryer or oven plug on steroids. This was plugged into a temporary power board erected behind the chapel. From there came the various extension cords run to the front of the chapel itself.
As the ceremony began, I was standing with the business manager to the side and well behind the dias. We were a few feet farther back than the rear of the chapel. From there we could see the attendees and turn our heads to see the power board. The power board was roughly 12 feet behind the middle of the chapel, the extension cords run through the building directly to the dias so as to be out of the way.
At one point there was a loud POP as one would hear when a speaker is unplugged while turned on. The microphone went out and the person speaking could just barely be heard. We both looked over to see the plug itself was out of the power board and on the ground. I turned to face him and he started to tell me to go plug it back in while he went up front to let the folks know what was going on. He didn't get to finish as in that 2-3 seconds, the power to the microphone was restored. We looked in each other's eyes in a rather "WTF?" moment, then turned to see the plug back into the power board. There was no one within 50 feet of it, we were the only people behind the building, and the outlet for the plug was about 3.5 feet off the ground. When I looked back at the business manager, he simply said "there's our ghost".
The second incident was the first time I've ever seen a ghost/entity. My company was installing the network cables for the classrooms in the main building. The design of the building was pretty straightforward - a central section with main office, nurse, cafeteria, and gym with two hallways running perpendicular to that, one on each side. The day we started was the day after all of the door locks in the building had been changed. I was helping the techs that day as we were a small company and didn't have a proper IT staff. I was friends with the school secretary and she made me promise I wouldn't lose the key she was giving me as it was not only the master key, it was the only key they had for the new locks as the locksmith hadn't dropped the rest of the keys off yet.
We went to the basement to gain access to the crawlspaces that ran under each classroom hallway. The secretary showed us to the basement door, gave me the key, then locked the door behind us so as to prevent any students from coming down to the basement.
Each crawlspace was roughly 100 feet long with a single, bare lightbulb hung at the far end. The entry to the crawlspace was about 4 feet off the floor, and the crawlspace slowly tapered from a ceiling height of about 5' to just about 3' at the far end. It was maybe 4' wide, but it was tight.
The tech and I had been running cable for a couple of hours and were down the crawlspace furthest from the stairs leading down from the main level, which we could just see the bottom of from where we were. We were just about halfway down and I was to the left of my tech, with him between me and the basement. At one point I caught movement out of the my peripheral and looked past him to the basement.
What I saw was an older-looking white man, maybe early 60's, salt n pepper hair, wearing what I would've said were medium brown khakis and a dark green- or blue work coat. He was back just far enough from the crawlspace entrance to see him from the knees up. When I asked my buddy who that was, two things happened. First, my brain realized that I couldn't tell the exact color of the man's coat because he was transparent, and my buddy's knees buckled and he fell back into me. When he turned to look at me, his face had gone gray. I looked back and the man was gone.
I maneuvered around the tech and headed up the crawlspace,.keeping the bottom of the stairs in sight the entire time. In my head I was thinking some damn kid had gotten into the basement and was screwing around. Got to the basement, dropped down to the floor to find the basement empty. The door at the top of the stairs (there were two flights of stairs as the ceiling was about 15' high and they turned halfway down so the bottom of the stairs was directly across from the hole to the crawlspace) was still locked. I opened the door to find the head custodian and the principal chatting in the hall. I asked if they had seen a student just come up and they told me no. In fact, the custodian said, he'd been cleaning up after a kid had vomited in the hall and no one had been in or out of the basement in the 30 minutes or so he'd been there.
I walked to the main office and asked my secretary friend who else had a key to the basement door. She told me again, there was just the one key in the entire building and I had it.
Then she grinned broadly and asked, "Why...?" I detailed what I'd just seen, to which she said, "You've seen him! That's our ghost!". Apparently he takes an interest in any changes that are being made to the buildings and just shows up to watch.
In the midst of this, the tech comes bursting through the basement door, his gear bag over his shoulder, hauling ass to the main entrance. He looks ill. I head out after him, calling his name as he raced across campus to the parking lot. He's in his truck and gone without ever acknowledging me. He told the office he drove straight home, then called out the next day. I worked closely with him for several more years. The one time I asked him what happened to him, what did he see in the basement, he looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I'm not talking about it. Ever. So don't ask and don't involve me if you talk about it." He was a really nice guy, very affable, and like I said, we worked together for years. It was the only time I remember seeing him when he didn't have a smile on his face.
I never experienced anything else, but over the years anyone I've run into who has spent a good deal of time at the school has experienced something. Teachers, staff, parents, coaches and the like. Having said that, I've never heard of any students experiencing anything.
submitted by /u/Axe1025
[link] [comments]In the early 00's I was an outside sales rep and my best customer was a charter school. Built in 1891 as a school for "Indians and Colored People", it operated for more than 100 years educating thousands of children from larger cities across the nation, focusing on farming and industrial trades. On its nearly 300 acres were six buildings, including two dormitories and an old frame church. I ended up spending multiple hours on campus every week performing various functions and tasks. I loved the school and staff so much I enrolled my daughter in their first Pre-K class. Very early on, the Business Manager and I became friends and he told me what he knew of the history of the site and the Industrial school. He had been a lifelong resident of the town the school was in and knew much about it. He also told me of "the ghost". Their ghost had appeared to nearly every member of the school staff, typically seen simply walking through the grounds in the early morning- and evening hours. At the time the entity was simply described as looking like an older man dressed in early 20th Century work-type clothes. My first experience happened on the day the dedication ceremony was held prior to the charter school officially opening. Said ceremony was attended by numerous state and local officials. A dias had been erected in front of the chapel, with power for the sound system provided via a very long and thick power cable. As the chapel had no electricity run to it, the power cable had been run from the dormitory turned classroom building about 100 feet away. At the end of the cable was a monstrous black plug - think a 220 dryer or oven plug on steroids. This was plugged into a temporary power board erected behind the chapel. From there came the various extension cords run to the front of the chapel itself. As the ceremony began, I was standing with the business manager to the side and well behind the dias. We were a few feet farther back than the rear of the chapel. From there we could see the attendees and turn our heads to see the power board. The power board was roughly 12 feet behind the middle of the chapel, the extension cords run through the building directly to the dias so as to be out of the way. At one point there was a loud POP as one would hear when a speaker is unplugged while turned on. The microphone went out and the person speaking could just barely be heard. We both looked over to see the plug itself was out of the power board and on the ground. I turned to face him and he started to tell me to go plug it back in while he went up front to let the folks know what was going on. He didn't get to finish as in that 2-3 seconds, the power to the microphone was restored. We looked in each other's eyes in a rather "WTF?" moment, then turned to see the plug back into the power board. There was no one within 50 feet of it, we were the only people behind the building, and the outlet for the plug was about 3.5 feet off the ground. When I looked back at the business manager, he simply said "there's our ghost". The second incident was the first time I've ever seen a ghost/entity. My company was installing the network cables for the classrooms in the main building. The design of the building was pretty straightforward - a central section with main office, nurse, cafeteria, and gym with two hallways running perpendicular to that, one on each side. The day we started was the day after all of the door locks in the building had been changed. I was helping the techs that day as we were a small company and didn't have a proper IT staff. I was friends with the school secretary and she made me promise I wouldn't lose the key she was giving me as it was not only the master key, it was the only key they had for the new locks as the locksmith hadn't dropped the rest of the keys off yet. We went to the basement to gain access to the crawlspaces that ran under each classroom hallway. The secretary showed us to the basement door, gave me the key, then locked the door behind us so as to prevent any students from coming down to the basement. Each crawlspace was roughly 100 feet long with a single, bare lightbulb hung at the far end. The entry to the crawlspace was about 4 feet off the floor, and the crawlspace slowly tapered from a ceiling height of about 5' to just about 3' at the far end. It was maybe 4' wide, but it was tight. The tech and I had been running cable for a couple of hours and were down the crawlspace furthest from the stairs leading down from the main level, which we could just see the bottom of from where we were. We were just about halfway down and I was to the left of my tech, with him between me and the basement. At one point I caught movement out of the my peripheral and looked past him to the basement. What I saw was an older-looking white man, maybe early 60's, salt n pepper hair, wearing what I would've said were medium brown khakis and a dark green- or blue work coat. He was back just far enough from the crawlspace entrance to see him from the knees up. When I asked my buddy who that was, two things happened. First, my brain realized that I couldn't tell the exact color of the man's coat because he was transparent, and my buddy's knees buckled and he fell back into me. When he turned to look at me, his face had gone gray. I looked back and the man was gone. I maneuvered around the tech and headed up the crawlspace,.keeping the bottom of the stairs in sight the entire time. In my head I was thinking some damn kid had gotten into the basement and was screwing around. Got to the basement, dropped down to the floor to find the basement empty. The door at the top of the stairs (there were two flights of stairs as the ceiling was about 15' high and they turned halfway down so the bottom of the stairs was directly across from the hole to the crawlspace) was still locked. I opened the door to find the head custodian and the principal chatting in the hall. I asked if they had seen a student just come up and they told me no. In fact, the custodian said, he'd been cleaning up after a kid had vomited in the hall and no one had been in or out of the basement in the 30 minutes or so he'd been there. I walked to the main office and asked my secretary friend who else had a key to the basement door. She told me again, there was just the one key in the entire building and I had it. Then she grinned broadly and asked, "Why...?" I detailed what I'd just seen, to which she said, "You've seen him! That's our ghost!". Apparently he takes an interest in any changes that are being made to the buildings and just shows up to watch. In the midst of this, the tech comes bursting through the basement door, his gear bag over his shoulder, hauling ass to the main entrance. He looks ill. I head out after him, calling his name as he raced across campus to the parking lot. He's in his truck and gone without ever acknowledging me. He told the office he drove straight home, then called out the next day. I worked closely with him for several more years. The one time I asked him what happened to him, what did he see in the basement, he looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I'm not talking about it. Ever. So don't ask and don't involve me if you talk about it." He was a really nice guy, very affable, and like I said, we worked together for years. It was the only time I remember seeing him when he didn't have a smile on his face. I never experienced anything else, but over the years anyone I've run into who has spent a good deal of time at the school has experienced something. Teachers, staff, parents, coaches and the like. Having said that, I've never heard of any students experiencing anything. submitted by /u/Axe1025 [link] [comments]
