By: Robert Anders
Every great ghost story, true or false, always begins fatally, and based on these recently discovered facts, our school’s ghost story is no different. It always begins with something tragic, something to spark the idea of a ghost–someone dies in a horrible manner, or someone is cheated out of their own life. Eaton High School is no exception.
In November of 1922, Miss Elizabeth Gault, a science teacher at Eaton High School,was rushed to the hospital for burns received in a fire, a fire which took place at Eaton High School. According to a newspaper article written in 1922, Gault, a chemistry teacher, entered a side room attached to the main science room, which was filled with chemicals. The room, lacking a light, was very dark, so in order to see, Gault lit a match, and, according to the paper, “Immediately there was an explosion from fumes and chemicals and she was in flames.” Gault was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she died later that evening. This event is the only recorded death of a school staff member on school grounds.
So is there a connection?
Still not convinced that the 1928 building is not haunted? If you read “The Haunting of 1928” in the Nov. 28 school paper, you know full well that three staff members at this school have experienced something out of the ordinary to say the least, and these experiences have turned two of these three people into believers not only of the paranormal, but of the fact that the 1928 building is indeed haunted. These three believers are not the only ones who have experienced an unearthly encounter in the building. Counseling office staff, Marcie Sanger, Tara Kaysen, and Carol Pelz have all had a run-in with the spirit in the ‘28 building.
The following passages are encounters with the spirit which they nicknamed Fred, based on occurrences and events that these women have experienced. Everything you are about to read is based purely on statements received from these witnesses. The spirit was nicknamed Fred because all three women feel that Fred is a very soft, harmless name.
Small side rooms
In the counseling office, there exists a small room which houses a mini-fridge, three file cabinets, coffee creamer and sweetener, and a Nalgene water bottle. This Nalgene water bottle is never moved, never touched by anyone. It sits alone on top of the mini-fridge. Sometime last year (the exact date could not be recalled), while Pelz and Sanger were sitting at their desks, a loud crash was heard inside the file room. The sound, according to Pelz, sounded like, “Someone had punched a file cabinet with their fist.” Sanger and Pelz glanced at each other and got up to see who was in the room.
“The water bottle was on the floor,” said Pelz as she recalled the event. Somehow the water bottle had gotten thrown across the small room into the file cabinet on the opposite side. “It was Fred,” says Pelz, who doesn’t believe in ghosts but will admit that some very strange things have happened in this part of the building. Fred is the name of the ghost, according to the counselors.
Just in the last two months, Sanger had an encounter with the supernatural being known as Fred. It was an early September morning, around 7:30 a.m. when Sanger arrived at school. Her two sons ran down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast and just as she finished unlocking her own office, she heard something coming from Kaysen’s office. “I heard keys dropping on a desk,” said Sanger, and while this sound may not be easy to recollect, it is quite unmistakable. Sanger walked over to Kaysen’s office to say hello, and realized her (Kaysen’s) office door was locked. Sanger, still hearing the noise inside, began to unlock the door, when, “I saw Mrs. Kaysen coming through the main entrance of the counseling office,” said Sanger. This meant that whatever was in Kaysen’s office was not Kaysen. “We both unlocked the door and peeked inside, but there was nothing there. It had to have been Fred,” said Sanger. No windows were open, and the room was completely empty, so what was causing the noise in Kaysen’s office?
The last and most memorable encounter that occurred in the counseling office took place last winter, just before Christmas Break. Sanger and Pelz were at work, and Kaysen was attending a meeting at the district office. In between Pelz’s desk and Sanger’s office there is a small office where the school nurse, Michelle Been, works. According to Pelz, state law states, “The door to the nurses office must be open at all times, even when Mrs. Been isn’t here.” Been was not at the high school on the day of the supernatural confrontation, meaning that Sanger and Pelz were alone in the office. “All of a sudden, the door [to the nurse’s office] slammed shut,” said Pelz. When asked what she believed caused this door to violently slam, Pelz said, “It was Fred.” Often times a draft flowing through a room can cause a door to close, but according to Sanger, “No windows were open. It was cold outside, so all the windows were closed.” Sanger and Pelz both attributed this occurrence to Fred.
Caleb • Jun 2, 2023 at 5:35 pm
I go to that school will now the middle school but there is lot of sounds