Bristol Tennessee High School has a stone castle, built in 1937 during the Great Depression by the Public Works Administration. The “home of the Vikings” serves about 1,100 students, it has an 8,000-seat arena, a suite of after-school activities, and, you know, a resident ghost.
“Her name is Agnes,” said Tim Davis, an English teacher and the school newspaper advisor. “She is talked about all the time here. Whenever something strange happens or noises cannot be accounted for, then for sure it’s blamed on Agnes.”
Bristol Tennessee High School is not alone in its claim to the paranormal. Hundreds of schools across the country are rumored to be haunted. Some of them trace the origins of these ghost stories back to real-life tragedies. Others are said to be built on old graveyards.
At Davis’ school, student reporters dug deep into Agnes’ past, finding a student named Norma to be the genesis of the legend. She drowned in the early 1950s and at some point in the following decades, people started talking about a ghost named Agnes. A longtime teacher at the high school said the new name was a way to separate the legend from the real girl.
Davis’ students wrote a profile of Norma several years back, unearthing details about her life.
“It really became a lesson of kind of respect,” Davis said. “As a newspaper staff, we felt almost like this is sacred. We wanted to honor this student who was one of us.”
At Pocatello High School in Idaho, Halloween offers a significantly more light-hearted occasion to think about its haunted past. The school will host a haunted house Oct. 28, 29 and 31, embracing the fundraising opportunity. Admission is $5 (or $4 with a can of food), and all proceeds go toward providing food baskets for students in need. In the past, the school has invited the public in to hear ghost stories and they have sold themed T-shirts.
Outside of the Halloween season, the spooky history of Pocatello High is mostly fodder for jokes. Principal Lisa Delonas says she left a vase of flowers in her office only to come back and find it in pieces — obviously the fault of ghosts.
“We have a lot of fun with it,” Delonas said. “Our kids love it. We tell people that people love our school so much that they come back to visit even after they’re dead.”
Pocatello High School is 125 years old. Its especially old building fits right in with other supposedly haunted schools nationwide.
Matthew Whaley Elementary School in Williamsburg, Virginia was established in 1706. Matthew Whaley, the boy, died when he was nine years old, and his mother opened the school in his name as a free place of education for girls and boys.
Judy Alexander, the school’s senior administrative assistant, says the ghost stories that surround the school have made it famous. The building is a historical landmark and known for its historic beauty.
Rather than stay away from any potential spirits, Alexander says the community considers Matthew Whaley to be a coveted school.
“People want to bring their children here,” Alexander said. “People try to live in the area to be zoned for this school.”
Being haunted, it seems, doesn’t have a negative impact on enrollment at any of these schools. Families just need to be prepared for the occasional cold patch of air or spooky sound from nowhere.
