This was my first encounter with something possibly paranormal, at least, that I remember. Although nothing like it has happened before or after it, I wanted to share my story.
This happened when I was in year 8 or 9, though I'm pretty sure it was grade 8, at about 13 years of age, which was almost ten years ago now. Our high school was a little north of Brisbane (Redcliffe), QLD Australia, and was horse-shoe shaped. It's a catholic school (though I myself am not Christian), with 3 primary campuses, although only one of the primary campuses was physically next to the secondary campus. I attended this school from year 1 to 12.
On the 2nd floor, across from the centre stairwell in the middle, was a girl's bathroom, which at some point stopped being used, and although I don't remember when, it was before I graduated. The door opened to a wide room with the wash basins on the right (with a wall-length mirror above it) and the hand dryer across from the door on the far wall. To the left of the hand dryer was a small archway-like opening that led to a narrow corridor where the toilet cubicles were, I think there were about 10. There was a wall between to the two areas. There wasn't really anything scary about it - it was reasonably spaced and well-lit. At the time, the only other toilet open to the girls was down the small stairs next to the left wing of the school, in a separate block, which did have a freaky feeling, and not only took a fair amount of time to get to, but was also away from all of the classrooms.
Anyway, let me tell you my story. I went to the toilet during class - I'm pretty sure it was science, mainly because I remember having to walk from that area of the school building, but I don't really remember. Like I said, the other toilets were a fair way away - because my classroom was on the right wing of the main building - so I went up to the second floor. I walked in and as I walked toward the toilets, I heard one of the doors slam. I vaguely remember thinking, "someone's in a tizzy", but I dismissed it. When I walked around the corner, the toilet door maybe second or third from the end was closed - all the others were open. The obvious thought was that whoever went in before me was in that toilet, but from where I was standing, I could clearly see under the doors at that end of the room, and there were no feet in the toilet in question. I quietly walked to the door and stood in front of it. It still had the green "vacant" on the lock, so I softly pushed it, and it slowly opened. There was no one there. It was just an empty, normal toilet. I thought it was weird, but probably wind or something and, although there were not windows in this room, it could have been a draught that somehow came from the other room. I went to the toilet at the other end of the room, but I was starting to get nervous. It was that feeling where you know something wasn't quite right. It was quiet, and warm, so there wasn't really anything to tell me that something was wrong.
When I was done, I walked quickly to the sinks to wash my hands. When I looked up into the mirror, there was someone standing in the opening, staring at me. I'm not sure if they were male or female. I remember wild, aggressive eyes and orange or brown curly hair that was all over the place. The moment that I saw it, I turned around, but there was no one there, so I didn't get a good look. I just stood there for a moment, wondering what happened. Then, I heard a door to a toilet slam again. For some reason, I felt like I had to double check, so I walked to the entrance way and peered in, and the toilet door was closed again, and there were still no feet. Obviously wiser this time, I didn't go check it out, even though I felt like I wanted to, and quickly hurried back to class.
There was a second time. One day after school, probably that day but I don't quite remember, I was waiting at the car for my mum, who was a teacher at the primary school next to the secondary campus. At the time, she would always park behind the building that was used for the primary music and Japanese classes. Something felt weird, so I walked to the back of the car and looked up. In the window on the second floor, I saw that same person, staring down at me. I froze, but for some reason, rather than being scared, I felt angry that I saw it again. However, when I blinked, it was gone. I still had to wait a few more minutes before my mum came, and I told her about the woman in the window. She dismissed it and jokingly said it was probably the music teacher, because this thing appeared at one of the music room windows, but I'm sure it wasn't.
I didn't see it again, and frankly, I'm glad I haven't. Not sure what it was or why I saw it. However, when I told one of my friends at the time, she had said that she thought she had seen something similar, but I don't know if she was serious.
The school itself used to be an all-boys catholic school that encompassed both the now-secondary campus and the primary campus next to it, so I'm not surprised that whatever this was could be in both places. The school amalgamated with other local catholic schools and became co-ed.
Although I've heard stories of boys being abused, I don't know any more, or anything connected to this thing I saw. I do know, however, that it was a boarding school, and founded back in the 1950's, I think. So it has some history to it. I also don't know if the current secondary and primary campuses (excluding one campus) are the original buildings.
Not really sure what it was, but there were often times there was a weird feeling about that school. Does anyone have any ideas on what it was? I was there for another 3-4 years, and never saw it again. So luckily, it didn't seem too interested in me to look for me again.
😊