It had been a while since anything paranormal had happened to me; I had almost convinced myself that nothing strange would ever happen again. It took a strange bruise on my arm to really get my mind thinking about the paranormal again. The bruise isn't what this story is about, however. This story is about the church my friend goes to and just what happened there.
I pick up friends fast now-a-days; I guess it took some tough times to really shape me into a good person. This particular friend, Sadie, became very close to me after we hung out with each other for a couple of hours. Now, Sadie comes from a rather religious family. Her father is a pastor and her mother helps out at the church. When I say church, I really mean an old school that the church rents. Her parents, though, put a lot of life into this school's gym to make it suitable for everyone that comes on Sunday. Sadie had asked me on Saturday (4/3/10) to come to church with her on Sunday. I hadn't been to my church in a couple of weeks and figured that it would be fun to go with a friend. I packed my bags, stayed the night at her house, and we were off to church in the morning.
When we pulled up to the school and into the parking lot, I noticed immediately how old it appeared. It's a sandy-colored building with rusty metal doors and dark windows. The bricks appeared chipped and worn-down, the interior probably wouldn't be much better. There's a playground outside, surrounded by a withered, chain-linked fence. Sadie's mother dragged us inside to hurry and set up before I could even ask how old the building was. My assumptions were correct with the interior: yellow tile, chipping paint on the walls, and exposed pipes lining the ceiling. At this point, I just didn't like the building. Not for any reasons concerning the paranormal, but just for the fact that the building was old and not appealing to the eyes.
I was informed after church that we had a 10 minute break before Sunday school started up. Curious to meet new people, I followed Sadie into a classroom next the gym where a long table occupied most of the room. Teens in chairs sat around the table and I took a spot. For a few minutes I introduced myself and got to know others until a girl, Paige, asked me if I had heard about this place. I shook my head no and brought my chair closer to her, inviting her to tell me about the school.
The church has been renting the school for two years; Paige had been with the church even before it had started to hold mass in the school. Anything that happened in the school made its way to her in bits and pieces. Apparently the superintendent of the school was haunting the school after hanging himself in either the gym or the hallway. I gave Paige a crazy look at the mention of the word 'apparently'. Nothing was for certain that meant and I wasn't going to let my imagination get worked up. However, I leaned toward Paige and asked her if she would show me around. Just because I didn't want to get my imagination worked up didn't mean that I wasn't curious.
Paige accepted, but whispered to me that she wasn't exactly excited to show me around. I glanced at Sadie and saw that she was preoccupied with the little kids; certainly she wouldn't want to come. Paige and I then went up to the top floor and I peered into every open doorway and around each corner, wondering if I might see anything. Toward the end of the hall on the top lever, Paige stopped and pointed at a door. I stepped forward to try and look through the glass but was held back by my hand. I looked to my wrist and saw that Paige was pointing at the door. "You see that door?" she asked me, "On Christmas Eve last year, we were all in this hallway talking and there was an odd blue light coming from behind the door." An orb is what I thought and I went to look through the glass panels of the door. After pressing my face up against the glass I realized that it was not only frosted glass, but I could see what was behind me better than I could see what was behind the door. I sighed and we went downstairs.
The next place we went to was behind the stage in the gym. While the parents talked, Paige and I slipped through a door. The door leads to a staircase, giving us the option of going either up or down. Paige took me downstairs first, which I really didn't like, especially when the whole bottom floor was pitch-dark. No sooner had we stepped foot on the tile when Paige took off up the steps. Not wanting to be left alone in the dark, I bolted back upstairs. We agreed that we should go upstairs instead.
The ballet studio that we walked into was just as dark. Luckily, an open elevator for the handicapped gave us light from the second floor. The mirrors that lined one wall were free of any smudges or dust. They made the room seem twice as big and twice as empty. Paige didn't really look like she knew this part of the building, and curiously walked over to a door at the end of the room. She pushed it open and we were greeted by yet another staircase, this one just leading down. We started down the steps but they seemed to just keep going. With each step our fear was increasing and we both turned back before even reaching the bottom. On our way up, I noticed a closed door which I assumed to be the boiler room. It sounded like a factory almost, as there was a lot of noise coming from behind the door. I opened it and looked at Paige. There was no way that I was going to look until she looked first.
She seemed to understand the look I gave her and her eyes moved from me to the room. She turned and ran off seconds later. I let the door go and followed her through the ballet studio, down the steps, and back into the gym. Paige was leaning against a wall, breathing heavily mainly from fright. "What did you see?" I asked her while she caught her breath. "At first it was dark, but then I saw a man walk across the room." I didn't exactly believe her, as I had heard that people could easily imagine these things. But no, she swore that she saw someone. Sunday school then began and it seemed like hours before me and Sadie left.
Two weeks later, on Sunday the 25th, I went to church with Sadie again. This time I brought a digital camera and some courage. Paige hugged me as soon as I walked in the door, seeming in a much better mood than last time, and led me into the gym. All three of us stood and talked for a while about school and then we took our spots so that the mass could start. Afterwards, I showed Paige the camera and she agreed to walk around and take photos. Sadie declined the offer to join us, again too busy with the little kids. The first place we went was to the ballet studio. I snapped two pictures, one after the other at the same angle and with the flash on both times. I told myself not to check the pictures until the end until I saw something.
From there we went into the classroom where all the teens sat. I wanted to go downstairs and take a picture but Paige wouldn't go. "You don't know what kind of nightmares I have had of this place." Paige told me. From across the room, I heard Sadie, "You've had nightmares too?" While they talked, I went over to a little girl who didn't seem to be bothered by the idea of the school being haunted. "Want to go downstairs with me?" I asked her as a joke. She shrugged her shoulders and started to walk away. I caught up with her and took out my camera again. I was really surprised that this girl would go with me. I took pictures from three different locations downstairs, feeling calmer with the girl beside me. She didn't really seem to be afraid of anything, and actually ended up hiding and jumping out at me a couple times (which I was not happy about).
I told her that we should get heading upstairs as Sunday school would be starting soon and she agreed. While I sat and waited for Paige and Sadie I went through each set of double pictures. It appeared that I got orbs in five of the pictures. I stopped at one picture in particular and stared at it for a while. Something had to be reflecting it in; there were clusters of orbs in it, not to mention one bright orb right in front of a chair. Quickly I went to the hallway and took four more pictures from the same spot, trying to find what was reflecting. I was only focused on finding something that could cause a reflection and saw that all four photos came up with no bright spots in them.
I hurried upstairs as soon as I got the four pictures so that I wouldn't be late to Sunday school. This time, I felt like Sunday school flew back as I wondered about the orbs. I told both Paige and Sadie about the pictures and showed them after we were released. Paige gasped and began to walk over to a glass case. "You should see this picture." she said and pointed to a picture. The superintendent of the school that 'died' in the school was in the photo not once but twice. He appeared once at the very left side of the picture and once at the very right side. I took a picture of this, in case anyone was interested.
After, I left with Sadie and studied the photos some more while in the car. I found something off in two of the pictures of the hallway. In the one where orbs are all around, there's a door to the right that's partially open. In another picture of that same hallway with no orbs in it, that same door is all the way open. I'm positive that no one went downstairs and moved this door due to the fact that most people are in the gym or the classroom.
Sadie has invited me to come back to the school in two weeks time and I'm wondering if I should bring my camera again. There were two spots that I saw the first time I visited that I never took pictures of: the hallway behind the stage (down the flight of stairs) and the boiler room. Should I get pictures of these places? Also, I looked into this school and the only thing I could find is that the superintendent canned food for the students to provide them with a healthy meal. I saw a picture of the food canner he used and it appears to be quite a large machine. I wonder if that's what I heard and mistook for the boiler room. As for the orb pictures, I'm sure some of you are curious so I'll try to get them up as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading!
-Hope
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