The Haunting of Park Jr. High School

Since it’s the beginning of the new school year, I thought, what better things to write about than haunted schools? That’ll start the new semester off with a bang…or maybe a boo!

Also, I love it when people challenge ghosts, and then the ghosts respond, and the people freak out. I mean, you asked for it, right?!?!?

Such is the case at Park Jr High School in LaGrange, IL.  The folks at Lion Online Newspaper tell us all about it. “On the night of a recent eighth-grade dance, four teachers were walking around Park Jr. High School, looking for students who might have wandered off. Among the group were some of the current staff, principal Philip Abraham, assistant principal Joseph Gage, and P.E. teacher Steven Metz. As they walked from room to room, the group paused in the band room on the second floor. The talk of a ghost haunting this room seemed fake to Metz, Abraham said. Metz jokingly asked the ghost to turn on the lights.

“The light right above Metz flashed on and off, but that wasn’t even the scariest part,” Abraham said. “After the one light, the entire building lost power. We ran out of that room after.”

I can’t blame them – I’d run out of the room too.

Who’s haunting the school? Students left in detention and forgotten about? School lunch ladies who died and returned to scoop more Cole slaw?  All the big hair from the 1980s?

According to Haunted Chicagoland, the answer is none of the above. The school is haunted by a nun.

“The original building was constructed in 1901 to function as a nunnery for Nazareth Academy. An addition was later added in 1949. The school underwent further construction sometime in the late 1960s. Nazareth Academy moved out of the building in 1974, and Park Jr. High School took its place.

During the years when the school was a nunnery, it was rumored that one of the nuns committed suicide. It’s not known exactly where the suicide took place, but it’s thought to have occurred on one of the upper floors of the building. It is said that she now haunts the school. Strange cold spots are felt, erasers mysteriously go missing, and disembodied voices have been heard.

But that’s far from the only occurrences that take place, as she makes herself known in many ways. Elevator doors open inexplicably, and lights will mysteriously flicker on and off.”

Many stories have been collected over the years. Lion Online Paper shares this one:

“One of the first was when Abraham started as assistant principal 16 years ago. He decided to joke around with the current principal. He called her office on the intercom and used a funny voice to say hello. The principal didn’t answer. Instead, a voice he didn’t recognize said, “[The principal] isn’t here.” He dropped the phone and ran around the corner to her office, and when got there, he saw that the door was locked and the lights were off. The principal had gone home earlier in the day. He was thoroughly spooked and thought the nun’s ghost had to be behind this.

The most telltale sign of the nun happened many years ago when a group of students were roaming the school, Abraham said. They were taking photos of different areas of Park for a project, one photo being of a plaque on the wall. As the students were going through the photos, they noticed a face was being reflected in the plaque. The face didn’t resemble any of the students who took the photo, and when Abraham and Gage tried to recreate a similar photo, they couldn’t. 

“Something is clearly lurking in the school,” Abraham said.”

Is something really lurking, or is this a case of urban legends being spread? Well, perhaps this last story, which was a comment on the Lion News Paper page, will help you decide:

“I grew up around the park because my grandma’s house is down the street. My grandma attended the school when it was Nazareth Academy and told me stories about the nun since I was little. I’ve even had my own experiences with the ghost. My friend and I were hanging out at the park around 8:00, and I noticed something in one of the second-story windows. We turned around, and to our surprise, we saw someone looking at us through the window. The person appeared to be the nun. I looked at my friend and asked if he saw it too, and when we looked back, the figure was gone. This was even weirder because it was the middle of the summer, and it was late, so nobody should have been in the building.”

Nobody except a ghost.

Happy Friday!!!