Emily Kim and Timothy Moon

A sound with no clear source in an empty hallway. A looming shadow in the stairway with no one to cast such darkness. Recently, there have been reports of hauntings around MRHS. Since the creation of this school, some students have felt uneasy during the season of Halloween. The possibility of paranormal activity is at an all-time high and the newest report in the Stallion is going to answer the question everyone is asking: are students paranoid or are there really ghosts?

“Everyone always says it’s nothing, but I know it’s something,” sophomore Gillian Hayden said. “When I am alone, I have had doors open by themselves when nobody’s home.” 

The creaking of doors that were meant to be shut, or the quiet whispers that enveloped the basement, are allegedly a regular experience for students. Hayden mentions how there is a mysterious haunting, and this haunting only affects those who dare to venture out into the darkness in the school. Hayden is not alone.

According to freshman London Simpson, spirits fall into two categories: demons, which are bad, and family members, which are good. The scientific community has yet to accept this generalization, but the Stallion finds the concept of demons and family members very convincing. To Simpson and her freshman friend Maggie Newton, paranormal activity is not a mysterious subject. This duo decided to do a deep dive and share an interesting story about their encounter with the other world.

   “I spoke to her [Maggie’s] uncle,” said Simpson, “I was using a spirit box, and I spoke as her uncle through the spirit box.” 

This pair made contact using a spirit box, a device that rapidly scans radio stations and is either a portal to the afterlife or just a glorified, expensive radio. Connecting with such paranormal beings seems like a death wish to a certain extent, but some students live for the thrill. A part of the thrill is the idea that these stories end in the unknown. Sophomore Sara Fonnegra serves as an example. 

Her story mentions a haunted house previously owned by a doctor, and while sleeping in the retired surgery room, Fonnegra heard tapping and clicking along the walls. Fonnegra immediately named the old heater as the prime suspect. However, after further investigation, the old heater was cleared of all charges, and the true source of this tapping still remains at large. This case went cold, though, and we reporters decided there was one thing left to do: go find the ghost ourselves. There was only one place to start: the second-floor bathroom, home of the king of MRHS ghosts.

Broken doors and paper towel dispensers, flooded floors filled with what is thought to be water, and even school milk on the walls. This can ONLY be the doing of a ghost; there is no other explanation. Walking into the bathroom revealed the ghost’s domain of smoke and apparent raspberry pie. The spirit could not be located in the bathroom, but that only reinforces the argument of ghosts in this school because, in case it was forgotten: ghosts are obviously invisible. Before leaving, the empty room was asked one last question: “Are you real?” There was no response from the ghost, because ghosts can’t talk.

For the thrillseekers, by all means keep hunting. But do not scream Bloody Mary in the second-floor bathroom. Something is already in there and it reeks of a fruity explosion.