Throughout the three years I have been at Ludlow High School, I have heard many different rumors around the idea that our school is haunted. As I heard more from teachers and staff, I realized that they were taking it more seriously than I thought it was. This led me to further question, “Is LHS really haunted?” 

While I still am not fully convinced that the school is haunted, after interviewing different staff members, I now have developed a growing suspicion based on the responses I have received. As I began asking around the school to see who would be best to interview, many people pointed me to two specific staff members. When I asked these anonymous individuals if I could interview them on the topic they both stated that it made them uncomfortable and would prefer not to answer any questions. As I fully respect their decision and privacy, I did think it was an interesting response. Their hesitation to speak on the topic made me think the matter was more serious then I might have realized. 

Although I was unable to hear the stories of those individuals, I was still able to interview three other recommended sources. I spoke with history teacher Mrs. Zianio, Vice Principal Mr. Mitchell, and Principal Mrs. Nemeth. 

The first person I interviewed was Mrs. Zianio, and while she didn’t personally experience anything unusual at Ludlow High, she stated that she has heard many stories from other staff and teachers. During the interview she said “I feel like any of the people who have told stories wouldn’t be the kind of people who would probably talk about it, which is why I lean towards I think it is haunted.” She also explains that because the ones who have told stories are so unexpected to her, she believes it to be even more true. “The people who I heard stories from are definitely people who you wouldn’t guess believe in these things.” I think Zianio brings up an interesting point in that most people who are really freaked out about what they have witnessed, are not the type of people to embellish things or make up stories. 

The next person I ended up interviewing was vice-principal Mr. Mitchell. When I brought the topic up to him he was quickly interested. He had no problem talking about the situation, which I was grateful for. He started off by saying that when he was interim principal last year something very weird happened that he experienced himself. 

When I asked him about what happened this is what he told me: “Last year when I was the principal, it was like a Saturday or Sunday morning and I got a call from Ludlow PD that the alarm system had gone off… I drove to the school, and it was early in the morning. It was like 7 in the morning and I met the officer at the front door and he said we got a 911 call from inside the nurse’s office.” Now, when I heard that no one was in the nurse’s office, I thought that was weird enough, but they thought maybe it was just the old phone system or something like that. Even though the officer left after that, Mr. Mitchell decided to take a loop around the school to double-check. During that time, he says, “So I’m walking all around the building, it’s just me in the building, and I’m up on the second floor and I’m at like the elevator on the second floor walking towards Mr. Camp and Ms. Stratton’s stairwell there, and the doors are propped open because it’s winter time… and as I’m approaching Mr. Camps door about half way down the hall, he had it pegged open, the peg just started slowly closing the door and then the door just closed… and at that point, I was like I’m out of here.” 

There was nothing that could explain this, so I was shocked. Just like Mitchell said, I don’t really believe in these kinds of things so it is crazy to hear a story like this. But if it was just a one-time thing then there has to be some explanation… right? That is what I was thinking until I talked to Mrs. Nemeth.

When I reached out to Mrs. Nemeth about an interview she was pleased to participate. I had heard from many different people that she was a good person to interview because of her strong belief of the school being haunted and the things she has experienced, and I was not disappointed. 

I started off by asking her if she thought the school was haunted, and right off the bat, she said, “yes!” Next, I asked if she had seen any ghosts in the school, and once again, she said “yes!” Then she began to tell the story: “It was the summer of 2016 going into 2017 and my daughter and her friend were graduates, and we were in here during the summer painting the faculty bathrooms at the top of the ramp. It was 9 o’clock at night, nobody was here except us 3 and while we were painting the bathrooms I kept hearing like a broom drop … so I went out in the hallway and looked, and there were no brooms, no mops, no nothing, so I was like okay that’s weird. At like 9:00-10:00… I was at the top of the ramp, and it wasn’t my daughter, but it was her friend who was with me, and we were looking down the ramp as if we were looking outside, and I saw a person go from the library into the main office and they had shorts on, like 1970 shorts, and a t-shirt. In my head I said that was just the weirdest thing, but I didn’t say anything. As quickly as that happened, my daughter’s friend said, ‘are we alone in this building?.. I swear I just saw someone run across the lobby.’” 

She continued on about the story and who they believe the ghost is, and it definitely left me questioning what I think on the topic. But now that I gave you all the insight, it’s time for you to decide. Do you believe our school is haunted?