Schools are creepy.
It is just a fact of life to be perfectly honest. And yes, I can just see...
It is just a fact of life to be perfectly honest. And yes, I can just see...
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Schools are creepy.
- Thread starter Harry Leferts
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Harry Leferts
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Schools are creepy.
It is just a fact of life to be perfectly honest. And yes, I can just see the thoughts that some of you, or most of you are having. Thoughts like:
"Those words make sense individually… but not strung out like that."
"Schools aren't creepy. How could they be creepy, what with everyone there?"
And the thing is… you'd be right, they're not creepy… during the day.
During the day, schools are a hive of activity. Classes are being taught in most of the rooms of the school with the administration going about their business. Hallways and classrooms are filled with the sound of students and teachers talking or making their way from class to class. Bells will ring to show that it is time to change periods, that the day is about to start, recess, lunch, or time to go home. It is a noisy mess that is filled with life.
But… that is during the day… at night, it is different.
Once the last bell of the day rings, things begin to change as the students go home. The only remaining students would be those in sports or in clubs. And the teachers left are often at work grading, having meetings, and so forth. Meanwhile, the custodial staff is busy cleaning the school for the next day of work.
Yet, by the time that the Sun slips beneath the horizon, the last of them are nearly gone. With the custodians being the last, turning out the lights and locking the doors behind them as they leave, the stars coming out above them. Leaving behind an empty, dark building in their place.
In the day, the school is full of life, but at night…
Schools are creepy.
The air, which during the day is moving in breezes from open windows, from fans, or just plain movement of the people in the school, is still. With an almost heavy oppressiveness to it that weighs on one's shoulders. It doesn't really move, not really, it just sits there.
Above, during the day, you have the lights of all sorts in the school, revealing the color and life. But… at night, it changes. Rooms and hallways are dark with any lights few and far between. Often flickering as they light up small patches of the darkness, darkness that almost seems to want to smother said lights, that reach towards it with each blink and glance.
Going about the school during the day, there's all sorts of sounds that one would hear. Conversations between the various students and staff. Lessons that you could hear from the outside of the doors to the classrooms. The sound of feet and the like going back and forth, the sound of school life.
However… at night, things change.
Of course, there's some sounds in the air at night. The clicking of radiators heating up or cooling down, the hum of what few lights there are. You might even hear the sound of the ventilation system going about its business. Perhaps even some creaks and groans as well from the building settling. But… for the most part, there is silence, one that hangs heavy in the near dead air.
Schools are creepy.
I am a security guard and I can honestly say, that's true. At night, there are so few places as creepy as a school. Because you expect it to be full of life, of activity. So, to see it so very still and dead, it is like a whiplash.
Going around the outside of the building, you only have the outdoor lamps in the parking lot and maybe a few outdoor lights along the building casting light and shadows across the ground. The building itself just sits there, looming over you in the nighttime hours. And the windows, so cold and dark, when you would expect them to be filled with light and warmth, seem to leer at you. As if the building itself was staring at you. Observing you, someone who should not be there.
And… sometimes, in those darkened windows, you might swear that you saw movement. Was that curtain just moving? Maybe there is a fan on inside, or perhaps the updraft from a radiator caused it to move. Certainly not something… else, moving the curtain aside to watch you. And the open windows, that wasn't a shadow shifting, just the trick of an eye. There couldn't be someone standing there in the darkness, staring at you.
Schools are creepy… the inside especially.
Being a security guard, I've guarded schools as needed, when needed. Sometimes because there's been a break in. Or the alarm system is on the fritz. Things like that. But I can say… that it is even creepier inside the schools than the outside.
Different schools are different when talking about creepiness. Elementary schools can be bad, especially those classrooms for the youngest of the students. What little light that there is, casts an entirely different environment upon where usually there would be laughing, talking children.
Pictures that children drew can… seemingly change due to the lighting. Drawings of eyes in faces can make them seem like deep, dark pits at night. Holes, just staring at you from the paper. At times, you could almost swear that they move from the corner of your eye.
It isn't just drawings either which seem to move. Photographs of all schools seem to follow you with their eyes. Keeping their gazes on you for the moment that you may step out of line. Same with portraits for the older schools as well. Especially portraits.
This isn't limited to just elementary schools, however, but all schools.
Because schools are creepy.
Going into the gym can be especially creepy, no matter what level of school it is. There is just something about the dark, cavernous room that is the gymnasium that can cause you to be continually glancing around. The dark space under the bleachers seems like it is hiding something, just out of your sight. Reaching the change rooms, you find yourself hesitant to knock, as if afraid that you might warn some malevolent presence just on the other side of the door that you are there. And, even when you do knock and announce that you are entering, you find yourself pausing for a moment before, slowly, opening the door in front of you to make sure that there's nothing there.
Sometimes, the students and teachers might leave things behind when they leave for the day. Balls and equipment might have been left out and not put away. And there is nothing so freaky as walking through a gym and hearing something, before turning to find a basketball just… rolling across the floor. Or my favorite, jumping because something just fell off the stage, and bounced in the case of a basketball.
Schools are creepy.
Higher grade schools can also have aspects that are especially creepy. Ever had to go into a biology classroom with one of those fake skeletons? Or the jars filled with preserved animals who stare out from them at you with dead eyes. Or mannequins, just standing there silently, with you almost expecting them to move.
Because schools are creepy.
Over a decade ago, there was one school in particular that I worked at which was extremely creepy. The school was extremely old, but gone now and I was working overnight during the holidays. It seemed that there was originally one building, but as time went on and numbers of students increased, they simply added onto it. You would be walking down a hall and suddenly finding that you need to walk down three steps to continue, because that was how it was built when added on. Or you would need to make a hard turn.
Down below, it was even worst with a maze of corridors for a basement and subbasement. There was one particular area where you had a concrete box of sorts with it leading off into a tunnel with an underground stream flowing through it. You'd get strange… sounds and echoes coming up from that dark, damp place. There was also two extremely old changerooms built beneath the gym in the area, ones that carried the smell of sweat from decades of use. You could find words and the like carved into them, including dates that made you realize that the students that made them… were long gone and dead.
Or… maybe… not as gone as you might think.
First night there, I was doing my rounds and it was late with me walking along the hallway with my flashlight with me looking back and forth when I catch movement from the direction that I had been coming from. Turning, I could see the double doors, the ones that you push, down at the end of the hallway that I was at open and close. Then, the next ones open and close.
Open and close… open and close… closer and closer to where I was.
Simply watching, I pointed my flashlight in the opposite direction and waited after turning it off. I stood in the dark, heart pounding as thanks to the streetlights coming in from outside, I saw the doors open and close as if someone was moving through them as they got closer and closer. Then, I saw the set of doors right beside me begin opening and I tensed…
To see that there was nothing there at all.
Suddenly, there was a sound and I turned to see the set on the opposite side of me from the ones that had just closed open and then close as if someone passed through them. Then, the next set, and the next, slowly moving away from me. I… just stood there for a time before continuing my patrol and trying to figure it out.
It wasn't just those doors, to be quite honest. Nothing is quite so creepy as when you are on the toilet and the washroom door opens and then shuts, followed by the door of the stall next to you swinging closed. You're sitting there, frozen as the hairs on your neck prickle as you slowly look at the gap between the stall wall and the floor, before very slowly leaning forward to look through the gap…
Only to find nothing in the stall next to you, yet there is a feeling as if something is there looking back at you.
Quickly finishing your business, you then head towards the sink and wash your hands as you keep an eye on the stall… And watch as the door opens and closes, followed by the washroom door. Sometimes, when you pass by a door to a classroom, you might see it open and, looking inside, all is silent and still.
Just the vibrations of the nearby road, they told me when I asked. According to them, during the day, all the traffic causes vibrations in the school. And then, at night when the area is mostly empty, the vibrations will cause stuff like the doors opening and closing on their own. Or the doorknobs to rattle.
There was also the odd things in the basement and subbasement. You'd be walking along and suddenly you would feel a sort of breeze, almost a puff of cold air, brush past you. Or, directly on your neck.
Simply the ventilation system, nothing more or less than that. Footsteps? Just echoes from your own when you hear them coming from somewhere nearby. And the ones above is just the building settling and such.
Because schools are creepy.
I got used to it eventually and began to greet the empty air whenever I came on duty. Calling out softly, "I'm here for my shift, you wee little ghosties! Don't be causing me too much trouble, I'm just doing my job."
Most looked at me as if I was a little crazy, still don't know if I am. But… others, on the other hand? They'd just stare at me and glance deeper into the building. Their eyes and expressions saying far more than their lips as they hurried from the building.
One night, however… was interesting.
It was about four or five in the morning and I was being relieved by a supervisor. The guard who was booked suddenly quit for some reason out of the blue. Now, this supervisor was one who had been an ass before this, and was an ass after. He comes in and we're at the bottom of a stairwell near an exit with us doing turnover. Once done, I let him know about what happens and he told me to knock off the bullshit trying to scare him.
Simply shrugging, I clear my throat and tell the still air that I was heading home, and to be good for the supervisor. Before he could comment, the door at the top of the stairwell opened and then slammed shut. Quickly rushing up, my Supervisor went through the door as I stayed down below, I already knew what he would find. And, two or so minutes later, he came down with his face slightly pale stating that there wasn't anyone there.
Laughing, I simply told him that there was someone there, he just couldn't see them before I gave a wave and bid a good day to the air.
Found out later that he called another supervisor in when he swore that someone was moving around. But, even working together with another walking around the outside, none of them could find anyone. After, he simply refused to go inside and sat in his truck for the rest of his shift and did outside patrols.
Continued to work there for myself until they had fixed the issue and left. Later, did security when they were demolishing it, but… it wasn't the same. Though the washroom stalls did sometimes swing open when you were there.
Now, it is just a field and I sometimes wonder about it and what had happened those years ago along with wondering what ever became of what was going on.
So, if you're ever passing a school at night and you see a shadow moving in the window, or the curtains shifting, give a friendly wave. Who knows? Something might just wave back…
Because schools are creepy like that.
It is just a fact of life to be perfectly honest. And yes, I can just see the thoughts that some of you, or most of you are having. Thoughts like:
"Those words make sense individually… but not strung out like that."
"Schools aren't creepy. How could they be creepy, what with everyone there?"
And the thing is… you'd be right, they're not creepy… during the day.
During the day, schools are a hive of activity. Classes are being taught in most of the rooms of the school with the administration going about their business. Hallways and classrooms are filled with the sound of students and teachers talking or making their way from class to class. Bells will ring to show that it is time to change periods, that the day is about to start, recess, lunch, or time to go home. It is a noisy mess that is filled with life.
But… that is during the day… at night, it is different.
Once the last bell of the day rings, things begin to change as the students go home. The only remaining students would be those in sports or in clubs. And the teachers left are often at work grading, having meetings, and so forth. Meanwhile, the custodial staff is busy cleaning the school for the next day of work.
Yet, by the time that the Sun slips beneath the horizon, the last of them are nearly gone. With the custodians being the last, turning out the lights and locking the doors behind them as they leave, the stars coming out above them. Leaving behind an empty, dark building in their place.
In the day, the school is full of life, but at night…
Schools are creepy.
The air, which during the day is moving in breezes from open windows, from fans, or just plain movement of the people in the school, is still. With an almost heavy oppressiveness to it that weighs on one's shoulders. It doesn't really move, not really, it just sits there.
Above, during the day, you have the lights of all sorts in the school, revealing the color and life. But… at night, it changes. Rooms and hallways are dark with any lights few and far between. Often flickering as they light up small patches of the darkness, darkness that almost seems to want to smother said lights, that reach towards it with each blink and glance.
Going about the school during the day, there's all sorts of sounds that one would hear. Conversations between the various students and staff. Lessons that you could hear from the outside of the doors to the classrooms. The sound of feet and the like going back and forth, the sound of school life.
However… at night, things change.
Of course, there's some sounds in the air at night. The clicking of radiators heating up or cooling down, the hum of what few lights there are. You might even hear the sound of the ventilation system going about its business. Perhaps even some creaks and groans as well from the building settling. But… for the most part, there is silence, one that hangs heavy in the near dead air.
Schools are creepy.
I am a security guard and I can honestly say, that's true. At night, there are so few places as creepy as a school. Because you expect it to be full of life, of activity. So, to see it so very still and dead, it is like a whiplash.
Going around the outside of the building, you only have the outdoor lamps in the parking lot and maybe a few outdoor lights along the building casting light and shadows across the ground. The building itself just sits there, looming over you in the nighttime hours. And the windows, so cold and dark, when you would expect them to be filled with light and warmth, seem to leer at you. As if the building itself was staring at you. Observing you, someone who should not be there.
And… sometimes, in those darkened windows, you might swear that you saw movement. Was that curtain just moving? Maybe there is a fan on inside, or perhaps the updraft from a radiator caused it to move. Certainly not something… else, moving the curtain aside to watch you. And the open windows, that wasn't a shadow shifting, just the trick of an eye. There couldn't be someone standing there in the darkness, staring at you.
Schools are creepy… the inside especially.
Being a security guard, I've guarded schools as needed, when needed. Sometimes because there's been a break in. Or the alarm system is on the fritz. Things like that. But I can say… that it is even creepier inside the schools than the outside.
Different schools are different when talking about creepiness. Elementary schools can be bad, especially those classrooms for the youngest of the students. What little light that there is, casts an entirely different environment upon where usually there would be laughing, talking children.
Pictures that children drew can… seemingly change due to the lighting. Drawings of eyes in faces can make them seem like deep, dark pits at night. Holes, just staring at you from the paper. At times, you could almost swear that they move from the corner of your eye.
It isn't just drawings either which seem to move. Photographs of all schools seem to follow you with their eyes. Keeping their gazes on you for the moment that you may step out of line. Same with portraits for the older schools as well. Especially portraits.
This isn't limited to just elementary schools, however, but all schools.
Because schools are creepy.
Going into the gym can be especially creepy, no matter what level of school it is. There is just something about the dark, cavernous room that is the gymnasium that can cause you to be continually glancing around. The dark space under the bleachers seems like it is hiding something, just out of your sight. Reaching the change rooms, you find yourself hesitant to knock, as if afraid that you might warn some malevolent presence just on the other side of the door that you are there. And, even when you do knock and announce that you are entering, you find yourself pausing for a moment before, slowly, opening the door in front of you to make sure that there's nothing there.
Sometimes, the students and teachers might leave things behind when they leave for the day. Balls and equipment might have been left out and not put away. And there is nothing so freaky as walking through a gym and hearing something, before turning to find a basketball just… rolling across the floor. Or my favorite, jumping because something just fell off the stage, and bounced in the case of a basketball.
Schools are creepy.
Higher grade schools can also have aspects that are especially creepy. Ever had to go into a biology classroom with one of those fake skeletons? Or the jars filled with preserved animals who stare out from them at you with dead eyes. Or mannequins, just standing there silently, with you almost expecting them to move.
Because schools are creepy.
Over a decade ago, there was one school in particular that I worked at which was extremely creepy. The school was extremely old, but gone now and I was working overnight during the holidays. It seemed that there was originally one building, but as time went on and numbers of students increased, they simply added onto it. You would be walking down a hall and suddenly finding that you need to walk down three steps to continue, because that was how it was built when added on. Or you would need to make a hard turn.
Down below, it was even worst with a maze of corridors for a basement and subbasement. There was one particular area where you had a concrete box of sorts with it leading off into a tunnel with an underground stream flowing through it. You'd get strange… sounds and echoes coming up from that dark, damp place. There was also two extremely old changerooms built beneath the gym in the area, ones that carried the smell of sweat from decades of use. You could find words and the like carved into them, including dates that made you realize that the students that made them… were long gone and dead.
Or… maybe… not as gone as you might think.
First night there, I was doing my rounds and it was late with me walking along the hallway with my flashlight with me looking back and forth when I catch movement from the direction that I had been coming from. Turning, I could see the double doors, the ones that you push, down at the end of the hallway that I was at open and close. Then, the next ones open and close.
Open and close… open and close… closer and closer to where I was.
Simply watching, I pointed my flashlight in the opposite direction and waited after turning it off. I stood in the dark, heart pounding as thanks to the streetlights coming in from outside, I saw the doors open and close as if someone was moving through them as they got closer and closer. Then, I saw the set of doors right beside me begin opening and I tensed…
To see that there was nothing there at all.
Suddenly, there was a sound and I turned to see the set on the opposite side of me from the ones that had just closed open and then close as if someone passed through them. Then, the next set, and the next, slowly moving away from me. I… just stood there for a time before continuing my patrol and trying to figure it out.
It wasn't just those doors, to be quite honest. Nothing is quite so creepy as when you are on the toilet and the washroom door opens and then shuts, followed by the door of the stall next to you swinging closed. You're sitting there, frozen as the hairs on your neck prickle as you slowly look at the gap between the stall wall and the floor, before very slowly leaning forward to look through the gap…
Only to find nothing in the stall next to you, yet there is a feeling as if something is there looking back at you.
Quickly finishing your business, you then head towards the sink and wash your hands as you keep an eye on the stall… And watch as the door opens and closes, followed by the washroom door. Sometimes, when you pass by a door to a classroom, you might see it open and, looking inside, all is silent and still.
Just the vibrations of the nearby road, they told me when I asked. According to them, during the day, all the traffic causes vibrations in the school. And then, at night when the area is mostly empty, the vibrations will cause stuff like the doors opening and closing on their own. Or the doorknobs to rattle.
There was also the odd things in the basement and subbasement. You'd be walking along and suddenly you would feel a sort of breeze, almost a puff of cold air, brush past you. Or, directly on your neck.
Simply the ventilation system, nothing more or less than that. Footsteps? Just echoes from your own when you hear them coming from somewhere nearby. And the ones above is just the building settling and such.
Because schools are creepy.
I got used to it eventually and began to greet the empty air whenever I came on duty. Calling out softly, "I'm here for my shift, you wee little ghosties! Don't be causing me too much trouble, I'm just doing my job."
Most looked at me as if I was a little crazy, still don't know if I am. But… others, on the other hand? They'd just stare at me and glance deeper into the building. Their eyes and expressions saying far more than their lips as they hurried from the building.
One night, however… was interesting.
It was about four or five in the morning and I was being relieved by a supervisor. The guard who was booked suddenly quit for some reason out of the blue. Now, this supervisor was one who had been an ass before this, and was an ass after. He comes in and we're at the bottom of a stairwell near an exit with us doing turnover. Once done, I let him know about what happens and he told me to knock off the bullshit trying to scare him.
Simply shrugging, I clear my throat and tell the still air that I was heading home, and to be good for the supervisor. Before he could comment, the door at the top of the stairwell opened and then slammed shut. Quickly rushing up, my Supervisor went through the door as I stayed down below, I already knew what he would find. And, two or so minutes later, he came down with his face slightly pale stating that there wasn't anyone there.
Laughing, I simply told him that there was someone there, he just couldn't see them before I gave a wave and bid a good day to the air.
Found out later that he called another supervisor in when he swore that someone was moving around. But, even working together with another walking around the outside, none of them could find anyone. After, he simply refused to go inside and sat in his truck for the rest of his shift and did outside patrols.
Continued to work there for myself until they had fixed the issue and left. Later, did security when they were demolishing it, but… it wasn't the same. Though the washroom stalls did sometimes swing open when you were there.
Now, it is just a field and I sometimes wonder about it and what had happened those years ago along with wondering what ever became of what was going on.
So, if you're ever passing a school at night and you see a shadow moving in the window, or the curtains shifting, give a friendly wave. Who knows? Something might just wave back…
Because schools are creepy like that.
FTR2017
Well worn.
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2020
- Messages
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- Likes received
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The ambiance you evoked with this one-shot sure has that Halloween feel to it, and I for one find it a pity that there are no comments about it.
Heh, the ghosties probably moved to the protagonist's house ... or the supervisor.
After all, ghosts get their kicks from scaring others, and that supervisor seems quite the ideal jumpscare target!
Heh, the ghosties probably moved to the protagonist's house ... or the supervisor.
After all, ghosts get their kicks from scaring others, and that supervisor seems quite the ideal jumpscare target!
Harry Leferts
Experienced.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2016
- Messages
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Fun fact... this actually did happen to me (I was the protag).The ambiance you evoked with this one-shot sure has that Halloween feel to it, and I for one find it a pity that there are no comments about it.
Heh, the ghosties probably moved to the protagonist's house ... or the supervisor.
After all, ghosts get their kicks from scaring others, and that supervisor seems quite the ideal jumpscare target!
FTR2017
Well worn.
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Likes received
- 96,344
Man, you sure lived a wild ride deep in the night!
...
Did the ghosts at least offer headpats and cuddles while you slept?