All alone, senior Drew Gonzales, locks up the eerily quiet catwalk above the auditorium. A weird feeling fills the air as he timidly ventures down the fluorescent lit hallway. Something, no, someone catches his eye. Fear consumes his body.
Stories of spooky apparitions roaming the halls, disembodied footsteps, haunted bathrooms and ancient burial grounds have been creeping out students at the school for years. Some chalk up the ghost stories to upperclassman trying to scare the underclassman. For others, the tales are all too real.
Gonzales experienced paranormal activity first hand after a long night working in the theatre catwalk.
“All the lights were off except in this one hallway,” Gonzales said. “I glanced down the end of the hallway and saw two Native American children in red staring back at me. I was petrified when I saw them. I booked it out of there as fast as I could.”
Theater member, senior Travis Roper, said he also experienced the unexplainable while in the theater catwalk.
“I have never personally experienced any paranormal activity in the theater, but on the end wall in the catwalk there is a smiley face painted in red,” Roper said. “People have painted over it dozens of times, with black paint even, and the smiley face always shows through.”
Rumored school ghosts do not only find their home in the auditorium, but the natatorium as well.
“There’s a rumor that the pool is haunted by a guy named Larry,” senior swimmer Lauren Fennel said. “Larry supposedly drowned during the physics boat races when the school first opened. Every Halloween our coaches turn off the lights in the natatorium and tell the story of Larry to creep us out.”
Blogs and news websites such as Strangeusa.com have reported similar stories, reporting claims of paranormal activity at the school. The sources of rumors prove to be murky, but are not hard to dismantle. According to the Klein tax office, Klein ISD bought the rights to the land where the school resides from the Conell-Blum properties trust in 1998. One of many rumors that has fueled stories of the school being haunted is that the school was built on an ancient Native American burial ground. David Marshall, owner of Marshall Construction Company, who was present during the construction of the school, debunked this rumor.
“No bones, headstones or any other relics were found during the construction of Klein Collins High School,” Marshall said. “There was just a bunch of trees and dirt.”
The school being built on a burial ground is not the only story that is easily disproved. The legend of a student drowning in the natatorium is also disprovable. According to the Houston Chronicle, the physics boat race drowning occurred in Houston Independent School District. Physics teacher Kimberly Polis said that because of that incident the school has made more of an effort to ensure student safety at the boat races.
“It’s one of the reasons we pay to have two lifeguards so that no one gets hurt at our pool,” Polis said. “It’s funny how stories get turned around.”
Evidence proves that not all ghost stories about the school are based on truth. No matter fact or fiction, some mysteries remain to be unsolved. Maybe some stories are better left unexplained.
Have you experienced the supernatural at school? Comment below with you KC ghost story.
