True Ghost Tales

Schoolhouse Basement

Well, you said thatI could email you with my story since I couldnt see how to submitit in the first place. Thank you. Alright, here goes.

I guess I should sort of introduce myself, or give you an idea ofwho I am before I tell you about my beliefs, and more importantlymy own experience with ghosts. I am a 23 year old young woman whoholds down a full time job, has finished university and yet has astrong mystical side that most definitly believes in ghosts andother entities. I am not physic, unless you count being veryperceptive, psychic. I merely believe, and have always believedin ghosts and the supernatural. My first experience with ghostshowever came when I was merely seven years old and althoughpeople may scoff and say that a child could never remembersomething like what the story I am going to relate to you, Iassure you, the event is etched in my mind, and the passing ofyears does nothing to dim the vividness of it.

Let me take you back to it. I was seven years old, enrolled ingrade one and going to an elementary school that boasted threelevels. The upper level was where grades one through five went,and the main level was occupied by our two kindergarten and onepre-kindergarten classes. The bottom level was used for all thebuilding's heating and water supply/machinery area. In the brightlight of day this place was spooky, I can only imagine howterrifying it would be at night.

Unfortunatly however, it was the bottom level that housed thebathrooms for the school. Now to get an image of this place inyour mind, imagine opening a door and going out onto a stairslanding. Once there you see a wall straight ahead, on the otherside are the heaters and other equipment that keep the schoolgoing. Now going down the stairs, there is an open area straightahead, the stairs curve right down the wall, and on the oppositeside of this open area are the bathrooms. One door for girls, andone for boys. This place scared the pants of me the first minuteI saw it, no reason of course that I could name, it merely evokedin me feelings of helpless terror so that 99%of the time Iwouldn't go to the bathroom there, I would wait all day just so Icould go home and feel safe.

Of course there were always stories circulating that the placewas haunted. The older kids loved to terrorize the younger onesby whispering tales of ghosts sliding through the walls andflitting across the floor and into the bathrooms. Many believedthese stories, I being one of them.

One day however, in the middle of the afternoon, I knew that Iwas out of luck. I had fought a battle with my bladder andunfortunatly I was going to lose. I simply had to go to thebathroom. I was dismissed by my teacher and I unhappily troddownstairs trying to make myself believe that everything was okay.As soon as I opened the door and heard the sounds of the boilerroom however, any sense of safety vanished. I trembled, staringout across the dimly lit room and forced myself to go down thosesteps. Once down, I ran to the bathroom and threw myself into oneof the stalls, locking the door firmly behind me. I was justabout finished my business, having rushed through that as well,when I heard footsteps outside. Suddenly terrified, I jerked mylegs up and tried to pretend I wasnt in the room. I heard thedoor open, heard the footsteps continue across the floor to thesinks. The water came on and then a stall door creaked open. Iwas shaking, I had no idea why, but I knew I needed to get out ofthere. Slowly I pulled my pants up and stepped out of the stall.I looked over to the sinks, one of which was still running, andthen looked at all the stall doors. They were standing wide open.Then I heard a toilet flush. I bent my head down to lookunderneath the stalls and encountered...nothing. There was no onethere. I think I stood there for a few seconds, stunned and inshock. My mind simply refused to process the information and Iwas left gaping at the running water.

It was the sudden coldness that woke me though. All of a sudden Icould move, and I did, running for the door and literally tearingit off its hinges. I fled up the stairs, not daring to lookbehind me because I was completely convinced that some sort ofbogeyman was behind me, waiting to catch me if I fell or stumbled.I yanked that door open and flew through it, and once on theother side I didnt stop running until I came to my classroom door.I was sweating, trembling and my heart felt like it was going tocome through my chest. I paused for a minute to collect myselfand then went back to class. The teacher noticed how pale I wasand asked if I was alright. I told her I was fine, and she let mestay, but for the rest of the afternoon I wondered whether what Ihad heard and seen had been true. It seemed so completelyunbelievable that I tried to dismiss it. Even after my incident,there were tales of kids who "experienced" things downthere in the basement. Some were hype meant to scare, others werethe truth, I was sure of that. I knew that I had come face toface with a ghost and I can tell you that I never, ever went tothe bathroom there again. At the end of grade one I left thatschool when my family moved, but I will never forget thatexperience. Just this year, the school was closed and will bebulldozed and turned into more town houses. I wonder what willhappen to that spirit once that happens and I shudder to think ofit haunting someone's house. I never investigated it, neverthought to find out if someone had died there or anything, butnow I am tempted to, just for curiousity's sake. Who knows what Iwill turn up?? Anyhow, if I do uncover anything I will let youknow. I don't mind any kind of responses to this story, butplease no flamers. Thanks for listening, I will hopefully post myother story sometime soon.

"There are no endings...only beginnings.."