Boulder High is one of the oldest school buildings in Colorado. Built in 1875, Boulder High has had a colorful history of staff and students who have walked the century-old halls. While being one of these students, I have concluded that the school is undeniably haunted.
As the one of the only schools in Colorado that has an annual haunted house, these conspiracies starts to make sense. Some spots in the building are beyond creepy (looking at the stairway that connects the math and language wing). However, I didn’t come to this realization until a few weeks ago.
During one of the rehearsals for Big Fish, my friend had a panic attack and ran out of the theater. Another cast member and I went to look for her to offer some comfort. We went under the theater (where the haunted house started and where the dressing rooms are) to try to find our friend. For context, the understage area was completely empty because students aren’t typically allowed to be down there. When we went looking around, we heard crying. Quickly I ran to the dressing room from which the sound was emanating. I called our friend’s name and got no response. I went to open the door and it was locked. I tried the door again, with no luck, but the crying continued.
The funny thing about the dressing room is that only a teacher’s key can open it. Meaning that there is no possible way that a student could’ve gotten in.
We ran back to the top level as fast as I could. I eventually found our friend far away from those dressing rooms, confirming there was no one else down there.
I know the perspective of a superstitious senior can’t be fully trusted, so I turned to Boulder High’s very own Mr. O’Block to confirm my suspicions. When asked if he believed in ghosts at Boulder High he said: “I’ve heard stories from other staff members, but never believed them until I started having stories of my own.” Now “I’m not able to say that I believe that the school is haunted, because I’ve made a deal with ghosts that I promise not to seek them out as long as they don’t contact me, but I have observed many strange things in my 11 years in this building. ” With that ominous answer, I had to know more about his experiences. He told me about his most peculiar encounter: “A few years ago I was working security for the football field the night before graduation (I would stay up all night watching the field and the school to discourage pranks/vandalism). It was about 2 a.m. when I was standing on top of the press box looking around. I saw the lights go on in the science wing and watched a figure move past the window at the end of the hall. I ran over to check it out, thinking someone found a way into the building. Nobody was in the building and security cameras showed the lights turning on, but nobody could be seen entering or exiting the building or science hall.”
Though Mr. O’Block’s story gave me goosebumps, I still needed one more story to prove my theory. So I turned to Mrs. Carmichael asked her about her otherworldly experience in the theater.
“We were doing a rehearsal up in the choir room. There were seven students practicing. The other director ended rehearsal early in the auditorium. She asked me ‘Hey, I’m leaving early, can you lock up the auditorium?’ I told the kids I’ll lock the downstairs. They asked: ‘Hey, can we give you a tour of the auditorium?’ I was like, okay, we can lock out the auditorium together. When locking up, the last thing that you do is go under stage and clear the tunnel and then you leave through the lobby. So, we’re locking everything up and the school keeps the lights understage on 100% of the time because custodian storage is down there. We’re entering the tunnel and the lights are off. I turn the lights to the tunnel on and then the switch immediately turns down. I started counting the students cause I thought they were playing a prank. But they were silent because they knew that the auditorium had a ghost. So I turn it on again, and then it turns off. I turn around, and because I’m irritated, and everybody’s freaked out. I’m kind of freaked out too at this point. I turn on the light one more time and it stays on. I look at everybody and I tell them ‘I have to go through the tunnel. You don’t have to, but I am going through.’ They decide ‘okay, we’ll go together.’ So then we all link arms and go through. Of course, I’m shoved to the front. So, we’re walking through the tunnel slow and get halfway through the tunnel and the lights turned off. We all freeze and go silent. Then we just ran out of the tunnel! I do remember, I pushed the door and held it open for a second to get everybody out. Then when I let go, the door slammed shut on its own. And the door doesn’t slam on its own. That’s part of the haunted house, is a slamming door. Some of the kids said they I heard a laugh, I did not. But it definitely felt weird.”
With both Mrs. Carmichael and Mr. O’Block’s stories, nothing could persuade me that there isn’t at least one ghost hanging around these hallowed halls.
Now that the news of these ghostly figures is out, I warn you to be cautious if you ever find yourself in the school at night, because you may not be alone.