A haunting at old South Main school: Phase II

A large edifice in the city of Bowling Green, Ohio looks much like any other old building on the street. Enter this historic old place, however, and you may discover that its serene  exterior is simply a façade. This former elementary school which now plays host to artists and continuing education students has been the focus of unexplained activity. Disembodied voices and mysterious footsteps in the dead of night have been heard by those who have remained alone in the building to clean up or attend to their various late night duties.  The Fringe Paranormal team returned to this location to try to shine a light on the things that lurk in the darkness.

Investigation Date: November 28, 2009

Investigation Duration: 9:30 pm- 3:00 am

Investigators

Kelly S

Don C

Peggy D

Brenda B

Val B

Leeann C

Investigation Conditions

Avg. Temperature        38.6°

Dew Point                      20.6 °

Avg. Humidity               51%

Precipitation                 .00 in

Barometric Pressure    29.10 in

Wind                               1.3 mph SW

Solar X-rays                 normal

Geomagnetic field        quiet

Moon                              waxing gibbous,  83% of full

Solar data                      no sunspots

Investigation

It was a brisk, quiet evening when the Fringe Paranormal team arrived at the old elementary school. Upon arrival at 9:30 pm the team took a brief walk-through of the location to orient themselves with the area and its conditions. During this time the team passed through the janitor’s office and into the boiler room. In this area Kelly and Brenda both reported hearing what sounded like a voice say “Hi”.  Later in the evening members heard what sounded like a cat “meowing” in the same room.  Based upon these claims and the fact that this room was not a focus during the previous investigation, the team placed a stationary digital voice recorder in the location. A stationary video camera was placed in the sub-level basement so as to catch the area from the stairwell,  past the janitor’s room entrance and through to the opposite stairwell. The team then went upstairs to the second floor to set up the investigation plan for the evening.

During its investigations Fringe Paranormal tries to arrange for each unit to contain a mixture of both male and female agents.  This practice is based upon proven principles of human psychology and unproven theories in the paranormal field. Psychologically, the male and female brains have different ways of perceiving their surroundings and interpreting some types of data. In the paranormal arena, many theorize that females are more “in tune” with feelings, emotions and other psychic dynamics.  With this thought, Director Don formed a unit with Val and Peggy (D unit).  Director Kelly teamed with LeeAnn and Brenda (K unit). At 10:30 pm the investigation of the school got underway.

Both teams maintained a roaming digital voice recorder.  During the first portion of the investigation Director Don’s unit (D unit) took the 2nd floor area while Director Kelly stationed her unit (K unit) downstairs in the sub-basement area.  “D” unit heard noises several times near their area similar to “bangs” and once heard what sounded like a door shutting.  “K” unit confirmed that they were not responsible for the noises. Down in her area Kelly reported hearing what sounded like a chair moving in the hallway. After some time, activity died down and the Fringe team took a break. At this time the team met at base HQ upstairs  to compare notes and write up the cycle synopses.

At 1:00 am the team began a new investigation cycle. Both units switched areas with “D” unit downstairs and “K” unit taking the upstairs level. At 1:22 am Kelly, LeeAnn, and Brenda all reported experiencing dramatic activity in their location. While sitting in a hallway upstairs “K” unit began hearing noises from an adjacent room. The floors of the rooms are made of wood and as such are very noisy when one walks across them. The team reported that they heard what sounded like a type of “flapping” noise which increased in intensity. For a sustained two minute time period the team heard the floor squeaking and cracking violently as if someone were running across it. Certain members of “K” unit reported feeling the actual vibration of the floor during this time.  Later at 2:05 am members of “D” unit several unexplained noises. Members heard what sounded like a chair moving on the floor above. Don, Val, and Peggy all reported hearing banging on a pipe several times. “K” unit confirmed that they were not responsible for any of the above.

At 3:00 am the Fringe Paranormal team ended the investigation.

Analysis

Compared to the previous investigation of the school, the activity at this location began at a later time period. The activity itself  was of the same type yet more pronounced  than during the previous investigation. The faint voice and the “meowing” sound heard earlier in the evening could possibly be attributed to natural phenomena in the boiler room. A breeze coming in from an opening in a window and blowing through one of the boiler pipes produced a faint whistling noise. It is common knowledge among builders that wood flooring must have room to expand and contract naturally. We do not know if the wood flooring in this building was installed correctly to allow such movement. However, it is NOT likely that incorrect installation would account for the type of violent noises heard during this investigation. The team is also unable to debunk either the sound of the metallic banging on the pipes or the sounds of a desk scraping across the  floor.

Conclusion

This location continues to provide more questions than answers. On future investigations the agents should document the exact location of all desks in the building and if possible station video cameras in the area to catch any possible movement of said desks. It is also recommended that the Fringe team return to this location during the spring or early summer when temperature fluctuations will not have any possible interference with the investigation. Lack of active air conditioning and heating units should also prevent any possible anomalous activity.

Prepared by Don C for Fringe Paranormal