Closing doors, mysterious voices and TVs turning on in the blink of an eye have drawn suspicion from the journalism department. 

Even since the new high school wing was open for teachers, the downstairs English wing has noticed signs of paranormal activity, especially within the journalism and broadcast classrooms. 

Students in the yearbook, newspaper and journalism production classes have witnessed instances where a ghost is the most likely scenario. Instead of instilling fear into the students, they have turned it into a sort of game. 

Within my newspaper class fellow editor, Alexis Dorsett and I randomly call out names to see if the door closes. The objective: if the door closes when we call out a word, that is the ghost’s name. So far our score with the ghost is about 0-50. 

All of the yearbook editors have very specific names that they associate with the ghost. Hallie Winther believes that the ghost’s name is Angeline, whereas Danyel Fahey is confident that it is Edith, and Kaylie Rozenboom is sure that the name is Priscilla. 

Within the North Polk School District, many teachers and students have witnessed strange things that they blame on the paranormal. In the middle school, one might find their objects moved, they might hear footsteps, as well as voices. In the high school, doors mysteriously shut, lights flicker on and certain rooms might make your skin break out in goosebumps. 

When I asked the yearbook editors what they had specifically felt or witnessed in the journalism room, many instances came to their mind. 

Winther has personally viewed the door creaking to a close a handful of times. Fahey has also witnessed the door closing and has been locked in the broadcast room with no reasonable explanation. 

Winther equates these instances to “a ghost or a really bad doorstop,” whereas Fahey believes “it ventures throughout the halls but I think it just really likes Mrs. Trier.” Rozenboom has the most interesting theory with the opinion that it is “people that got trapped in the basement in the middle school.” 

While many might believe that these instances could be rebuffed easily, Jessica Trier, the journalism advisor herself has experienced even earlier activity. 

“I came in and my front tv was on all by itself, my room is completely dark, the hallway was completely dark, no one was in here, no one had been here. This morning I came in, and my number 2 tv was on by itself, no one was here again, it was completely black,” explained Trier earlier last week. Her third TV has also turned on mysteriously with the remote located across the room from where Trier was sitting.

While the TVs were a strange occurrence they do not compare to what she witnessed in the broadcast lab. “I heard voices in the back room and I thought Mrs. Stubbs had brought some speech students in. I went to peek in and no one’s in there. I don’t know where the voices came from,” recalled Trier. 

While this unnamed paranormal force has never been seen, its presence is felt on the daily. The journalism students have taken this experience in stride. Instead of being frightened, they do as any decent writer or broadcaster would, they turn it into an interesting, if not dramatic, story. 

Do you have any ghost stories from the school district? Would you like to guess what the name of the ghost is? Let us know by reaching out in the comments or by emailing [email protected].