Chances are you’ve heard a story or two about the ghosts that haunt Arlington High. The spirit of a former student who now floats around the auditorium – sometimes as a glowing orb, sometimes as a mist, and sometimes as just a tune tapped out on the piano. Or maybe you’ve heard of the girl who drifts around D hall, visible as a shadow on the security cameras but never materializing as it comes around the corner. And if you’ve been here after dark maybe you’ve felt like you were being watched or even followed; the hairs on the back of your neck prickling and the strong urge to look behind you only to see nothing but you quicken your step nonetheless. Welcome to the haunted halls of AHS.
As a school with almost 70 years of history in its building it is no surprise a ghost story or two has gone from rumor to legend. The Colt staff asked current and former students and staff to share their stories and then stayed late on Friday the 13th to check out the very spaces rumored to be haunted. While we didn’t see orbs or mist or shadows, we did hear unusual taps and knocks in the theater room and the lamps in C104 put on a bit of a show but nothing as good as the stories we were told.
The Haunted Faculty Bathroom
Ashley Thomas, English teacher
I was in the school late one night finishing up grading papers and getting the next lesson plan ready. The moment I was getting ready to leave, I stopped to go to the bathroom that only staff and teachers are allowed to go to. Normally I’m used to all the flickering lights, I tell them “stop” and then they stop flickering but that night was not a normal night for me. As I walked into the bathroom I noticed a pool of water, maybe like an inch, on the floor and the sink was running. I didn’t think much of it and just turned it off and walked into the stall. Then suddenly, the faucet turned on again. I decided I didn’t need to go that bad and could wait until I got home.
Electrical Spirit
Savannah Putty, English teacher
I’ve been here for three years and I feel like I have an electrical ghost in my classroom. All of my string lights and lamps are connected to one remote and controlled by one button yet sometimes my lamp in the corner will start flickering or turn off by itself. There are also times when my laptop will randomly scroll down, or on a slideshow when I turn away it will skip six slides on its own. At first I thought it was a student pulling a prank on me with one of those wireless mice and I actually found the USB piece in my laptop, but even after I removed it the weird occurrences still happened.
Locker Haunt
Darin Martin, Class of 1994
My locker was upstairs along the front hallway near the stairs and at least once a week when I opened my locker about halfway it’d get slapped back closed. Never the same day and never more than once a week. Freaked me out for a while, but I got used to it after a couple of months.
The Spirit in the Clinic
Brandy Hernandez, Attendance Clerk (former nurses’ assistant)
I used to come into the clinic early in the morning and set up for the nurse. Some mornings I would come in and the lights would be flickering and right when I put the key in the door they would stop and it would freak me out every time. Then there were times I would be sitting in the clinic by myself, minding my own business, and it would sound like someone was opening and closing the filing cabinets. And one time when the nurse and I were in the office together, she started talking about the supposed “ghost” in the auditorium and all of a sudden a file fell off the filing cabinet. We also had times when files or even our phones would not be where we left them but then we’d come back later and they’d be back in the right spot.
The Ghost Who Was a Fan of Band
Michael Hejny, former Band Director (as told by Nathan Burum, Band Director)
It was around midnight, after a late Friday game, and all students had exited the building, but Mr. Hejny had stayed behind to help a parent who had a flat tire. He helped the parent change the tire and saw them on their way and then walked back into the building to grab his things, lock up, and turn out the lights. Upon entering, he heard a student playing on the electronic piano in the band hall. From the hallway he yelled “no students are allowed to play on the piano” but when he walked into the band hall, no one was there and the playing immediately stopped.
Another time, Mr. Hejny and a student were reviewing a percussion solo in the auditorium. While discussing techniques and dynamics, the chairs on the chair rack behind them just fell over. The student immediately ran out yelling and Mr. Hejny said he had goosebumps all over.
Perfect Timing
Molly Adams, Class of 2010
My freshman year, 2006, during the choir lock-in, we were told about the suicide in the theatre room and right then the lights turned off and we saw a shadow fly across the stage.
The Ghost in the Balcony
Juan Aguilar, Midnight Patrol Sergeant, Arlington ISD Security
I remember very clearly in February of 2017 my team and I went in for a routine burglar alarm and heard loud noises and thuds coming from the auditorium. I will never forget that night when we caught a glimpse of what looked like someone sitting in the balcony. To this day I still get that creepy feeling when I am inside AHS at 3 or 4 in the morning.
Possible Poltergeist
Rachel Robbins, Class of 2012
It was the fall of my junior year and the school was mostly dark save the flurry of activity in the cafeteria because the Theater Department was putting on our annual Dinner Theater. I was on the costume crew, but the makeup crew head asked me to venture back across the school to the makeup room for some bobby pins and a hair brush. I didn’t go alone because the school was dark and, frankly, creepy, so another girl, Alyssa, and a pair of brothers tagged along.
We made our way across the school and then the boys broke off to go get something else so by the time Alyssa and I made it to the makeup room, we were alone. We were going through the drawers trying to find the specific color of bobby pins we needed and just chatting when suddenly the light above us began to shake violently. It was moving up and down as if someone had a hold of it and was trying to scare us. We looked up, screamed, and ran, grabbing whatever bobby pins we came across first. We headed down B hall, looking for the guys, thinking they had found a way to make the light shake but they claimed they didn’t do anything to scare us so we all went back together to investigate. Everything was perfectly normal. Nothing was shaking. There was no sign anyone else could have been on that side of the school. There is no logical reason for the light to have shaken the way it did.
The Nervous Ghost
Kevin Reynolds, Class of 2001
My freshman year, I was using the bathroom somewhere in/near B Hall and I sat in a stall for probably 10 minutes chatting with the fella in the stall next to me. He asked who my favorite teachers were, which teachers I disliked the most, and if I could pick one person as being the biggest bully/most hateful person to steer clear of who would that be. I took it as him being a new kid that was just nervous about his new surroundings. We joked back and forth a little and he told me his name was Blake, which I’ll never forget… because after I got done, I walked out of my stall and passed his stall only to see that the door was open and there was nobody in there at all.
Watcher in the Window
Emily Miller, Publications Adviser
Years ago my newspaper staff and I were staying late to finish the paper by deadline. It had to be around 11 when I sent the kids home and I stayed a little longer to finalize a few things. My desk was across the room from a door to a smaller back room, and there was a small window in that door. I was sitting working on the computer when I had the feeling I was being watched and I heard a thump from the back room. I looked up and saw a dark shadow move quickly out of the window in the door. For a millisecond I thought about opening the door and making sure one of my kids wasn’t back there but then I thought better of it, hit save on the computer, grabbed my purse, and left without looking back.
