Post by Joanna on Oct 19, 2017 15:58:40 GMT -5
Ghost Tours at Bill Reed Middle School
LOVELAND, Colo. – There’s the hand-shaped stain that won’t wash away on the walls of the boiler room at Bill Reed Middle School in downtown Loveland. And the random brick in the southwest staircase that looks as though it was pushed a half an inch out from behind the wall. And the unexplained sounds, the shades that close without assistance and the lights that appear to illuminate on their own. The history of the 100-year-old school is filled with legends and ghost stories and later this month, school officials are embracing that haunted folklore to raise money for a heart sculpture that will be unveiled at the school’s 100th anniversary celebration in the spring.
On Oct. 28, the Saturday before Halloween, Bill Reed Middle School will open its doors to the community – $1 per person or $5 per family – for an evening of activities that include games, crafts, a showing of the movie Twilight, along with ghost stories and ghost tours of the school.
Current and former teachers as well as former students will lead the tours through the school to the different sites that are said to be haunted. They will tell their own tales of the different sounds and spooky occurrences and will spin yarns passed down through the years.
One stop is at the lucky brick, which juts out about a half-inch farther than all the other bricks on the staircase wall. It’s become a tradition that, every year, students at the school touch the brick for luck. But the legend behind the brick is a tale of anything but luck, the story of a bricklayer trapped behind the wall, trying to push his way free but not quite making it. Legend has it that while the school was under construction, a bricklayer was trapped behind the wall and attempted to tap the brick out to escape or call for help.
Another spooky story awaits in the bomb shelter, which was built beneath the school when it was constructed in 1917-18 during World War I. Though the tours are not allowed to venture into the bomb shelter for safety reasons, participants will get a peek into the area as well and hear the tale of young students trapped within during Christmas vacation.
Nearby is the stain on the wall of the boiler room that looks like hand prints. “The legend is that no matter how many times we wash it off, the hand prints reappear,” said Arnold Jahnke, Bill Reed principal.
These stories are shared generation after generation by students and teachers at the school, which is embracing its haunted history as the faculty, students and alumni celebrate 100 years of education within its walls. “You’ve got to have fun and embrace it,” Jahnke added. “Our community absolutely embraces the history of Bill Reed.”
Source: Pamela Johnson, The Loveland Reporter-Herald, October 15, 2017.
