Urban Legend Gone Viral

Living in New Mexico and knowing a little bit about hauntings I was surprised to read on several sites that an abandoned school in the small town of Artesia was considered one of the most haunted places in my state. 

Atoka School

It is a classic, frightening ghost story so I will share it here.

Atoka School, built in 1949, has sat abandoned for many years. It seems this building has a long history of creepiness. Beginning with the school and then later several businesses that occupied this building--all appeared to have been driven out by a dark evil entity.

In fact, the report claims that whatever was going on was so scary that all of the tenets of the old school left quickly or “overnight” without giving any logical reason as to why.

By the 1970s the school’s scary backstory was so well known that teens would Legend Trip the site, often just driving by too scared to go in. Others who dared reported hearing: groans, footsteps and even snarls.

Hence the legend grew, the old school must be haunted.

Recently, the ArtesiaDaily Press while listing places in their town that are truly haunted took a more logical approach to the rumors that surround the Atoka School.

They noted that one group who visited the site in the 1990s, upon hearing the footsteps determined it was just “a goat,” and an entity that flashed by them was a “barn owl.”

This would explain why witnesses who were brave enough to visit the school would sometimes state the dark entity they believed lived in the old school flew out of the walls at them.

Regardless, it provides an entertaining scare.

A Strange Twin

Robert Owen's book

One of the strangest stories about a doppelganger was chronicled in Robert Owens 1860 book, Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World.

Emilie Sagee lived in 19^th Century France. She was a single lady who made her living as a schoolteacher. She was pretty, likable and a good teacher by all accounts.

Despite this, she had trouble keeping a job, in fact, she was forced to move from town to town.

The reason for this is she had a ghostly twin who haunted her. This apparition since birth had plagued her life. For her twin was no ordinary ghost, it was a doppelganger.

She was fired from eighteen teaching positions because of this doppelganger.

It was during her time at her 19^th position that it was clearly documented what was happening. She obtained a position in Latvia at the Pensionat von Neuwelcke--a prestigious school for girls.

While teaching a French class in front of thirteen students, her twin appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to mimic her every move. Though all her students could see this ghost, Emilie could not.

During another lesson, this doppelganger appeared in front of the class sitting in Emilie’s chair. Emilie at the time was out in the school garden. Two brave students approached this apparition.

One of the girls tried to touch her, but her hand went straight through her. Later she reported it felt like her hand had touched a substance that felt like cloth.

Emilie’s twin would often follow the class when they took walks together. It always kept its distance. Again only Emilie’s students saw it, never Emilie.

It was also seen standing in the classroom doorway imitating Emilie’s every move. Not surprising, with these strange sightings Emilie lost her job at this school as well.

It is said that it is a blessing Emilie never met her own doppelganger for it is believed this would have brought her further bad luck.

A doppelganger is the exact double of a living person but is an apparition. In German doppelganger means, “double walker” for these phantoms are not ghosts in the traditional sense. They instead are a projection of a person who is not deceased.

It is like a person who has split in two or has the ability to be in two places at once. It is believed that Emilie’s doppelganger often appeared because she had a driving need to be a good teacher.

The following is a short video that highlights this story.

Blue Boy Ghost Story

As I have mentioned in other posts, our neighbors across the pond—the Brits love a good ghost story. They love them so much their newspapers, mainstream and tabloid alike publish them regularly.

You can always find a good ghost story or sighting, with pictures included, in the Daily Mirror and The Star, which are both tabloids. The Guardian, a mainstream English newspaper, also reports the latest paranormal sightings.

This might be the reason that 1 in 3 people in Great Britain believes in some form of paranormal activity. Just like in the U.S., more women than men hold this belief.

Coylet Inn

A widely debated ghost sighting received a lot of attention in the British papers recently.

The Ten witnesses were holding a hen party in August of 2017, in America, we call them bachelorette parties, at a remote estate in Argyll, Scotland.

During the festivities to celebrate the bride-to-be, these women gathered near the Loch Eck near the Coylet Inn to take photos in front of the lake and surrounding hills.

When the group gathered around to view the photos on the camera, they saw a young boy crouching behind a log in the second picture.

They were surprised for no children were staying with them at this remote inn, and they wondered how this boy could appear in the second photo taken just seconds after the first.

The first photo was taken. Click to enlarge.

The second photo was taken seconds later. Click to enlarge.

When they shared this photo with the Coylet staff, what they were told frightened them. They packed their bags and immediately left.

They were told the story of “The Blue Boy.”

Loch Eck

Several centuries before their visit, a mother and her 4-year old son had visited the inn. While they slept, the boy prone to sleepwalk left his bed. The next morning they found his body turned blue from the cold waters in the lock. He had drowned.

The Blue Boy ghost has been seen at the inn and the surrounding area since this tragedy.

He is often heard crying. It is believed he is looking for his mother. Wet footprints are spotted in the inn’s hallways leading nowhere.

Items in Room 4 where he and his mother stayed are found moved about, and for years, witnesses have sensed his presence in this room.

Film Poster

In 1994, a film starring Emma Thompson was made at the Coylet about this haunting. The director, Paul Murton, while editing the film, saw a strange blue mist in several of the scenes. No one had seen this mist during the filming.

Since this story was published, some contend what was captured was just a clever photo-bomb, but others knowing the history of the inn doesn’t blame the hen partygoers for leaving early.

A Creepy Conversation

One of the scariest accounts published in 2016 of a ghost encounter involved a woman sleeping alone in her home.

Jenny had been having trouble sleeping so her doctor recommended she download a sleep app onto her smartphone. This app would record the second; there was any noise in her bedroom in order to track when her sleep pattern became restless.

In late October, Jenny had been using this app for a month—it typically picked up her coughing and snoring. But then it recorded something one night at 2:04 a.m. that freaked her out.

Sleep as Android App

Leading up to this early morning hour the app had picked up a clicking sound that became louder and louder then this sound stopped. In its place, she heard her own voice state, “What are you doing?” Jenny on occasion would talk in her sleep.

But this time a deep male voice replied, “Nothing.” The clicking crackled again, and then the same male voice at the end of the recording stated, “That’s them.”

Jenny woke up the next morning with no memory of this. So when she heard this voice, she was shocked and then scared.

At first, she wondered if someone had broken into her home as she slept, but she found nothing out of place or missing. She then convinced herself that the second voice must be hers; this comforted her for a while.

A month later, not hearing anything more unusual on her sleep app Jenny tried to put the incident out of mind, but she was still uneasy. A friend recommended she share the recording with an expert.

When she consulted with an expert, he told her the second voice had an entirely different pitch and could not have been hers it is much lower than hers.

Jenny then placed the recording online. The general consensus was a ghost had conversed with her while she slept. No longer comfortable in her own home, Jenny moved.

Here is a link to SoundCloud where this creepy conversation can be heard clearly. Every time I listen to it I get chills.