Story 4

Spooky Stories from Elgin, IL. was an October feature of stories from Elgin residents about unusual happenings, spooky events or an other-worldly resident that might still be hanging around. In most of these stories names and locations have been omitted or changed to protect the privacy of still living residents and their homes.

These stories are meant to provide a safe and fun scare.
Please enjoy and feel free to share!

1

A few years back, D, a teacher at Channing Elementary, remembers them having a lockdown drill.

Lockdown procedure included locking your door, turning off your lights & hiding. On that particular day all of D’s students were at gym. Alone in her classroom she locked her door, but decided she would just sit at her desk for the duration of the drill. She could still be seen through the hallway window, but this was just a drill, she reasoned as she sat down to get in some additional grading done while her students were away.

After the drill her principal and the officer assisting with the drill approached her to request that she not sit at her desk during drills because they could see her and the student standing behind her through the window in the hallway.

D looked at her principal and the officer wide-eyed.
“There were no students in my classroom...”

2

“I was standing in the hallway talking to teachers about an hour after school one day. I saw a reflection of a boy in the window of the classroom at the end of the hall. I went to the other hallway to see why there was a kid still at school and there was no one there. I checked the bathrooms and the rest of the school and there were no kids there.”

~Channing Elementary teacher

3

“I used to run track with Mr. Peletca. When it was fall, it got dark pretty early. We would run the whole yard & around the school. Over by the little grave we would see a person (ghost) just standing there. It was very interesting to see for the first time. After a couple of times you get used to it.

Sometimes at night, if you drive by there you can see the ghost walking around. It's been awhile since I we did that, but it used to scare my kids. 🤣😉!”

~ former student

4

“This was back in the late 80s. We spent the night in the school. It was a big Halloween party they used to do. I was in 3rd or 4th grade at the time. The elevator kept going up & down all night. I guess it did that all the time. Not sure if it still does this, but to a little 9 year old, on Halloween it was scary!

There are many things at that school that make you second guess. Like just seeing a random shadow & no one is there. Water would just start running out of the sinks in the classroom. Just little things. Hearing knocks at the door when no one is there.

The lights used to flicker all the time. They would have someone come check them and nothing was ever wrong. This wasn't just a school problem it was a neighborhood problem. I don't know if it still is. The teachers would just tell us we were angering the ghost!”

~Former Channing Student

5

“This story still gives me nightmares. Only because I still can’t believe it was real. The only reason I say this is because even the friends I was with at the time don't believe it was real. I think we have all tried to put it out of our heads…

I was in middle school at the time, just hanging out with friends by the tennis courts. All of a sudden the ground started shaking. The fence around the tennis court started shaking. We ran out of there as fast as we could. Then, as soon as we stepped off the courts, the shaking stopped. I still don't know what that was about or why it happened. It seemed to have just happened with the tennis courts, because when we told our parents they thought we were all crazy. I had friends who lived right across from the school & the courts. They didn't feel a thing. This one I can't explain away so I think that’s why it is still feels so scary.”

~ Former Channing Student