Ghost tales endure

West Valley City School took up residence in a historic building on East Valleyway Avenue in 2000 and this year the school is celebrating the 100th anniversary of that building, which opened as the Dishman School. It is the oldest continuously operating school building in the Valley.

Part of the celebration is a haunted house planned for the last two weekends in October. The fundraiser seemed natural since many people believe the school is haunted by the benign ghost of a former custodian who died in the boiler room in 1964.

The eighth-grade students of West Valley City School, an alternative school for fifth- through eighth-graders, are in charge of decorating for the event and are excited about it, said counselor Debbie Noble. They even planned a special room in honor of the former custodian. “They kids got a good idea,” Noble said. “It just grew from there. They can’t wait.”

Students are planning two versions of the haunted house, a tame version for young children and a spookier one for teens and adults. People will walk through nearly the entire school, with the gym doing duty as a graveyard.

The age of the building will only enhance the haunted house feel. An old coal chute is still visible in one room and there are still glass fuses in some sections of the building. “It’s high maintenance,” said custodian Thom Kelly.

The original school opened in 1910 and had only four classrooms, with a gym added in 1940 and 10 classrooms added in 1947. In 1947 the building housed elementary and junior high students. In 1981 what would become the alternative Spokane Valley High School moved in. That school moved out in 2000 and West Valley City School took its place.

Current students and teachers love to swap stories of their experience with the local ghost. But some of the generic banging and thumping noises can be explained by the buildings old steam heat system which naturally bangs and rattles, said Kelly. “This is an old building,” he said. “When the pressure gets way up, the whole building bangs.”

But there might just be something to the stories. “The ghost is just kind of a fun thing,” he said. “Lights go on and off that you don’t think should.

Kelly said over the years teachers have reported things like faucets coming on by themselves that he would examine and find nothing wrong with. Teachers have found all their drawers and cupboards open when they arrive for school.

He recounts one experience when Spokane Valley High School operated in the building and there was a small day care in one room. In the room was a wind-up swing for soothing fussy infants that would gently rock back and forth when cranked. One night Kelly heard a noise in the room and went to investigate and found the swing moving back and forth. He disabled the swing by removing all the tension from the wind-up system. “It started doing it again,” he said. “I just shut the door.”

Old style televisions would turn on by themselves in the middle of the night. A previous night custodian once brought his dog to work with him and the dog’s hackles went up and the terrified animal ran from the building. “It’s very spooky when you’re alone at night,” Kelly said. “There’s all kinds of noises.”

Teacher John Adams has admitted to having a couple of hair-raising experiences. Once he was in the building alone on a Saturday and headed down the back stairs. “Something came pounding down the stairs right behind me,” he said. “It was really creepy.”

Noble said she hasn’t had any haunting experiences herself, but she compares the building to a comfortable pair of shoes. “We can complain about the heat and the pipes, but I just love this building,” she said.

She has heard from another teacher who refuses to work in the building at night. This school year the teacher was working late one night and brought her dog with her. The dog began whimpering and staring at a spot across the room. The teacher looked over to see a stool moving out from under a desk, Noble said.

So is the school haunted or isn’t it? “I’m not a nonbeliever,” Kelly said.

Maybe people just need to attend the haunted house and see for themselves.