Historic Houston Haunted Spots

[Brian Reading]

I'm not one to flat-out say that there are such a thing as "ghosts", but I have personally had experiences at a particular location that I have absolutely no way of explaining.  I grew up in Freeport (sixty miles south of Downtown on SH 288), and at the present-day campus of O.A. Fleming Elementary School, I can personally attest to unusual happenings experienced by myself and my family.  I apologize for the length of this, but it requires some background.

 

This current school campus and the field areas surrounding the campus were once the site of two divided campuses: Freeport Intermediate School and O.A. Fleming.  Freeport Intermediate School was rebuilt at a different location, and was abandoned by 1997.  Before that, from 1930 until 1944, it was the campus of Freeport High School (known today as Brazosport High School along 288).  I have no idea how long the elementary school has been there, but perhaps prior to 1930.  Freeport's origins come with the origins of Texas itself, as it was the site of The Battle of Velasco and the Treaties of Velasco.

 

I actually attended school at the campus when it was Freeport Intermediate, and the kids would always rumor about how it was "haunted", but I always assumed this was just kids being kids.  One of the rumors was about how the toilets would flush themselves in the second story bathrooms of the main building.

 

My mother worked as a teacher at the elementary school since I was very young, and she was thoroughly passionate about her job.  She preferred to stay working in her classroom long after school, and sometimes until late into the night.  My brothers and I were bussed to the campus after school where we would stay until my mom was ready to leave.  A couple of years after FIS had their new campus built, the elementary school announced that the elementary campus next door would move into the abandoned intermediate school buildings while their own campus was razed and rebuilt on the same spot.

 

My mother's classroom was moved into a small building that the intermediate school kids once referred to as "the science wing" because of all the science classes being housed there.  It was a long rectangular building with entrances/exits on both of the short ends.  We continued our routine as usual, and with school year just starting, my mother stayed very late one night attempting to get the new classroom in order.  Looking at the clock,  I noticed that it got to be about 11:50 PM until I reminded my mother just how late it was.

 

We decided to wrap things up.  Just as we were about to leave, the clock struck midnight, and mayhem happened in that small building.  The bell system began to ring erratically in long and short bursts.  Surprised, I ran out into the hallway, and noticed a vacant trophy case literally shaking.  We were very frightened, and quickly left the building.  What happened after we closed the door to the building was just mind-blowing though.  The entire bell system just shut off the second that the door closed.  The next day, my mother questioned the janitors, whom she knew well.  She asked them if they knew of any scheduled alarm bells that were set to go off at that time, and they noted that the bell system was not in operation.  Furthermore, they had no method of sounding in the manner in which they did.  Yes, in the past, there were patterns that the bells would ring if there was a fire drill, but they were steady short bursts.  There was no way for them to ring in erratic short and long bursts.

 

Although extremely unusual, I let this roll off my back, and chalked it up to a fluke.  However, a couple of weeks later, the bell incident happened again.  Although, this time it was even more unusual.  After the first incident, we had decided that we would no longer stay there to see what would happen at 12 AM again.  So, when it got to be around ten 'til, I was upset with my mother for keeping us there that late.  However, we got out of the building before anything happened, and we walked out to the car in the parking lot.  When we got there, my mother claimed that she had forgotten a bag she needed inside the classroom.  I urged her not to go, but she was insistent.  We walked back to the building, and as she was unlocking the door, I noticed that the ceiling-mounted clock in the hallway showed that it was actually five after midnight.  So you can imagine my complete shock when the minute that my mother opened the door, the bell system chimed again in the same eery manner.  Believe it or not, my mom still ran inside and got her bag.  The second she closed the door, the system immediately stopped again.  Completely unexplainable. 

 

Later on, my stepfather had his own unusual experience at the school.  He himself, was an employee at the school, and was attempting to enter the main school building after hours.  He walked from the parking lot to the building, when he realized that he had left the key inside the car.  Rather than walking back to the car in the brutal Texas heat, he decided to see if the janitors were available at the basement entrance, as they had their office there, and would sometimes be around.  He walked up to the door, and first checked to see if it was open, but it was locked.  He then knocked on the door, and luckily heard the voice of a woman ask who it was.  When he identified himself, someone opened the door for him.  However, when he stepped inside, there was literally no one there.  Confused, he walked through the basement into the school building to find a janitor on-duty vacuuming down the hall.  He walked up to her and asked if she had opened the door for him, and she told him that she didn't, and couldn't physically do it because she was so far down the hall.  She also told him that no one else was on-duty at the time.

 

Eventually the new elementary school campus was built next door, and my mother moved out of the building.  But even today, she and my stepfather have confessed to hearing the voice of an old man down the hallway that yells and curses at them to leave.  She has said that sometimes teachers have claimed to hear a large group of people talking in the teacher's lounge while using the restroom there by themselves, only to open the door and find no one there.  My mother seems to be desensitized to such events these days.

 

There are other instances that I can talk about, but I'd rather quit, because this thread is getting too long.

 

In 2005, the main building and science wing of Freeport Intermediate School, along with many surrounding buildings were torn down and remain as fields next door to the elementary school.  But, if you're interested in the site of the old "science wing", see Google street view here.   The field next door was the site of the main building pictured below.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2013 by Brian Reading

[Hunter]

OH yes there are a lot of things that cannot be explained. My lady and I have had many ourselves in our old house in Beaumont, TX. And I have had a number on my current job that I still cannot explain and the home owners all claim it was paranormal activity. But is is my opinion that the vast majority of the reported activity could be explained away with a little detective work.