Chapmanville East Elementary School is very spooky first of all. It’s a very large and exceptionally old brick building and it stinks inside. The school has a lot of character to say the least.
I knew a teacher that worked there very shortly. She said that sometimes if she was working after school hours she could hear spooky sounds, but always ending in a thunderous thump. I also have a very good friend who had a lot of awfully bad experiences happen to her on the school property, evil experiences at that.
I heard a story when I was about 15 years old, (I’m 23 now), and I asked an old person about the credentials of the story and he verified its accuracy. The story goes: Sometime in the middle of winter in the 1930’s, the furnace broke. The employees of the school wondered why it had not been promptly fixed. The school staff and everyone began to assume the handy man / janitor (whatever he was) had quit his job at the school and moved away. (While in the coldest days of the year.) Nobody could locate him; they needed him because he was the only one who knew how to fix the furnace.
The furnace was broke for a while (I don’t know how long) and they had to call off school until they got the furnace fixed. The conditions were entirely to cold to work or learn in. Being in the dead of winter, it most likely took a while to find somebody to fix the furnace, who wasn’t already tied up with other repair jobs.
The furnace repairmen eventually were found, and so they set out to expose the problem. They were cleaning it and found hard pieces that weren’t burned. The repairmen were able to immediately identify the pieces as bone fragments. They had an investigator look at the pieces and sure enough, it was bone remnants or whatever those bone – like things are that won’t burn easily. Through dental records they eventually confirmed these remains belonged to the school’s handy man / janitor. He had only worked after school hours and someone or something must have knocked him out or done something to get him into the boiler. It was determined that the body in the furnace caused the breakdown of the furnace. Nobody was ever convicted of the crime and the incident is still unsolved, but I heard most folk in Chapmanville speculate the KKK were behind it. They were in town around the time the janitor came up missing.
A lot of people living near the school claim to hear noise in it during late hours. Howling screams have been heard coming from the dilapidated building paralyzing its victims with fear. Maybe some of the sounds can be explained by the age of the structure or the building settling may be the cause. Whatever may be causing the sounds is up to you to ponder, but we do know one thing, schools don’t plague themselves with evil.
True West Virginia Ghost Stories eBook
Our complete story collection is now available as an 880 page digital ebook that you can download to your computer or mobile device. After downloading your copy of the ebook, you can read it anywhere without needing an internet connection.
... or feel free to make a contribution.
That is truly a creepy story! And…oddly enough, it isn’t the first janitor-falling/being pushed-into-furnance story I’ve heard. We investigated an elementary school in Ohio that had a similar back story.
It didn’t stink in 1951 and there were no ghosts. Lived 3 houses from the school and played there all the time. Mike(Mickey)
Went to school there from 72-79, loved that school. Now I drive a school bus there sometimes
I went to school there for six years and later worked there. The school did not stink. The only thing that might have stunk is kids using the bathrooms and not flushing the commodes. During the 50’s and 60’s and some of the 70’s, the school had a coal fired furnace.
I live beside of the school and the only sound heard is the furnace kicking on and off sometimes…
I went to school there in 1962 & I never did here any sounds like that at the school. Best school around here
I went there in the 80’s for six years. It didn’t stink then and I have been there recently and it just smells old like any old building does. In my book East will always be the best.
My grand babies are currently enrolled at this school, it is old, but still in good condition. There is not stench to it what so ever. Nor is it spooky. I have been around it at all hours of the day and well into the night, and have never felt and heard anything strange going on at this location.
I assume the handy man/ janitor was black, due to the KKK involvement. Still, good story. I’d definitely visit the place.
I went to school there and loved it. My 2 daughters went thru grade school there. It’s a nice old school and I for one would hate to see it torn down.
I have lived in chapmanville most of my life and have NEVER heard any stories as the above stated. It is old, rundown, and out of date but, haunted? I have reservations about that one.
My daughter attended school there and we loved it. No stinch. We lived beside the school and all the neighborhood kids played there and I never heard sounds or heard the kids speak of any.
I went to school there for 6 years in the 1950s and had wonderful teachers. Played Little League baseball there and had a great childhood there. No ghosts or incidents that I ever heard of. My Dad said it was a soot factory at one time, whatever that is. L2
I hope the child that wrote this got a good grade. Good imagination.
I went to school there as did my aunts and uncles the school never stunk and never heard any noises there
♡ East. Honestly, My heart hurts at the thought of it closing:(. Now, we did have GREAT haunted houses and stories told by Mrs. Bernida Justice♡ she was the best story teller.
I find it hard to believe chapmanville had a black janitor in the 30’s. I can’t believe no one mentioned that.
We use to have a haunted house in the basement. Never felt uneasy or scared. Was right next to the boiler. We helped with this for 3 years. Smells just like any other school.