Supernatural SHS
Over the years, Stoughton High School has amassed a myriad of ghostly stories. Whether it be unexplainable sounds, flickering lights or hauntings from alumni and instructors, there’s no shortage of witnesses of supernatural events at the high school.
By day, SHS teachers help students learn. By night, they claim to witness otherworldly forces. One such teacher who expresses supernatural theories is Stephanie Stokes, a Special Education teacher who’s worked at the school for over 20 years.
“Have I directly witnessed things? I would say not directly. However, I think there are certain areas of the building that could potentially be haunted,” Stokes said.
Stokes goes on to explain her suspicions of certain areas in the school containing resonance of the dead and possibly other spirits of notable advisors who occupied each area.
“The orchestra room [is haunted]. We actually had a teacher pass away in that room,” Stokes said. “I would even venture to say the Norwegian Dancer practice room [is haunted] because it has a lot of history in it. The first director was here for a very long time and it was sort of her life.”
Another SHS Special Education teacher, Cherilyn Janish, affirms suspicions of the music wing being haunted.
“During Covid, when staff was in the building and doing virtual learning, we had offices in the music wing,” Janish said. “I’d come in the morning and set up and when I came back, one of the ceiling tiles would be askew. I would have [the custodian] come in and climb up his ladder to put it back. I [would leave and come] back, and that same tile was skewed again.”
For some, allegedly haunted areas of the school may just be hearsay. However, some staff at SHS have claimed to see paranormal activity and been in the midst of unexplainable events, with no rational reasoning even years later.
“On more than one occasion, I have been in the restroom in the teachers’ lounge. I know I’m the only one there. And, as I’m in the stall, I hear a toilet flush and hear the door open and close,” Janisch said. “That’s happened three different times.”
Janisch, in particular, has many paranormal stories, not exclusive to her time as a teacher but also as an SHS student.
“When I went to school here, there was always talk that the school [was] haunted,” Janish said. “After tennis practice, we’d be in the locker room changing and we could even set our watches to it—at the same time every evening, the lights would go out for about ten seconds and then come back on.”
Lights continue to deceive Janish, as she can recall a time when she was carrying a lamp from an English room that came on without being plugged in. Janish holds no possible explanations for these suspicious circumstances, and both she and Stokes believe they confirm that the school may be haunted.
Other SHS hauntings could hold merit as well. One English teacher, Mark Weinstock, has heard mysterious noises from beyond his classroom walls.
“In Room 316, there is this cracking noise in the back corner, normally in the mornings. But I can’t identify what it is. I don’t think it’s that the building is settling, […] but there has been a noise that sounds more like it’s something related to the furnace,” Weinstock said.
Despite the paranormal noises found within his new room, Weinstock, on the contrary, believes that the school is not haunted.
“It’s a loaded question. I’m going to say no, I don’t think that personally,” Weinstock said.
There’s no denying there has been a series of unexplainable events found at SHS. Every witness and story listener may hold their own beliefs, but at the end of the day, there’s no way to fully shake the suspicion of the school’s past poking its way into the hustle and bustle with a few spooky signs.
