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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Are the grounds of the old Kerman High School haunted?

The grounds of the old Kerman High School. You can see rubble
in the background of what used to be the main building.
Image courtesy of Google Maps.



The site of the old Kerman High School, located on Clinton and Madera Ave, has been rumored to have been haunted for years. Strange lights have been seen floating between rooms even though the property has been fenced off for several decades.

The original Kerman High School was built in 1912 and served the Kerman area until a larger high school was needed and the current campus was built in 1967.

The property fell into disuse and was fenced off to keep trespassers out. Unfortunately this wasn't enough as on December 30, 1998 an arsonist set fire to the main building and it burned to the ground.

No one knows what these strange lights are, if there are spirit lights or something else. One has to wonder what would cause someone or something to haunt a school. Perhaps whatever it is feeds off the emotions from the students that walked the halls over the years. And it's possible that it still roams the debris of what used to be the old Kerman High School.

Interesting side note here. In 1995 several friends, having heard of the stories and wanting to check them out , went to the old school at night. As soon as they parked their car and got out several sheriff's cars pulled out and the officers drew guns on them thinking they were going to trespass. One has to wonder how many other people went to the school looking for ghosts.

Let me also preface this. Please don't try to go here at night and search for ghosts. There's a fence around the property for a reason. Don't be that ghost hunting group who likes to hop fences late at night just to get a thrill. If you really want to investigate this location, find out who owns it and try to get permission. Don't ruin it for those out there who are actually serious about this.

6 comments:

Drea said...

I used to hang out at that spot ALL the time--a lot of my teenage year memories are from there. So much so, that I still have the article from the Bee from when it burned down. Never went to ghost hunt though; just hangout. We went at night a few times too, equipped with snake lights around our necks. I have a scar on my shin from one of those nights--good times. Nothing spooky ever happened, though. It was just a regular old spot that was fun to hang out at, maybe play some paint ball or dabble in some photography while we were there. I miss it a lot.

Anonymous said...

I live in kerman and I would see lights on in one of the smaller buildings still standing. Creepy to find this article now

Davidlee said...

I was part of a group that was trying to start a school of the arts for teens around 1990 utilizing the old KHS building. We spent a lot of time trying to clean and restore the building. It had a beautiful huge theater inside. The architecture was really great. We lived there for a few months while we were working and never experienced any ghost type activity. However, we faced a LOT of push back from local farmers who did NOT want students there because they would not be able to spray their pesticides in the vineyards surrounding the school. Eventually, the farmers won out. I graduated from the new KHS and I have to say, the old building had about as much classroom space as the new campus. In fact, it had more and better facilities in many cases. They even had an auto shop. I believe the farming community and others pushed to have the school relocated inside the city limits and that it had very little to do with actually needing more room. The old school was only 55 years old (about what the new on is approaching) when it was abandoned. I believe local farmers torched the school to make sure they could keep spraying their poisons in the air around the school.

Unknown said...

A group of friends and I went to venture the old school on a October nite back in 1989 . I remember the elevated hallways , the restrooms, classrooms , the downstairs beautiful theater and we made our way to the top floor some how we lead our way to a door that greed us to the roof of the big building. On our way back down to the first floor . We were laughing and being loud with our flashlights exiting the huge building deciding to walk across the lawn to the gym. A very sudden loud echoe of a door slammed so hard I felt it shook the big empty building . All ten of us ran to the side of building screaming trying to jump or find the exit of the fence to our cars . I got my thrill that nite I will never forget !

Ramirezjair said...

Hey I want to ask you about the old gym do you have snap or Instagram?

Ramirezjair said...

Hey I want to ask you a few questions about the building and I was winding if you have snap or Instagram