Westmount Junior High
Oct 2009
INVESTIGATORS: Matt Spearin, Cathy Knudsen, Morgan Knudsen
Additional: Jackie Greenly, Rich Bohn
NOTES: Built in 1913, this old school is surrounded by strange stories and had once served as a hospital during a severe flu epidemic. Before that, it was the school where a teacher mysteriously went missing and was never found.
EVENTS REPORTED:
The teachers from this century-old school were kind enough to allow us in after hours to explore the old walls of this amazing building. Coincidently, this had also been Matt’s junior high school as well which made him excited to come back.
The incidents that had been reported here varied from teacher’s hearing “Good morning!” from an unseen woman in the library to footsteps distinctly heard across the old floors as if someone was indeed there. Featuring a huge bell tower that stood like a castle over the Inglewood area, rumour had it that a young boy had been locked into the tower at one time by accident and that he, in his panic, fell from the tower’s window to his death.
Although this was never confirmed, a story that did linger there was the case of missing teacher, Felecia Graham, who had mysteriously disappeared from her home at LeMarchand Mansion in the early 1900’s. A $500 reward had been issued for information, however she was never found and murder was likely. Although we had not seen her photo, we had been told the story a few times by different sources and it was the general thought that she was the one haunting the school.
Although much of the place had been renovated, we began in the basement only to work our way up. Part of the basement had been left untouched by construction: a small, dark room hidden behind the janitor’s office. Impressed by the fact it was original along with the fact Matt was distinctly feeling ‘not alone’ in the space, we decided to leave a camera and voice recorder there. Upon Morgan going to move a desk to put the camera upon, Rich’s phone began to go haywire, flashing random screens and not functioning properly. Electromagnetic field readings were flat, showing no spikes and allowing us to rule out interference. Upon the desk being pushed back, it quit.
Leaving the room, we proceeded up to the library where much of the activity had been reported. Upon entering a second floor classroom, Morgan had a unique experience: A flash of impression jumped into her mind which she immediately wrote down the details of. She saw a different layout to the classroom with old-style desks facing a different direction and above all else, a woman stood at the front. She was dressed in a period dress with her hands behind her back as if waiting to teach. Her hair was dark brown/black and pulled up away from her face in a bun type arrangement. The vision was so vivid that Morgan wrote down as much as possible.
Upon reaching the library, the voice recorders and cameras were setup and the vigil began, but not before Matt made an interesting discovery: A small 8X10 framed photo depicted the article regarding Felecia’s disappearance, accompanied with her photo. Amazingly, it was the same woman Morgan had clearly written about in her notes, right down to the hairstyle. It was also uncovered that the room Morgan had seen this vision in was thought to be Graham’s classroom. After an uneventful time in the library, Morgan and Matt decided to return to the basement to check on the equipment. We were glad we did. The basement boiler room, which was original to the structure, had dropped drastically in temperature and a heaviness had become
all too noticeable in the envrinonment. Our cameraman, Rich, no sooner began running into camera problems and was unable to continue to film. The camera we had set up drained of battery also, but only upon us entering. After attempts to fix this with no success, we decided to remain in the room regardless and attempt further EVP which came up negative. Earlier, a wafting smell was also noted which Matt described as smelling like "Christmas": spices and warm baking. That smell had vanished and now was replaced with a metallic smell that was far more unpleasant to the senses.
Eventually, the temperature warmed again and the smell vanished. The EMF meter never wavered and the technical problems could not be accounted for. We are looking forward to returning to Westmount and although we could not capture direct evidence of the missing teacher, it was clear to us that this magnificent place contains wonderful mysteries worth unlocking.
Missing Teacher VIDEO
