Ghost haunts

Halloween invokes tales of haunted cemeteries and ghost-plagued buildings. Many cities have a ghost tale of their own, including Moses Lake and Ritzville.

Ghost stories have been documented throughout history, from ships bearing spirits of lost sailors to murder victims' souls clinging to homes or places where they were killed. The stories have been distilled to fanciful fiction to entertain. Some tell of hauntings based on tragic historical events, while others are complete works of fiction. It's often hard to distinguish between the two.

Moses Lake has two haunted places, if you believe in ghosts, and they are both schools.

The old Columbia Basin Alternative School was supposedly haunted. By whom, no one knows. The building stood near the Grant County International Airport, at the corner of Patton and Andrew, until last spring when it was demolished. Over the years, some teachers and students claimed they heard mysterious noises in the empty school building. A few might have seen a smoke-like apparition of legs running down the hallways, according to Shadowlands Haunted Places Web site, which lists haunted places throughout the U.S.

"There's lots of weird noises in that building," said teacher Terri Pixley. "They sounded like knocking on doors and (someone) walking down the hall."

Pixley still teaches today, but for 17 years she worked in the old building. The school was originally built by the military for Larson Air Force base. Pixley said she believes it was about 70 years old when it was torn down and admits to never having researched its history.

She believes it was haunted. Pixley said she remembers hearing noises while working weekends and evenings, with the outer doors locked and no one else inside. Interior doors would shut on their own while all the windows were closed, she said. Other times there would be the sounds of someone walking the hallways and knocking on the walls. Pixley often took her own children with her, when working weekends, to fill the building with more comforting sounds.

"I never saw anything, just heard and felt," she said. "There definitely was a presence there. It was a spooky place to be."

Moses Lake High School is allegedly haunted too, but the legend comes close to matching the story of an accident in 2000. The ghost tale indicates the theater at the high school is haunted, as curtains swing, the catwalk and stairs creak on their own, and the lights turn on and off by themselves, according to the Web site. All of these things are reported to take place when the doors are locked and no one is on the catwalk or stairs.

"I've been here for six years and this is the first I've heard of it," said principal Dave Balcom.

Former choir teacher Bill McGuire said he had never heard of the spooky occurrences. But he remembers an accident, which could have started the tales of a ghost haunting the stage area. Five years ago, a student allegedly left class early and hid in the theater room on the catwalk 10 feet above the ground. The student fell from the catwalk and landed in the wall, between the outer and inner layers. McGuire said he was stuck in there for hours until he was heard. School staff broke open the wall to rescue the student.

"I saw this big hole in the wall and I asked about it," said McGuire. "That's the only thing I can think of."

Ghost stories often take elements of true stories and are embellished to make them better. Two haunted stories involve an old house near Moses Lake and an old cemetery outside of Ritzville.

The White homestead was allegedly built near Moses Lake in 1903, according to the haunted places Web site. A young mother and child were supposedly murdered inside the house and their ghosts are still there. The tale goes on to tell of the house being moved off the foundation, "down the block" and was renovated. If the story is true, people can still hear the faint screaming of the young mother to this day.

The homestead may have existed, but not in Moses Lake. Ritzville's assistant deputy clerk Debi Balfe said city records show there was a home known as the Gilbert White homestead located near the Griffith Cemetery. The homestead would have been part of Griffith, Wash. Originally recorded as a village, Griffith was a town existing only from 1891 to 1905, when the U.S. Post Office was closed.

The Griffith Cemetery is roughly a half mile from the former town's post office remains. It was founded in 1890 when Canadian William C. Griffith donated two acres of land for a cemetery, according to a sign erected on the site. The family established a home in 1876 and left in 1897. Ritzville city records show seven family names of people interned in the cemetery. They are Griffith, Larmer, Kramer, Morrison, Cordes and Gobel.

The cemetery is reportedly haunted. The Web site has the name wrong, but alleges a fog comes up after midnight and the souls of the many children buried in the cemetery begin playing tricks on people. They are supposed to leave handprints on cars and trick people into falling into an open grave. As one legend indicates, flowers placed on a certain child's grave never die.

Ritzville Chamber of Commerce administrator Bobbi Sue Hille said she hasn't heard anything about Griffith Cemetery herself, but a past administrator had spoken about possible ghost stories. She said most references are from vague Internet sites.

"I don't really have anything solid about it," said Hille.

Restored in 1985, the cemetery is a collection of old graves surrounded by barbed wire. Touring the cemetery by daylight does not provide mysterious fog or little ghost handprints, but it conveys a sense of tragedy befallen pioneers. Most of the graves are for children and babies. One 44-year-old mother rests with her 2-year-old son and an even younger sibling. There is a grave still bearing flowers, refusing to die. They appear plastic and encased, sitting atop of Grace Matilda Kramer's grave. She was born Oct. 5, 1921 and survived 364 days.

Tragedy is always a factor in ghost stories, Most focus on the activities of the departed and how they scare the living. Sometimes the tricks in the story are for the ghost's amusement. Sometimes the tales are of souls continuing to relive their horrible demise. Regardless, the intended effect is always the same. It's a safe way to feel fear by the telling of or listening to a scary story.