Category: Sugar Grove School

In the fall of 2014, I had recently started exploring my interest in documenting community history. My efforts included digitizing yearbooks and visiting the historic James Cemetery next to the school to practice indexing graves, especially the documenting of those with missing or unknown markers. At that time, I lived adjacent to the school, making it easy to walk over through a gap in the fence. I was also volunteering at the school library, assisting with a highly successful student reading and literacy program. This program required extensive behind-the-scenes preparation to be effective. I would often work with the librarian after 5 PM, sometimes staying until 7 or 8 PM to complete various tasks. On this particular evening, we had a few extra tasks that included setting up the book fair. As I arrived at the school that evening, the only people present were the principal and the librarian. After settling in and completing some tasks, I was asked to make copies of a flyer advertising the book fair. The principal and librarian remained in the library, working on organizing and setting up. It was between 5 and 6 PM, and though it was starting to get dark, it was not yet completely dark outside. The hallway lights were off, and the only illumination came from an Aquafina vending machine near the end of the hall, with additional light coming through the entry door from an outside light. Expecting nothing unusual, I took the flyer and walked down the hallway from the library, past closed classrooms and the office. As I turned to enter the workroom at the bottom of the stairs, I heard it—giggling. It was the same sound I had previously documented in the accounts of others who had experienced what is believed to be a paranormal event. I stopped immediately and took stock of my surroundings. The library door had closed behind me, and there was no sound of talking. The giggling resembled the garbled, mechanical laughter of a Chatty Cathy doll. I decided the sound likely came from the direction of one of the rooms towards the cafeteria. The vending machine’s blue-white glow would have revealed anyone crossing in front of it. I left my papers on the copy machine in the workroom and slowly walked down the hallway towards the vending machine to investigate. As I passed the main entry door, the boys’ restroom, and the classrooms, I felt certain that the little ghost girl I had heard about was manifesting that evening. The classroom doors were closed and locked, and peering inside confirmed that the rooms were empty and quiet. At the end of the hallway, I checked the exit door and the door to the cafeteria serving line. Both were closed and locked, with no lights on and nothing unusual occurring. To ensure nothing else was causing the sound, I randomly pressed some buttons on the vending machine. Nothing happened. I returned to the workroom to make my copies. As I walked back up the hallway, I noted my shadow cast by the vending machine’s light. I pondered whether people truly found the school creepy when dark and empty, while recalling my father’s explanations for various noises, such as water hammer or steam pipes during his time as a custodian in the 70s and 80s. On my way back to the workroom, I checked the gym doors, which were unlocked and uneventful. When I was nearly back to the workroom, I quietly said aloud, “I know who you are and I heard that.”  At that moment, the vending machine flickered. I made my copies and returned to the library, where the principal and librarian were still working around a table. Neither had left the room or made any sounds that could have reached the workroom. We finished updating the reading program and I taped up the flyers around the school. Nothing further occurred, and we all left together, locking up the school before I walked home. Additional Accounts of the Little Ghost Girl **April 21, 2017:** I spoke with retired teacher Maxine Reedy, who had taught at Sugar Grove School for nearly 40 years and was now 82 years old. Our conversation took place at Wharf Hill UMC’s fellowship hall after my grandfather’s graveside service. Mrs. Reedy had been involved with some other church ladies in putting on the meal for the family, and we discussed various topics, including my father’s then recent college graduation among other things. I took the opportunity to ask  about the little ghost girl at the school. Her expression revealed she did in fact know something about this topic. She confirmed had heard her herself. Unlike other accounts, Mrs. Reedy described hearing laughter evolve into a recognizable melody, “Ring Around The Rosie,” before returning to playful laughter and then abruptly stopping. When I asked if this was the only time she had heard humming, she said that most of the time it was just giggles. She remembered hearing about the ghost activity as early as the mid-70s but noted that people spoke more openly about it in the 90s. Some believed in the ghost, while others sought logical explanations and refused to attribute any of this to paranormal activity. Research & Facts as They Relate to Paranormal Activity – The school was vacant during a fire in December 1935. The custodian, Roy Fulton, was the only person known to be there, checking the boilers at the time of the fire that burned the school down. Blizzard conditions were documented in the newspaper causing the Marion Fire Brigade not to be able to get to Sugar Grove to put out the fire efficiently.– There have been no documented deaths at the school or on the property.– Various accounts of paranormal activity began emerging in the late 70s or early 80s.– Most accounts are consistently descriptions of giggles or sightings of a little girl, around 6-8 years old, appearing in classrooms and then vanishing.– The James Cemetery adjacent to…

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