09/17/2023
Boils and Gouls: the stories you are about to hear are true. Only the names have been changed to protect the families attached to these tragedies.
Haunted School Stories (Volume 1)
The Lady In Black
According to legend, a Woman in Black typically appeared to men who had misbehaved, cheated on their wives, or committed some moral transgression.
Folklore holds that towns such as Bristol, VA, Tazewell VA, Lynchburg VA, Richmond VA, Jackson MN, and now Clyde NC have been visited by a Woman in Black. According to one tale, she appeared "suddenly and unexpectedly" in Roanoke VA in 1902 to men who had stayed too long at their club, insisting they go home as quickly as possible. Sometimes a Woman in Black was said to hit, pummel, or knock a man down to the ground or "slap him to the earth with a swish of her phantom garments" as retribution for his sins. If continued, the men would be killed at the location where he committed his act.
It is said that she has been spotted on several occasions in the Fines Creek Community Center gymnasium by renters and guest alike. She was once spotted by a couple who was running dances on Saturday nights in the gymnasium. One night after everyone had went home the couple were locking up and went to the back of the gymnasium where the light switches are to turn them off. Upon doing so they herd something behind them thinking it was a customer returning for something they turned around to see who it was. In there dismay it was not a customer but a lady standing in the middle of the floor. She was wearing a long black dress and a vail that covered her face. When they asked her if she needed any assistance she vanished before their eyes. The couple ran screaming out of the building failing to lock up for the night. The next day they came to one of the board members to pay their rent for that night and told them what had happened and what they saw in the gymnasium. They said they would never be back the husband whom was Native American kept saying “otshee monetoo, otshee monetoo, otshee monetoo”. We decided to look it up after they had left and according to our research it translates to bad spirit. There have been several other people since that who have spotted her even in the basement of the gymnasium. The basement of our gymnasium now houses are haunted house that is appropriately named the Haunted School. We also have started collecting and storing several haunted items in our haunted house. There have also been sightings of a few other apparitions in the basement and other buildings, but we will save those stories for another volume in our Haunted School Stories Series.