R.H. King Academy, founded over one hundred years ago, is commonly known as Scarborough’s Haunted High School. Now that the chilly, spooky days of late October have swept in once again, it is time for the haunting history of R. H. King Academy to be rediscovered. Practically every King student has heard the rumours of ghosts that haunt King’s gloomy hallways – the eerie stories of mysterious accidents and paranormal incidents that occurred in King’s very classrooms. But how accurate are the judgements and narratives of current King students? 

When wandering the halls of R. H. King, one may overhear conversations about two well-known fatal misfortunes that occurred here, on King property: the incident of the boiler room and the disturbance in the stairwell. To ensure that everybody is on the same page, here is a spine-chilling summary of these tales. Allegedly, one evening, some decades ago, one of the school janitors popped into the boiler room while making his rounds of the school. He intended to be gone just momentarily, but when he turned to leave the room, he found himself locked in from the outside, the door shut tight. He never escaped the room and his ghost has been haunting the hallway ever since. One former student talked about how walking down this stretch of hallway alone was always scary for her. She said she would often smell a hint of perfume with no clear source and be startled by the sounds of footsteps close behind her. She’d turn around right away to discover. . . nothing at all.

This next story is also about the sorrowful, early end of a custodian. Supposedly, he had been instructed to change the lightbulb on the ceiling of the heritage room stairwell. He brought a tall ladder to the staircase, climbed it, and the moment he set his foot on the top bar he lost his balance and fell to the ground.  

Of course, these cannot be the only ghosts that float through King walls. Could the library shelves, A-floor War Memorial, B-floor tech hallway, English book room and D-floor hallway also haunted? Over the years there have been many occasions of supposed ghost sightings and spooky, inexplicable happenings. Many years ago, a former teacher–who was catching up on some marking–found herself in the building alone. Tired, she left the English department for a short walk. While making her way down the hallway, she heard a lot of commotion coming from Gym 3; there was the sound of a basketball bouncing on the cool hard floor. Knowing that students were not supposed to be in the school so late, she opened the door to the observation deck and found the gym completely covered in darkness. She hurried out of the school as quickly as she could after that. 

One year, Mr. Hoekstra found himself at school after hours and facing a brutal snowstorm. At that point, he was living outside of the city and decided that it was not a good idea to try to drive home in those conditions. He decided that his only alternative was to sleep in the History office. At around 3:00 AM he was awoken by the sounds of feet running up and down the hallway. Confused and disoriented, he managed to get to his feet and open the door. But when he opened the door, ready to yell at whomever was in the school in the dead of night, there was not a soul in sight. The sounds of the footsteps vanished and Mr. Hoekstra was alone on D-floor. 

Many students believe these are simply myths invented just to scare kids or make the school unique. In order to disprove these doubtful opinions, a paranormal investigator visited R. H. King two years ago. These are the accounts of a student who attended the event: “We spent several minutes sitting in the cramped, dark room adjacent to the weight room. If you look through a small hole in the wall there is an eerie light coming from an unidentified source. We took a photograph which the investigator identified as having suspicious qualities, and another student is sure they felt a ghostly presence brush their shoulder. We also experimented with several technologies designed to identify paranormal activity, most of which gave positive responses in one form or another.” 

Now, just hearing about the horrors of R. H. King Academy, although interesting, is hardly terrifying. The only way to experience the fear and stomach-churning realities of these stories is to visit these haunted parts of the school. On Thursday, October 26, the students of R. H. King will have a chance to experience the chill firsthand through KLC’s ghost tours. Any students with an interest in learning more about the paranormal activities of R. H. King can sign up for a ghost tour using the link in King Library Council’s Instagram bio: @rhkinglibrary.   

Make sure to be wary of these ghosts, especially during this season. . . one may never know how close a spirit may be!