Friday, November 14, 2008

Carson Long's Creeped-Out Cadets

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Col. Theodore Long

Based in New Bloomfield, Perry County, Carson Long Institute is the longest tenured military boarding school in the country. It started in 1836 as the New Bloomfield Academy. In 1914 it became the Carson Long Institute after Theodore Long bought the school and named it after his son who had died in a logging accident. It's got a colorful haunted history:

The Chapel: The red eyed ghost of Colonel Edward Holman, who ran the school from after WW1 until 1971, has been reported in the Chapel. His portrait hangs in the Chapel, and it's said that its' eyes follow you around the church. It's also been alleged that the eyes of a sculpture of an eagle carved above the Chapel doors glow red. So if you think someone's watching you, well, you're probably right.

Dorm Stories: It's said you can spot a pool of blood outside one dorm where a cadet crashed a sled into the wall and died. Another report claims you can hear screams and a crackling fire from a boiler room where a teacher's wife died while trapped in a blaze. Another tale tells of a student that died while "huffing" aerosols, which led to a fatal fall down the stairs. You can allegedly hear him still walking up and down the steps. There's also a story of a cadet that hung himself in a room after getting into disciplinary problems. The lights supposedly flicker in the room, and you can see shadows flitting around it. The most famous legend is that of the phantom drummer. You can sometimes hear the distant drumming begin after taps. It's supposedly the work of the ghost of a cadet drummer who died after accidentally locking himself in an attic.

The Maples: This is the oldest building on campus, dating back to 1840. It housed classrooms and living quarters originally. Now the building is a museum and reception hall. It's said that you can see a pale figure looking out the bay window of the building. Some speculate its' the ghost of Carson Long; other believe it's an old commandant who's been seen walking the Maples grounds or perhaps his father Theodore. There's also reports of voices and poltergeist activity such as opening & closing doors, TV pranks, and the moving of museum exhibits at Maples.

Colonel Carson Holman, CLMI's president, denies that there are any spooks on campus, or even that any student has ever died there. In fact, one teacher said that the faculty embellishes the tales to help keep the students in their rooms after curfew. So urban legend, spooky soldiers, or instructor's aid, take your pick...

Here is a former cadet's view of the whole tale, as he wrote to us:
"Most of the stories above are crap. I attended CLI for 4 years in the mid 1980s. The chapel is most definitely haunted. It was not uncommon for an old piano in the basement to start playing on its own when activities were taking place in the building. Strange noise were also very common. The story of the cadet who died while huffing is true. He fell down the metal steps in the Annex building smashing his skull. There was no ghost activity in the building however. By far the chapel is the most creepy place."

Hey, one confirmed ghost chapel and a few urban legends. That's plenty for us and the good folk at Carson Long.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most of the stories above are crap. I attended CLI for 4 years in the mid 1980s. The chapel is most definitely haunted. It was not uncommon for an old piano in the basement to start playing on its own when activities were taking place in the building. Strange noise were also very common. The story of the cadet who died while huffing is true. He fell down the metal steps in the Annex building smashing his skull. There was no ghost activity in the building however. By far the chapel is the most creepy place.

Ron Ieraci said...

Hey, thanks for the local knowledge. I included your comment on the blog post.

Diablo said...

I attended Carson Long from '97 - '01. I definitely agree with the above statement. I had the task of cleaning the chapel once a week in my Senior year. I heard strange things in that chapel. I do not believe in ghosts or apparitions. One thing is for certain, that old building is creepy. Another thing happened my Senior year. There is an old cannon that sits on top of a hill behind the chapel. It is bolted down to a frame below it. I remember this because I use to use it as a "grinding post" for snowboarding in the winter. One day, during the week of graduation for the Senior class, we discovered the cannon at the bottom of the hill. We looked at the base where it was supposed to be and it seemed as if the bolts were ripped from the rivet holes. There were still fragments of the bolts lodged in the frame. There were no tracks around the frame aside from the ones belonging to the people investigating. No senior confessed to this. Our graduating class was 16 people total. I knew everyone. If one of them would have done it, they would have bragged about it. A few days earlier, everything in the president's office was bolted to the ceiling (desk, chair, corner lamp, etc.) and the Senior confessed in secrecy. Nobody would own up to the cannon prank. We all thought it was an awesome prank. Kudos would have been given to the person responsible. No one confessed though. We point our fingers at the ghost of the chapel. The night guard (Rodivo I believe) said he saw nothing that night. He had heard noise from the President's office on the night the other prank was worked, but decided it was Col. Holman doing some late work lol. To keep this from getting any longer than it already is, I think that a lot of weird things happen at that school. Like I said, I am a non-believer. I can only say believe what you wish!

Ron Ieraci said...

Hey Diablo - Thanks for sharing the local 411 on Carson Long. As we noted, some tales are supposed to be manufactured, but there are still a couple that are downright eerie.

matt centofante said...

hey my name is matt centofante that place is most deff hunted i live in building annax and remember hearing something fall down the stairs everynight refrence to the story of the kid sniffing brasso and the maples and chapel without a dout in my mind HUNTED

Ron Ieraci said...

Hey Matt - sounds like you guys got a healthy dose of the occult sciences to go with the military sciences at Carson Long.

Anonymous said...

I currently attend clma and have seen human figures in my mirror that do not go away.

Anonymous said...

Place is definitely haunted . I'm a class of '16 graduate so this was my freshman year so I lived in Annex in room 4 , next to the steps where the kid died falling . He died in one of the Colonel's arms who was there for 40 years . And if you're walking alone you will definitely hear stuff . I remember once going downstairs in Annex's basement for a soda by myself, & hearing faint screams or voices or something . The Maples is the worst . But I do NOT go there . And the basement of CH , but we just learn to deal with it . Even in the afterlife we ave somewhat a bond , so they don't mess with you . Just a CLMA thing you know ?

Unknown said...

you can never forget the tale of the drummer boy in willford hall or the zoo

Anonymous said...

I was a cadet for 2 years from 1982-1984. I never had a problem in the Chapel and I spent a lot of time there, in fact it is still my favorite building on campus.
As for the kid who died in Annex, yep it's true.
I never heard this "mystery drummer" play although I will admit, in my senior year, I was a member of the drum corp and went up on Dynamite and played for about 5 minutes completely getting away with it. I never fessed up on that til now.
Is the place haunted? I don't know but it is an old school with a long and storied history. Who knows, maybe it is but I am sure I have never seen E.L Holman or red eyed eagles.

Anonymous said...

I was a cadet at CLMA in 1975-1976 when the student died from "huffing". It was not brasso, it was an aerosol of some sort, probably deoderant. He did not die in a Col's arms. 1) The only Cols on campus at that time were Lt. Col Carson Holman and His father. 2) What we were told was that he died a few hours later at the hospital.

Anonymous said...

i am in the class of 15 the boy did die in a col arms , he was not a col then but right now he is. i remember a door slammed on me with a doorstopper on it. it was very strange because no one was in the hall but me, also the door stopper flew 8 feet away which makes no sense because the old doors do not have a lot of pressure on them. I know that there is something in the maples i have heard stories of Theodore long's wheel chair up there in the attic and if you touch it someone yells when no one is there. there are many untold stories about this place absolutely...

Anonymous said...

I attended CLI for all four years of high school, and I can also confirm the cadet that died from a fall after "huffing". As I remember his last name was "Yarnell" or something close to that. From that I remember it was the stairwell in Annex where this occurred.

Anonymous said...

I`m currently a night security guard now I can`t give any proof of the haunting of kid died falling down stairs just heard stories, but you do feel like your being watched when in that hall.The Chapel one of the first nights I was there after hearing some stories (myself and another guard) we went over and stood behind so he can have a smoke out of bordem as well I went knocking on the outside of the right back door leading to the recreation room and got a loud and clear knock back. I couldn`t believe it myself so I tried again and again got another knock back only this time at the door on the left back side. I walked over there knocked on that one and got one back at the middle doors this went on for awhile nothing happens when I`m inside though.The Maples is by far the most haunted in my opinion just from my own experiences and the terrifying stories I`ve heard.Apparently a previous security guard quit one night because when he looked in one of the windows of either the bay or back side windows a deteriated appeared to be dead face appeared in it and starred back at him. That is just heresay and a story I heard and I speculate may have been a prank but I myself just a few years back had things happen to me inside the Maples.I was giving a tour of the place one night out of bordem and noticed they had 2 of the cuttest kittens in there named after Theodore Long Carson and Teddy and late at nights when things were quiet and had nothing better to do I would go over and play with them in one of the main rooms downstairs. Now the rooms all around are wooden and have no carpets at some points. One night I`m in there on the floor playing with these kittens and I hear the sound of screechy door open and then following that the sound of footsteps across a wooden floor in the rooms next to me I look down at one of the kittens and the one bolts up to a spot on the stairs and just stairs to the room the noises came from I tried getting him to come back down but he wouldn`t budge and just kept stairing that way the other stayed down on the floor with me.The footsteps were so loud and clear I thought it was someone who lived on campus coming who may of seen I was in there and coming in to check who I was but nothing was there when I walked to the sound and checked.Then I began testing all the doors to figure out if any of them sounded like the screechy sound I heard and when I opened the one that leads to the basement it was an exact match.If you know the stories of the basement its even more creepy, apparently a team of ghost hunters were down there with recorders and recorded the sound of young girls crying.In the 3 years I`ve worked here those are the things I`ve experienced I`ve heard alot more but they are just stories and you can take everything I told you to the bank I wasn`t a big believer before all this either but it seems to me that the things that do happen are nothing malicious a few friendly hauntings nothing serious enough to worry about.

Gutierrez said...

I been there around 2007-2008 just one year, i was a international student the only creepy thing i can tell you is real are the poltergeist activity in Ch “ once everyone was eating at the hall in Ch and when we go up stairs the second or third room was completely flipped over. Like in the videos on YouTube of poltergeist activity... also the story about the kid doing the aerosol is real he dead in the arms of a colonel. But in another building. (The other version) they have a dorm building beside the chappel and they said the colonel find the kid there in there basement . It’s a creepy place we have to go there because they have a room in the basement where we take the haircuts....
After taps no one can go out.
They have a room in Ch and they kipped colsed with a lock and they said it’s a rifle room.
The story about the kid ho lock they self in the attic is popular.. during a break they leave the campus before everyone and the get lock in the attic of ch.

definitely it’s a place with so much energy all the year all those people coming true....

sorry for the typo

Davila said...

i was an international student there at clma during de years 2009-2011 and to be true y didnt hear anything at all, i even say during easter break the all week cuzz i didnt have anywhere to go (i was an international student again) and i had the all campus by my self, sure it was boring from time to time but even with me walking at 3am on campus all alone i dont heard anything

sorry for my english

Anonymous said...

We bought this property a few months before COVID hit and we haven’t had so much creepy things happening we had someone who went into one of the places I think it was belfry he heard knocks and no one was there I live in the cottage we heard some bangs and breaths and everyday at 4:00 am my father keeps hearing noises that sound like electrical wires but besides that we haven’t experienced anything else nothing in the maples, chapel, annex…..

Anonymous said...

That was his name 75- 76 was my first year at CLI

Anonymous said...

I was there in 1975 -1976 and remember the night that he died. All the students were told. And remember them playing taps. It was very sad.

Anonymous said...

I was there in 96-98 annex 1st platoon B co, I stated in room 4 in the single rack close to the wall by the stairs. I never had any experiences. As far as the maples go, we all heard the stories, we snuck out after taps looking for the red eyes and looking for the watchful painting and apparitions, I and my friends never caught anything. The scariest thing about CLMI was knowing that I had to have my clothes washed with the junior schoolers clothes.

Anonymous said...

Greentard was the other idiot that was huffing aerosols and got kicked out for bringing a stick of dynamite to the school, they said he was going to blow up rifle room

Anonymous said...

Annex Bldg-78-83 Yeah-totally baffeling stuff happening in that Attic!