Breaking And Entering The Spirit World

There are places where ghost hunting may be dangerous - and illegal.

Goshen, New York - It took place, as always, just after dusk, in the eerie stillness of the old Salesian School near the center of the village park surrounded by the black iron fence.

At least 10 youths ranging in age from 16 to 19 were caught by police trespassing at the shuttered school, said Ed Char, the newly appointed liaison to the village police. He gave the report at a Village Board meeting the same day the incident happened.

Char spoke about the blogs and the message boards spreading the rumors.

“There are no ghosts there!” he emphasized, his words meant for other kids who might be considering breaking the law for a thrill.

Summer just wouldn’t be summer in this two-century-old village without a good ghost story, and events both real and imagined at the former Salesian property provide more than enough fodder for spooky tales.

But break-ins at the old three-story school building, the only remnant of the property’s past, have grown more dangerous with each passing year.

That hasn’t stopped kids from climbing the chain-link fence on a dare, especially when the weather gets warm.

About 20 teens have been arrested already this spring for breaking into the blocked-off property, said village police Chief Jim Watt. The high number of arrests have quickly eroded police patience.

“You will be charged,” Watt said, adding that all 20 youths have been charged with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor.

Fueling the ghost stories are a number of Web sites that place the property among the lists of haunted buildings in the Hudson Valley, Watt said.

Ghost stories also stem from news stories, including the mysterious death of a 9-year-old boy who fell from the top of the building at night in the 1960s and the claim a few years ago by a local “ghostbuster” who said he saw and heard a spirit inside the building.

Char empathized with the young. “We’ve all been that age,” he said. But he emphasized the instability of the aging building, with its rotting beams and floors.

“God forbid anyone gets hurt in there,” he said. “It is fenced and locked for a reason.”

Image: The crumbling old school building is fenced off but youths find it irresistible

Author: John Sullivan

Source - http://www.recordonline.com/