04/28/2011: Thanks to Bailey for sending us this contribution from Gahanna Lincoln High School in Franklin County. Bailey acknowledged the legends/haunts that we had previously posted in our hauntings/legends index and added one more to the mix. Apparently a child had drowned in the school’s basement pool years ago. The pool was closed and hasn’t been in use for over fifty years. Bailey shares several witness accounts of people who have heard and/or seen the boy’s apparition.
I grew up right by the school and have heard tons of legends, hauntings and stories. Mostly it’s the two that you already have on the page, but there is one more that is a lot more commonly talked about among the students. For as long as I can remember, people have been terrified yet fascinated with the basement of our school. Rumor has it that a boy somehow drowned in the pool, due to the lack of surveillance. Now, no one is allowed in the basement except office workers (I am one). I’ve seen the pool and it’s completely blocked off with a padlock and everything. It was easily the eeriest thing I have ever seen in my life. It was also pretty obvious that it hasn’t been used in a LONG time.
I know three adults who graduated from Lincoln, who have all admitted to seeing/hearing something during their time here. One was down in the basement for a tornado drill and saw a boy behind the gate, told a teacher that someone had gotten past it, and then there was no one there. Another was an office worker, who had to deliver a pass to B building. When he walked past the basement door, it was unlocked and slightly open. Turns out, none of the custodians or anyone allowed down there, was working that day. It was sealed shut when he passed it again.
The final one was the janitor himself, who was alone in the basement a couple of months ago. He ran upstairs and into the office to get the teacher I was working for. When she asked him what was so urgent, he said that he heard someone splashing and calling for help from the pool, and that he needed the key to the padlock instantly. I will never forget how white he turned when she said, “But Jim, that pool’s been drained for 50 years. The water pipes don’t even work anymore.”