With a cemetery on campus and many older buildings on campus, it has been rumored that Marshfield High School is haunted. From noises in an empty hallway, to creepy shadows, students and staff have experienced many unexplainable events. 

The Marshfield Pioneer cemetery was officially dedicated in 1891, 132 years ago. Two years later, the town of Marshfield was established. Later, in 1939, Marshfield High School was  founded. Since then, there have been many changes to the school’s campus and layout. There have also been many generations of students and staff to walk the halls. 

When Marshfield Junior High School Principal Floyd Montiel attended Marshfield, he experienced some of the major changes. Pirate Hall didn’t exist then; instead there was a parking lot that went right up to the west gym. The Circle was also an addition to the school when Pirate Hall was added. The fitness center was inside of the film room which made it stuffy and stinky. With these changes, Montiel has also experienced spooky encounters. 

“You sometimes could walk in and you would hear creaks,” said Montiel. “Now it’s an old building so it could have been a giant rat, but you could hear creaks and what sounded like voices.” 

Many students have heard about the pool underneath west gym. The truth: the rumors of a pool on our campus are true–however, it was not under the west gym. There is a pool underneath the back corner of the pirate parking lot. It was filled in and eventually paved over as structures changed over the years.

With MHS being on top of a cemetery, it’s highly likely that the school hallways could be haunted with past students, staff, or pioneers of yesteryear. The only other school with a cemetery so close is the University of Oregon, which has a cemetery directly across from McArthur Court.

“If you think about it, it’s a weird deal that they decided to build a school right on top of a cemetery,” says Montiel.

 It is almost taken for granted that our school has so much history in and outside of the buildings. During the day, the cemetery is overlooked, but at night, the moon highlights the eeriness of it. 

“When you come back late in the evening from a game and you’re the only one here and there’s a cemetery right there, and the fog that just lays over the top of it.” Montiel said.

Multiple staff have reported that when they are working at school late at night the toilets would flush. Knowing they are the only ones inside of the school it’s kind of abnormal, considering the amount of pressure it takes to flush one of these toilets. 

“The boys bathroom, it seemed like every time I was working here late at night by myself that the toilet would flush and it freaked me out,” said librarian Catherine Hampton. “Do I believe it’s a ghost? No, but it is kind of spooky.” 

Other reports of hallway noises abound. In the main building, it sometimes sounds like a teacher on the second floor is moving chairs around. However, this occurs when no one else is in the building. The shadow of the pirate statue watches over all.

“I would go back and work in my classroom sometimes and the toilet would flush, and I know that I am the only person in the building,” said Montiel. “And I’m sitting there, working, in the quiet, and the toilet flushes. So, that’s creepy.”

With the changes at Marshfield, one thing that has not changed are the tunnels that lie underneath the main building. These steam tunnels are large enough for humans to use for travel. Now, they are unused and caving in underneath the school. Asbestos is present in the tunnels, so access is strictly off limits due to health concerns. For many years the tunnels haven’t been a problem, but in the last few months, these tunnels caving in have caused huge potholes in the main parking lot, which had to be filled in. There has been talk about filling in the tunnels under the school, but no concrete plans as of yet.