The Baptist Sunday school near Turtle Creek, Kansas was flourishing and boasted an attendance of about twenty-five members in March of 1892. The young people of Wallace County attended meetings and found it a great place to join friends for various forms of amusement. But, in a short time the little frame building had become deserted.
The building was declared haunted. Several adults who swore to the vividness and hair-raising realism's of the spooks vowed to never step foot in the haunted school again.
On New Year’s Eve, the school assembled to watch the old year out and the new year in. The party was a lively one. Every girl on Turtle Creek contributed a food item to the pot luck. The evening was fun and it passed cheerfully among friends.
As the midnight hour approached someone suggested that they should dim the lights so the death of the old year could be celebrated in the semi-gloom. It was done. There was just enough light to throw a flickering shadow on the wall. The group gathered around and giggled as they waited for the midnight bell.
The hour was tolled by the school house bell, but before the sound of the last stroke had died away—and before anyone had thought about turning up the lights—a thrilling scene was played out. A scream as of someone who was in mortal pain was heard. Then, in the shadows near where the pulpit was placed in the room on Sunday mornings, the startled revelers witnessed two figures struggling. Around the open space they fought, apparently fighting for control of the situation.
The conflict was vivid and frightening. Not one member of the party found a word to say. The fight went on and on. Finally, what seemed to be the larger figure pressed one knee upon the other’s chest. A shiny sword was seen to fall, and with a gurgling groan that startled the party goers, the smaller figure fell heavily backward.
The larger dark figure, with a cry of triumph, pulled the dripping sword from the other’s breast and waved it upward. He then turned threateningly toward the party revelers who huddled together near the stove.
The spell was broken and the party scrambled for the door. Benches were thrown over, clothing was torn, and bruises were taken in the mad rush to get away from the scene of horror. Not a soul would return until daylight, and only then a small group dared to visit the school house.
There were no traces of the crime the party had sworn they witnessed. Everything was in order except the toppled over benches which had been overturned in the flight from the building. An attempt was made to discover the meaning of the midnight struggle.
It was recalled that five years prior two strangers came to Sharon Springs and opened a night school on Turtle Creek. Nothing was known about these two men. For a while their school flourished. Suddenly the two men disappeared. It is believed that midnight scene in the Turtle Creek school house was the key to the whole mystery. But no matter the cause of the struggle, the Baptist Sunday school never met in the school house again.
Learn more about historic Kansas at www.kansasmemory.org
Haunted Places Examiner: Debe Branning nazanaza@aol.com
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