HGB Ep. 228 - Poasttown Elementary

 
Moment in Oddity - El Santo Reveals Face and Dies

Rodolfo Guzman was a Mexican wrestler who went by the stage name El Santo. He competed in the Mexican version of professional wrestling known as lucha libre. In this fast-paced form of wrestling, wrestlers wear colorful masks as part of their persona. El Santo wore a silver mask. In lucha libre, losing ones mask is the ultimate defeat and El Santo took this to the extreme. He wore his mask all the time. His fans, collaborators and crew did not know what he looked like without his mask. He would go so far as to book a different flight for himself than that of his crew to avoid them seeing his face. He also had a special "mealtime" mask with the mouth cut away so that he could eat. He became a cultural figure and symbol of Mexico and the people adored him. El Santo also became a movie star, appearing in 50 movies. Those movies included Santo Faces Death, Santo Vs. the Zombies, Santo Vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter, and Santo Vs. the Vampire Women. In 1984, El Santo finally removed his silver mask publicly, revealing his face to the world on a talk show called "Contrapunto." Not removing his mask for all those years is definitely unusual, but even stranger is the fact that he died 10 days after revealing his face and that, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Mata Hari Executed

In the month of October, on the 15th, in 1917, World War I spy Mata Hari was executed by a French firing squad at Vincennes Barracks, outside Paris. Mata Hari was born Margaretha Gertruida Zelle in 1876. Her father left the family and her mother died when Mata was 15. She married Rudolph John MacLeod, an officer in the East Indies Army, when she was 18. He was abusive and she wrote of him that he “came close to murdering me with the bread knife. I owe my life to a chair that fell over and which gave me time to find the door and get help.” She left him and went to France to start a new life. That new life found her working as a prostitute and exotic dancer. She took the name of Mata Hari at this time for the stage. The legend of Mata Hari claims that she was a femme fatale who spied for the Germans during World War I leading to the deaths of thousands of Allied soldiers. The truth is that she did not divulge any important information to the Germans. But her travels and relationships put her under scrutiny and the fact that she had relationhips with French officers may have led the French to arrest her and perhaps decide to rid themselves of her. She was found guilty and sentenced to die by firing squad. When she faced the squad on the October day, she denied a blindfold and stared steadfastly at her firing squad. She did not move a muscle.

Poasttown Elementary (Suggested by listener Angela Boley)

Poasttown Elementary School was dedicated in 1937 in Middletown, Ohio. Before a school was located on this spot, there was a train wreck with casualties within a mile of the property. There was no hospital close by, so the field where the school now exists was set up as a triage center. Many believe that the spirits of those who died from the accident still remain on the land and now haunt the school there. Angela Boley is an artist, psychic and paranormal investigator with Big Country Paranormal. She joins us to share a little about the history of the school and a lot about her paranormal experiences inside the school.

On August 18, 1936, the voters of Madison Township passed a bond issue for a consolidated elementary school at Poasttown to replace the township's one-room school. On September 7, 1937, the new school on Franklin-Trenton Road opened although not all the construction was completed The school wouldn't be officially dedicated until April 15, 1938. Pupils were assigned to the new school from Upper and Lower Browns Run, Dubbs, Pike and old Poasttown. There were 200 students at that time.The schoolhouse has a history that is relatively peaceful. One young girl fell three floors down a stairwell and was killed by a serious head injury. Her name was Sarah. The school eventually closed and the building is now owned and operated by Darrell and Brenda Whisman.

The claims of hauntings are numerous. Angela wrote us, "I am with Big Country Paranormal and we have seen full bodied apparitions, (7 foot tall) a door to the roof open and slam shut,  black floating masses, white mists, voices, strange glowing lights floating through the rooms, and even a gremlin-like creature! It was built on the ground once used to temporarily lay the dead from a fatal train accident. The janitor died in a fire and it is said  a child had a fatal fall near the stairs.  There is so much more to tell you and even an episode of Ghost Brothers was filmed there. I saw a full bodied apparition and a goblin like creature while on my first visit! Love to tell you more."

It is hard to believe that an elementary school could be so haunted. Are there both friendly and malevolent spirits walking the halls of the former school? Is Poasttown Elementary haunted? That is for you to decide!