George Daly spooks students, faculty

The story of the ghost of George Daly is known by many.

Hired in 1937 as Kearsley’s first superintendent, Mr. George Daly worked at Kearsley until 1970.

He died July 28, 2004, at the age of 94.

Now his ghost is said to roam the halls of KHS — the auditorium in particular.

It is said that Daly sticks closest to the auditorium because he was a big contributor to the school’s theater department.

Responsible for the construction of KHS and the elementary schools Buffey, Dowdall, and Fiedler, Daly worked hard to never forget the names and faces of his former students and staff members. Lately, his ghost may have been trying to get to know a few Kearsley members.

Here are their stories.

Mr. Greg Oaks, KHS head of security

Mr. Greg Oaks does a lot of work around the school, especially with the auditorium.

Oaks said he has seen Daly many times. The first time he saw Daly, he was in the men’s bathroom by the 100 Hallway.

“One of the first times I saw him was in the men’s bathroom,” Oaks said. “I was standing — when you’re walking in toward the first urinal — and I’m standing there at the bathroom.”

Oaks then saw Daly. He said the experience was eerie.

“You know when you feel like someone is looking at you,” Oaks said, “and the hair on the back of your neck will stand up a little bit?

“I kind of looked over there (the other side of the bathroom) because I didn’t see anybody there when I walked in, and there was a man, and he’s at the far end of that bathroom looking in the mirror,” Oaks said. “And then he turns over and looks at me, then looks back. And I’m getting creeped out.”

“So then I looked again, and I hurried and said, ‘I’m getting out of here.’ ”

And the man was gone.

Oaks said that when he washed his hands, he knew someone did not walk past him out of the restroom.

Karlee Griffin, sophomore

Near the end of February, sophomore Karlee Griffin saw the doors leading to the choir room open by themselves.

“I was walking around with my friends, Megan Clayton and Summer Webster, during lunch,” Griffin said. “(We) passed Ms. Riley’s room and we stopped and saw one of the choir doors open by itself.”

Griffin said she was so spooked that, at first, she froze. Then the situation became more frightening.

“And then as soon as the door closed it looked like someone was trying to open both doors at the same time at once, like they were locked from the inside, like he was trying to open the doors,” Griffin said. “We were freaked out and went back to Ms. Riley’s room.

“We had two of our friends walk to the doors, and they were both locked shut. We don’t know how that door would have opened.”

Griffin’s first thought was that Daly could definitely be what was opening the doors “because I believe in in paranormal stuff like that.”

“It gives me shivers when I think about it,” Griffin said. “But it’s a great feeling.”

Griffon’s experience taught her that ghosts may just be real.

Kayla Ward, senior

Senior Kayla Ward faced Daly in the art room in late February.

The story follows.

“It was first hour,” Ward said. “I was in the art room by myself. I was facing the wall, away from the door, and the lights started to flicker.

“At first, I thought it was nothing, but then I heard the sound of a chair slamming against the ground,” she said. “So then I turned around and nothing was wrong at all. There wasn’t a chair on the ground. Nothing fell over. I then grabbed my stuff and left.”

Ward said she ran out the door. She was happy she could escape.

“When I talked to teachers throughout the day, they told me it was George Daly,” she said.

Oaks’ recount of a student’s experience

In addition, a sophomore, whom we will call Brian, had his own experience with Daly. The sophomore did not want to talk about it, but Oaks knew the story because he was connected to it.

Oaks said the sophomore works in the auditorium’s control booth, so Oaks described what happened to the student.

“We just got done with a show in there (the control booth),” Oaks said. “He (Brian) took up the mics and the mic stand into the back room, and we were downstairs.

“He (Brian) went up there to put the stuff away, and when he was coming back down the stairs — most people would hurry down the stairs — he heard something there.

“He heard footsteps running out of the room, running down the stairs after him. He (Brian) turned around and nobody was there.

“(Brian) came down and when he saw us at the bottom of the stairs his eyes were open huge. He was scared to death.”

With these phenomena occurring around the high school, who knows, maybe Daly still lurks the halls and rooms of KHS, waiting for the right time to make himself known.

Keep your eyes open and listen carefully, and you might just find him.