School

"school" is the sixth episode of Knifepoint Horror. The episode was released on 5 December, 2010 and is narrated by Soren Narnia. This is the first episode in the series narrated by Soren himself.

Synopsis

A damaged man recalls his time at Seacrist Elementary, the unlikely site of a hideous paranormal outbreak which still haunts him two decades later.

Characters

Narrator

Cy Wistrom

Other Characters

Timothy Shaugh (murderer)
Joseph Tormey (head janitor at Seacrist until his death in 1977)
Ellis Xavier (principal of Seacrist Elementary)
Mr. Appier (first grade teacher)
Susan (Wistrom's classmate)
Jean Willett (teacher and Shaugh's victim)
Steven Odom (assistant principal)
Reverend Hardis Russell (founder of Seacrist Elementary in 1957)
Ladybird (Steven Odom's wife)
Carl Trammell (discoverer of Steven Odom's grave)
William James (reporter for the Tri-County Gazette)
Mrs. Harris (art teacher at Seacrist Elementary)
Laurie Burke (first-grader at Seacrist Elementary)
Sam (Wistrom's doctor)
Rourke Billings (a report for the Phoenix Daily Journal and author of The Untold Story of Seacrist School)
Louis Laird (witness to Shaugh's attack in 1977)
Philip Darby (witness to Shaught's attack in 1977)
Frederica Huntley (parent to a Seacrist fifth-grader)
Sally Trent (student at Seacrist Elementary)
Erica Els (fifth-grade teacher at Seacrist Elementary)
Amy Chicoba (student at Seacrist Elementary)
Mr. Colbert (fourth-grade teacher)
Calvin Wells (teacher)
Daniel Giraldi (student)
Leslie Mortensen (photographer for the Sun-Courier, whose photographs of two injured students were featured in Inspire)
Richard Joyce (local man who gives Timothy Shaugh a ride in his car in 1977)
Todd Sunning ("foreman of the project")
Don Quested (host of Happenings)

Dates and Locations

Dates

September 1971 (Joseph Tormey, head janitor of Seacrist Elementary, dies)

December 1977 (Timothy Shaugh murders a teacher in Seacrist Elementary)

1994 (Wistrom returns to Seacrist Elementary)

Locations

Seacrist, Pennsylvania

Seacrist Elementary School (nicknamed "Horrror High")
Seacrist Hill
Hightown Road
Guthrie Heights (a local elementary school)
Chester Junior High School
Seacrist High
Sara Brown Kindergarten
Onadelphia School
Will-O-the-Wisp Road
Juniper Avenue
Upham Hill
Route 7
Lake Artemisia

Other Locations

Evansten (a town ten miles north of Seacrist, location of the Tormey family crypt)
Newmarket (a town five miles south of Seacrist)
- Newmarket Hill (local historical landmark, located on Route 13)#
McHenry (a town to the west of Newmarket)
Dorsey (a town fifty miles west of Seacrist)
- Holiday Inn (Ladybird Odom stays here for one night)
Oxford (nearby town, unspecified distance from Seacrist, though it is stated that Timothy Shaugh spent time in a "halfway house" here)
Plattsburg and Savage (two towns(?) along Route 7)

Story Notes and Observations

Seacrist Elementary School

It is stated that Timothy Shaugh's murder of Jean Willett was the "last in a string of unexplained incidents that occurred at Seacrist in the fall and winter of 1977".
The body of Joseph Tormey, which had been disinterred from his grave on 10 September 1977, ready for interment in the Tormey family crypt, was found in room 21 on Wednesday 14 September. The Tri-County Gazette published an unconfirmed rumor soon afterwards, which stated that Principal Xavier had erased a chalk message from the board of room 21 after discovering Tormey's body. Two weeks after this, the Gazette confirmed that Principal Xavier had revealed the content of the erased message. The message had read "To all this darkness."
It is stated that Jean Willet was teaching only three students at the time of Shaugh's attack. Presumably the three students are Cy Wistrom, Louis Laird and Philip Darby. The other students "read dutifully in the adjoining room". This detail is revealed by Wistrom in relation to the fact that his memories of the event had recently returned to him after suffering an incident that left him catatonic for fourteen days. Wistrom claims that the memories returned to him after residing in a "mental fog" for many years.
Wistrom explains that from the day the school opened to the day it closed in 1978, Seacrist had the highest absentee rate of any public school in Pennsylvania. No explanation for this was found by the board of education.

Steven and Ladybird Odom

Steven Odom, the assistant principal, was reported missing on October 5th by his wife, Ladybird Odom. Ladybird claimed that Steven had never returned from a fishing trip to Maryland that weekend.
A student, Carl Trammell, at Seacrist discovers two sticks rising up from the ground in a field near the school, with the legend Odom written upon them in charcoal. Carl informs his teacher about his discovery. Wistrom states that he does not remember the teacher's name, but she "wisely didn't touch the sticks" before speaking to the principal. It is subsequently reveled that the only fingerprints found on the sticks were of Steven Odom himself. Police searches of the field reveal no body.
On 10 October 1977, a writer for the Tri-County Gazette revealed that Ladybird Odom had filed two separate battery charges again Steven: one in February and one in May. Further to this, Ladybird has benn hospitalized twice in 1976 and 1977: twice for concussions and once for a broken index finger.
On 12 October, the art teacher, Mrs. Harris, arrived at her classroom to discover a canvas depicting a charcoal drawing of a woman: "The mouth of the woman was shown as a frowning, lipless oval in which there were simply far too many teeth crowded in. This gave the woman an animalistic appearance. The teeth were drawn in a rudimentary series of vertical and horizontal slashes. Above them were a crooked nose and some wavy lines in the cheeks, suggesting a haggard expression and advanced age. Then there were the eyes, which were the most revolting aspect of the canvas. The left pupil was shaped like a diamond and was hollow. The right pupil, though, was round and black like a stone, and was nearly twice as large as the left, seeming to bulge out and stare blankly". One of the investigating officers in the Odom case suggested that the face on the canvas belonged to Ladybird Odom.
A member of the investigating police force eventually discovers the words Newmarket Hill written into the hair of the woman in the drawing. Subsequent investigations into the area reveal the corpse of Steven Odom. Soon after this, Ladybird disappears from her home, citing that she was "at the end of her emotional rope". She stays for one night in a local Holiday Inn, and then is never heard from again.
Six months later, a neighbour of the Odoms' claims that Ladybird had borrowed his car on the night before Steven was reported missing. The neighbour also discovered a large garden trowel tucked inside the spare tire compartment, which the police eventually suggest was the instrument used to bury the body of Steven Odom.
When Seacrist Elementary is closed in 1978, psychological exit interviews reveal that a first-grader, Laurie Burke, claimed to have seen Steven Odom in the school in December, two months since his body was found in the field. Authorities put this down to mistaken identity, but the student, Laurie Burke, remained certain it was Steven Odom she had seen.