Click above to listen to our first EVP. We were in the cafeteria, and I was talking about the food the children would have liked.
Metz was built in 1916, the same year as Pease and Matthews Elementary schools. The school was named for Hamilton Metz a tax assessor, member of the school board and prominent Austin Citizen. When this East Side community requested a new school to replace the run down, dirty and old school, there was some controversy over the demolition of the 74-year-old building. The neighborhood association was adamant, they wanted a brand-new school, not one that was reminiscent of the days of segregation (Metz used to be a white only school). A historical landmark was denied and preparation for the demolition began.
Rumors of paranormal activity surrounded the demolition of the old school. Leading up to the tragedy workers had reported regular paranormal activity including the sounds of children at play, messages written on the chalkboards of vacant classrooms, and repeated issues with their machinery. In 1990, Oto Guiterrez Jr. tragically died when a brick wall suddenly dropped during the demolition of Metz Elementary School which was built in 1916. A Catholic priest had even been brought to the site to offer his blessing. But the haunts continued in the new school. Today Metz is permanently closed. Austin Ghost Tours and a film crew from UT had a look around. Look for future blog posts about the invisible activity we discovered.
Notes taken from an interview at the school during a holiday when there were no children present: “ The energy of the spirits is so strong that haunting activity takes place daily. Psychics have been to the school and confirmed that in fact the ghosts were children.
The hands on the clocks are always changing. The round school clocks that extend out from the wall and have a face on both sides so that students may note the time when walking in either direction through the corridor. One glance will tell the time to be 12:30. Look again, it now reads 5:00. Odd noises, rolling marbles, turning doorknobs. I was fortunate to learn of an incident a bit out of the ordinary that took place the morning.
All of the classroom doors were opened, held in place by the 3-inch stainless steel rod with a rubber cap attached to the outside corner of the door. Antonio was in the corridor with a string mop in hand, the bucket and wringer at his side. His mind was wandering when he saw a girl walk out of a classroom and walk away from him down the hallway.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to be here!” Antonio called as he began walking toward the girl, who ignored him. He noticed her clothing. She wore a gray dress with long sleeves and a skirt that fell well below her knees and just above her black high-top shoes. Where the skirt ended and her shoes began, she wore ‘tights’, as Antonio called them. She wore a cap on her head, which was the same grey color as her dress.
Antonio continued to call out to the girl and walked rapidly toward her.
The young girl turned the corner into another hallway, with Antonio in hot pursuit. But as he turned into the adjoining hallway, the girl was gone. He went down to the end of the hallway until it turned again and then returned and looked into every room. Sure, enough the building was empty.
The hallways into which the many classrooms open are much like the hallways in schools throughout Austin. The double doors at the end of each corridor provide the only natural light. Fluorescent lights line the ceilings.
Metz students attend school all year round, with 2-week vacations interspersed throughout the year. On this Thursday morning the students had already been on vacation for four days.
Was Metz used as an infirmary during the influenza epidemic of 1918?’
