Haunted Ohio: Stivers School for the Arts

 

Stivers School for the Arts - Nyttend, Public Domain

For years, the only reason I knew there was a Stivers school was because I saw the name in the school closings list every winter. Growing up in a rural township, I attended a school where my graduating class had fewer than 30 people and the closest we came to art classes were whatever drawing or painting we did in an actual art class. I never imagined that I would one day live right down the street from one of Dayton's most haunted schools.

Charles Insco Williams worked with the Dayton Public School System to design a new school. It opened in 1908 as the Stivers Manual Training High School, which prepared students for their future careers. As the city added new vocational high schools, the need for yet another training school was low. This led to the campus becoming Stivers High School, a name it kept until 1974.

This was when the school merged with the Patterson Co-Op High School. Just two years later, it dropped the Stivers High School name. Stivers would later serve as a middle school before adding high school courses back to its curriculum. It is now Stivers School for the Arts.

Any student who wishes to attend must audition for a spot in the program of their choosing. They have the option of leaving for another school, but many choose to stay until they graduate. The available programs include piano, dance, visual arts, band, and creative writing. There is also a general curriculum that allows students to meet all of their graduation requirements and focus on art. Around 900 students attend Stivers School for the Arts every year.

The ghost who haunts the school is allegedly a former teacher. New students often hear about the old swimming pool in the basement and assume that it's just another urban legend. Who could blame them? Why on earth would an arts school have a pool, especially one built in the basement? This was back in the school's early days when it was common for students to spend more time on campus. The pool was a great place to both cool off and get some exercise. It was popular with both students and teachers.

One of those teachers, Mary Tyler, was a regular fixture in the 1920s. The beautiful young teacher always headed to the swimming pool to do a few laps. Tyler headed to the basement one Friday afternoon and never returned. A janitor tasked with cleaning the school on the weekends found her body floating in the pool the following morning. Legend says she had a broken locket still clutched in her hand. When the janitor opened the locket, he found a photo of the smiling young woman standing next to a man, but someone tore the head off the man.

This might end as just another strange story if not for the rumors that quickly swirled. Many of her co-workers and friends revealed that she had an inappropriate relationship with one of her students. Though she knew it was wrong, she found it impossible to stay away from him. Tyler loved everything about him. Despite warnings from those who knew the truth, she refused to stay away from him.

Police quickly headed to the student's home to talk with him about their relationship. They wanted to know if he saw Tyler before her death and whether he was the man in the photo. Some in the community thought that it was likely another paramour of Tyler's who drowned her in the pool. A few teachers and students even thought Tyler made up the story and that the boy was innocent. No one knew what to think when it turned out that he too was missing. In fact, local legend around Dayton says that he left town and never came back. Though they did investigate other leads, they never found the murderer.

As enrollment at Stivers grew, the need for more classrooms outweighed the need for a rarely used swimming pool. The school decided to put down new flooring and turn the space into extra classrooms. That didn't stop the ghost of Mary Tyler though. Many students spotted a woman standing in the classroom over the pool, only visible from the waist up. It's as if her bottom half is still in the pool.

Tyler also makes her presence known with a loud wailing sound that permeates through the first floors. Students described the sound as a deep and mournful wailing that also left them feeling sad and desperate. Even those who can't see her had some experiences with her. The former teacher has a habit of playing with the lights and making them flicker as well as creating cold spots. Teachers who work in the classroom over the pool often find things moved around when no one was in the room or notice that things go missing at night.

Maintenance workers claimed to have run-ins with Tyler over the years, too. A few of these workers saw a woman with wet hair walking through or standing in the tunnels under the school that are close to the old pool. She never responds to them or even acknowledges that they're there. Other workers saw a woman matching her description running around the tunnels and hitting the pipes.

As with any ghost story, there are a few variations. I remember hearing that the teacher had an affair with a married co-worker. Growing tired of his claims he would leave his wife, she finally gave him an ultimatum: either he tells his wife or she would. He followed her to the basement and attacked while her back was turned, downing her in the pool. He then ripped his photo out of the locket and raced home. I also heard she had a relationship with a student aide who helped in her classroom.

Stivers School for the Arts is a magnet school at 1313 E. Fifth St. in Dayton, Ohio. As it's still in use, I recommend you keep your distance during school hours.