Does a ghost from an old tragedy haunt us?
Rumor has it there are spirits roaming the halls at Franklin County Technical School
Jared Brothers, a student in the Cosmetology Program, has noticed some strange occurrences in his shop. “I’ve always believed in spirits, but it was really hard to tell when I had never seen one --that is until I started going to Franklin County Technical School. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a half-day in December and we all were getting out early for Christmas break. I was eating lunch in the cafeteria, but I decided to go back to my shop (Cosmetology) to get some money for the vending machine. When I went back to shop no one was there, but I smelled perfume, like ‘just sprayed’ perfume… then one of the books on the magazine shelf fell off the shelf by itself. I thought I was going crazy.”
Tragically, a sophomore in Cosmetology during the late 1980’s was shot dead by her boyfriend, also a student at the school. Is this the real story behind the “Cosmo ghost,” who, some believe, still roams the halls of F.C.T.S.? Has she, in spirit, returned to what was her favorite place in the world?
Adults in the building, especially those who are here after hours, have also witnessed some pretty weird stuff. School Custodian Roger Ozdarski shared his own chilling tale with us.
“One night 15 years ago I was closing up and went by cosmetology and smelled a whiff of perfume that was so strong, mind you, that it caught my attention. Strange because no one had been in the shop for hours. “Then, when I turned around, I thought I saw a faint apparition drift by ,” said Ozdarski.”
“All dressed-up and no place to go?” “I never believed in that stuff,” said Cosmetology student Areyon Politis, “but I heard that there has been a ‘Cosmo ghost’ for a couple of years now. One time, when I went to the bathroom in shop, I spilled my drink. When I went to walk back out of the bathroom, the door shut and by itself on me! The door was wide open before and no one was in the back with me! Up until this day, I wonder if it was the “Cosmo ghost” that the staff and students keep talking about.”
But there’s more and it gets worse. Collision Repair instructor Jeffery Tarr, a five year teaching veteran and former student, never believed in ghosts either, until he witnessed some pretty bizarre events that seemed to keep happening.
“One Open House some freshmen left the back room messy, so I went in to go stack some of the metal chairs and lock the back room up at the end of the night," Tarr said. "After I locked the door, I heard a big crash and wondered what it was, so I returned to the back room and saw a metal chair mangled!! The chair’s legs had been bent up. My skin crawled right up my back.”
This caused Tarr to wonder and make some connections. “The boy who killed the girl that was in Cosmo was in my shop,” he said.
So is there a Cosmetology ghost or spirit? Well, why don’t you find out for yourself… stop by Cosmetology when you have the chance and maybe a ghost from the 80’s might give you one heck of a spook, or take a spin by Collision Repair and check things out.
And if you want to learn more about ghost stories throughout Massachusetts, check out The New England Center for the Advancement of Paranormal Science.