The Little Old Man in the Hat

I only knew Pat Huffman for less than a month, but his impact on me and North Side extended beyond that month and his passing.  Before I get too far into this blog entry, I need to explain that I have never felt strongly about spirits, specters, or ghosts. However,  I have always felt that there are souls that have been active in the physical form in the past who remain for various reasons.  Often, I feel the influence of my parents when I am in a decision making moment.  Granted that comes from years of experiencing their comments and suggestions as well as the lives that they led, but the fact that those segments of my past get triggered at the right time cannot be a coincidence.

At North Side part of the folkloreof the school are the ghost stories that have been passed down over the years.  I admit that I have been a part of the storytelling, but two of the ghost stories that I tell came directly from the many stories that Pat told us.  Amazingly, I have heard the same two stories from other sources, and both are spot on to the stories that Pat told me.

The first story was about the construction worker back when North was first built.  Recently, I had the basics of the story verified when we found a newspaper article from 1926.  It told of a worker who was working on the dome over the auditorium.  He fell to his death in the auditorium.  Supposedly, since that day his spirit has inhabited the auditorium.  Having worked in that facility for a number of years, I can safely say that I have never encountered him, but many students claim that they have.

The second story that I remember Pat telling me was about the girl in the early 50's who was running around the indoor track that was around the outside of the old gymnasium.  That track wasn't very wide and on the inside were 45 degree angle areas of wall that jutted out into the running area.  Her demise came from running into one of those areas, hitting her head, and after being in a coma for a while, she died.  Her spirit is said to walk that outside track at night.  Again, many students have claimed to have seen her; some even think that they interacted with her.

I know that I possibly had an experience with heron an early Sunday morning.  I had returned to North with the gymnastics team after we had been at an invitational meet at Merrilville.  As was the procedure then, I entered the building in the custodial area, coded out the building, and let the girls get to their lockers and call home.  Once I knew that all of the girls were gone, I turned the security back on.

As I was heading down Eade, the street that teed into North, I looked back in my rear-view mirror and saw a girl on the indoor track around the gym.  Worried that one of my gymnasts would get caught by security, I went back and called security to let them know that I saw the girl and that it was my fault.  After they checked the area remotely, they told me that there was no sign that there was anyone else in the building.

But it wasn't Pat's stories that are the most interesting among the ghost stories of North Side.  There are two that are about Pat himself.  The first was told to me by the school's engineer a few years ago.  He had been called to the school by one of the third shift custodians.  There was a problem with the boiler.  The engineer crawled below the area that he needed to fix, and from under the area he called to the third shift custodian to get him a tool that he needed.  The boiler room and the custodial work area were close, but it would take minutes to get there, find the tool, and get back.

The custodian headed out, but the engineer noticed that the tool he needed was headed his way almost immediately.  He asked, "How did you get that so fast?"  There was no response, and the shoes that he could see from his location walked away without responding.  The engineer was about finished with his work when the night custodian came back bewildered, "I can't find that tool anywhere.  Where could it be?"  Neither of them could explain what happened, but the engineer still believes that it was Pat.

Finally, Pat helped me a few years later.  I was the sponsor of North Side's Students Against Drunk Driving.  My group wanted to have a Lock In.  Any student who would sign a form to say that they wouldn't drink and drive could come to an all night party.  We had basketball, volleyball, movies, a dance, and lots of food.  There were 638 students all over the building.  I had set up for three shifts of teachers and parents to help me.  The first shift left at 1:30 in the morning.  The second and third shifts never showed up, none of them.  I was alone with 638 students!

I had a walkie talkie, but there was no one on the other end.  But all night long, students were coming up to me and asking if the little old man with the baseball cap was really there helping me.  The first couple of times I was unsure and went out looking, but after a while I just said yes.  When the end of the night came and students were leaving, my group cleaned everything up at the direction of the little old man with the baseball cap.

Good things happen at North all the time.  Somehow we always seem to come back from things that go wrong.  I would like to think that Pat is there, behind the scenes doing his part.