Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Salesian School

Goshen
New York
Basic Information:

The history of the Salesian School begins with a man named David Haight. He first built the mansion on the property around 1834-1864. When he passed away in 1876, he was buried in the nearby Haight Mausoleum, which was built for his family in 1872. The property eventually foreclosed in 1922. In 1925 the Salesian Fathers purchased the property for approximately $61,000 and opened it as a Catholic resident school for boys. The mansion served as an administration building, and the main schoolhouse was constructed in 1931. On the night of August 9th, 1964, a nine year old boy named Paul, fell to his death after falling 36 feet off the roof. For some reason, the case has only been re-investigated last year. The new coroner's observation is that the distance from the boy's body to the wall seems too far to suggest he had simply fallen off the roof. Disputes over the time of death, uncooperative staff, and student records missing in a 1970 fire, have all been dilema's in solving the cause of the boy's death. After the boy's death, the school's enrollment declined, although nothing points to the boy's death being the cause, and it was closed in the fall of 1985. It operated as a youth center afterward, until the campus closed in 1991 when the order sold the property. The mansion has since been condemned after a collapse on one side.



The Legend:

The legend of the Salesian is indeed based on fact. A 9-year-old boy attending a summer camp in 1964 at the Salesian School in Goshen, climbed to the roof at night and mysteriously fell off. Village police suspected foul play, but had run out of leads, especially since a fire six years after the death destroyed records of all those at the camp that summer. Thus, it is believed that the spirit of the 9-year-old boy still haunts the school. Stories have circulated for years about the abandoned school building, causing mostly teens (like me) to trespass on the site late at night.






News Reports:

The Salesian School has appeared in many Times Herald Record articles. Some of these include:

October 02, 2002 - 'Priests accused of abusing kids years ago at Salesian center'

June 12, 2003 - 'Two teens charged in Salesian school fire'

November 13, 2005 - 'Searching for spirits at school'

^^ That last such newspaper article, talks about 4 detectives that visited the Salesian School after dark with a camera. The video footage included flying orbs, thermal measurements of cold pockets in the basement air, pictures of a pentagram drawn on the floor of a room, and audio recordings of subnormal sounds.

My View:

I thought it only natural to start this blog with my first and most loved haunted places. It is in fact, the place that sparked my interest in chasing ghosts and finding the unexplainable. Tacked up on my wall, is a newspaper article from May 7, 2005 titled 'Spirited Demolition'. It is talking about the demolition of the old Salesian School in order to build something new in its place. This is still taking place, and it just broke my heart. Do I believe that something ghostly lives here? Yes, I do. I spend many summer nights here with my friends, trying to find something to show us that the stories are true. What we found was the distinct laugher of a little boy even though we were out very late, and the Salesian School is located in a wooded desolate area. We also seen orbs in a video tape we made, and could sware we heard footsteps every now and again. The death of the boy is still unknown and the case was just recently re-opened, but with no success. Thus, the case of the 9 year old boy from Salesian is still unsolved.

43 comments:

djruthless said...

Hey how you doing. I'm intrested in checking out this school and mansion. 2 friends and I are going to check it out but we don't want to get nailed for tresspassing. My one friend has been there before. Do you know who owns it now. Also I see this blog was last year. Is the place still standing or is it tore down now. I wanna see if I can catch what is there and catch the little boy on tape and camera. I'm learning to be a paranormal investigator. Please get back to me my email is djmixakilla@yahoo.com

Suburbia Green said...

The Salesians Park is open to the public; however, the mansion has since been demo'd:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7652577@N05/sets/72157604979828864/

It is now known as Salesians Park in Goshen, NY.

blogger_person said...

DONT GO! i went there about a month ago and i was caught and arrested. The Salesian school inside was obviously not safe there was broken glass everywhere and it wasn't all its choked up to be. Me and my friends journey there ended in the back of a cop car. So my words of the wise are not to go! EVER!!!!

phillip said...

bs

Unknown said...

I wouldn't go there just for the fact that the building is a hazard and dangerous, it looks like it's ready to fall down. They have a very tall fence around the whole building.

Unknown said...
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night scare said...

i was there and will never forget my encounter. im 54 yr old and curiously went there with a friend one day this past summer towards evening to see if this place jogged my memory , the school was surrounded by a fence and it appeared to be ready to fall. suddenly there were smoke like figures jumping off the roof into a ditch near the door to the basement , my knees were knocking the air was cold and smelled like stagnant water. the fish in the small lake were jumping and they glowed as night approached. we then heard howling followed by blood thirsty screams we were gone . i now believe in ghosts and attend services quite often . stay away

NicWis said...

We lived in Goshen for about 9 months. We lived on Main St. directly across from the school in a rental property. We lived next door to the mayor's mom at the time. I believe our home was built about 1847 and is it now an up and down duplex. I had 2 kids at the time who were constantly disturbed, mostlty through out the night. They saw a man dressed in all dark clothes including a dark hat. He was said to be "dancing on the wall" by my 4 year old. There was a "yellow blob" also. I was told the man in the dark always just talked and wished them a good night. I never saw anything, although I don't think there was a time that I have had more terrifying dreams. The worst eerie, scary dreams ever. When we reported this to the land lord, he told us of the hauntings and that the contractors where leaving the site of the demo in fear. And that is my story of Goshen.

livelaughrawr said...

hey i know its been a while since you posted this, but my friend and i were wondering if we should go check out the salesain school or not i just moved back to Goshen after 5 years and my friends visting, we dont want to get arrested at 14 so what should we do?

yo said...
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Unknown said...

Your not going to get arrested, it's a park for gods sake! As long as you go during the day and don't try to climb the fence and go into the school(which is way too dangerous anyway, there's a good reason they have that fence up) you'll be just fine.

Night scare: nice fairy tale.

Unknown said...

look ive been here the fence has an area dug out under it where you can crawl under, its not so dangerous, yeah lots of broken glass, the floors are sturdy, its a fucked up creepy place, and anyone who isnt worried about getting arrested should go. i went here when i was 17 and never went back cause it freaked me the fuck out. people talking about there isnt anything here or this or that obviously never searched the entire premises, this place is filled with an insane amount of negative energy whether its haunted or not, you decide for yourself, just be careful and open minded and you will see and hear things you didnt even imagine existed here. or dont go at all, either way this is my personal experience which i will treasure forever.

Billy Carpio said...

I was taking pictures of the compound around 8am Sunday morning, initially from the water tower. I am an HDR photography enthusiast so I come with a tripod. After shooting the exterior of the school I went to the pond and while setting up my tripod I felt someone approach me on my left. I looked but there was no one there.

The feeling I had was similar to when a stranger, security, or cop would approach me while shooting in NYC, that is, I'm cool but my guard is suddenly up. That's all. I've taken numerous pictures of supposedly haunted places in the area and never experienced anything like this.

GayBaggyBoy said...
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GayBaggyBoy said...
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Jon said...

I find all of this very interesting. Apparently I'm late in finding it all too. I attended this school in the mid 70's. At that time it was a Salesian Junior Seminary (a High School Seminary), that housed about 40 students, also hosted youth camps in the summer. The school, the admissions building/rectory/dinning hall (the Mason), and property were all very well kept and beautiful at the time, especially the chapel. I still have quite a few photos and postcards of the property from then. There was another building on the property at that time too - to the far left of the property. It was the residence of an order of nuns - The Daughters of the Devin Zeal.

Anyway, I do remember hearing strange noises in the evenings during study hours and sometimes in the middle of the night. I just always attributed those sounds to the creeks, bangs and echos of a big old building. However, I do also remember, very distinctly, sudden chills and the feeling of being watched while walking through the halls and stairways late in the evenings. And walking around outside in the court yard (rear of school building) late at night was always a bit eerie - very quite and still, yet there was a feeling of unexplained uneasiness. Never saw any strange figures, lights, glows or ghostly images though.

I have a lot of fond memories of the place too. Seeing it in shambles is heartbreaking.

Billy Carpio said...

Update: I just found out from another website that the direction I felt the "male" presence come from was actually the old-crypt-turned-into-pond-chemicals storage.

While shooting the pond (I shoot several frames because I do HDR photography), with the thing behind me, I felt ill-at-ease, like maybe being watched? Hard to explain.

disconnected Catholic said...

I attended St Michael's Silesian School in Goshen from 1949 until June '51 when I 'graduated' from 8th grade. Fr. Caselli was the headmaster. [i]"Fr. Confessor"[/i] (actual name forgotten) was a known pedophile, but he was kept away from the boys pretty well, and if he got you alone, as he did me once, and asked but you told him to leave you alone, he did. Most everyone there knew about him, and was advised to stay away from him. Besides hearing confessions, he also played the movies on Saturday nights. It was a cruel, disheartening place, with quite a few rich South American kids sent to be educated in the US. Also a lot of troubled boys, as I was, who's parent or parents couldn't (or wouldn't) deal with them. A bad experience!

Bill S. said...

I went to summer camp there in the early 80's 81-83. I heard the stories about the hauntings. I too experienced the weird feeling by the pond crypt. I seen recent photos of the inside its really saddening to see what it has become. I am planning a trip there in the spring and with any luck my connections with the village and county will grant me permission to go inside. It would be nice to see it one last time before its gone.

djruthless said...

Bill S I tried to get permission to get in there they will not allow it because it's unsafe I've spoke to the County and town clerk about it there lawer won't give them permission to go in there.My paranormal group and I tried. You can walk around the property but you can't go past the fence and you have to be out of the park before dark.

Bill S. said...
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Bill S. said...

The village clerk for the Village of Goshen called me today we had a nice conversation for about 30 min. I told her things about the building and grounds,that she never knew and how my great great grand father, possibly made the statues that once adorned the grounds and the buildings there as well as my attending day camp there, my name is now on a list (a very very short list)of people that may be granted special access once they decide what is going to be done with the building. I was told that there are no immediate plans for the building, but once something is decided i will be contacted.

djruthless said...

Oh cool Bill S yeah they turned us down the town clerk was going to grant us permission but it was the lawer that said no. Wish you the best of luck take some pics would love to see the place. If you catch anything weird in the pics let me know.

Bill S. said...

I was going to send a private email (but didnt see a way to) asking if you would be interested in analyzing any anomalies I might pic up on. I heard the stories when I went there. I doubt anything will pop up I 'll be there during the day light hours. Besides I'm strictly on a memory lane trip and salvage opportunity for a couple of small items. If want an interesting place to check out, I can give some info on it. I personally witnessed some things there, but there is nothing on line or in books about it, it is kept very hush hush.

djruthless said...

Yeah I would be very interested in checking out the pics and intrested in that place. My email address is djmixakilla@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I am not sure anyone will even read this as there does not seem to have been any comments in quite some time. However, I used to live less then a mile from this school and have been in there on several occasions. Now I can say with absolute certainty that it is indeed haunted. In fact myself and two other people witnessed what could only be described as demonic activity in the old chapel of all places.

Unknown said...

The place is super creepy. I've had my own experiences on the property. These range from seeing "shadows" moving across the lawn after dark to whispers and just a skeevy feeling. I do not like that property, do not like going to that property, and do not like talking about that property. After reading on it, I understand why.......

Unknown said...

Does anyone know what room the boy might have been in? And I would love to go there because I had a dream about being there when I was younger and didn`t know about the place. I would also love to do a lock down like Ghost Adventures do.

Mike said...

Interesting blog, I attended the school from 69-71 and remember the place fondly. There was quite a bit of camraderie and it developed me into a young man. I also remember several unusual incidents of a haunting nature. Several of us believed we actually saw Paul Marcos on at least two occasions. My bed was on the third floor dorm and near the entrance to the section of the roof where he met his end.One wasnt too crazy about sleeping up there alone. The main house was thought to be haunted also. It was an interesting place.

Mike said...

Hi Cassy, The section of the roof he walked out to was connected to the third floor dorm, it wasnt a room it was a full dorm floor with beds and lockers.To get to the short steps to the roof entrance, one needed to pass the bathrooms on the left and the opening to the down flight of stairs on the right.If you had a bed in the middle run, you could see the entrace to the roof, it was only about 30 ft away. What was spooky is that on some cold dark nights the door would open spontaneously of its own volition. This despite it being locked at all times. Like I said, the third floor was a spooky place!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Mike, my friends and i kicked down that door on may 19, i remember this really well. This was the second time we went in. I was never afraid of going in until the 3rd and fourth time. The 3rd time we just wanted to leave because we felt this presence or negative energy around us. Yesterday,(4th time) We went in and we were sitting in the chairs in the biology/science room and heard a faint scream on the second floor. Our hairs rose up and we got up and we all sensed each other's panic. When were going down the main hall, we felt a strong presence behind us and we kept watching behind us but nothing was their. We entered through the basement and we left through the basement. We saw a textbook on the ground opened to a beginning of a chapter, but i assume someone else has done this in the past.

Unknown said...

This place is definitely haunted. Enter with caution. Police dont often show up as long at you dont go past the salesian maintenance garage where the cameras are located.

Thomas Michalski said...

I was playing with my tablet and rediscovered the school from my childhood past. I spent part of the summer of about 1952 or 1953 at the summer camp. I remember riding horses there and not much more. I vagly remember the now haunted school building. It was interesting to see what happened to the grounds.

Abby Ro said...

How do you get inside?

Unknown said...

I was sent there at 8 years old, very scary for a little kid. My parents sent me with a large black chest where I keep my clothes at the foot of my bed. All the older kids riffeled through everything. I remember the pond, some of the biggest bullfrogs I ever seen, large as dinner plates, so big they floated and you could catch them easily. I hated it there and try to get that experience wiped from my mind. Bullied, and stuff I can't talk about, still trying to forget. I'm 65 years old and never went back, just googled it and found this blog.

Dr_nas said...

I attended SJS as well from 1979-1982. I remember all the rumors of ghosts and weird noises,but never saw nor heard anything strange. I went by there today and am heart broken by the way the building looks now. I remember walking the grounds and all the chores we were assigned . I was happy to see that they kept the cemetery at least. Went by and paid my respects. Glad to see another alumni from sjs

Unknown said...

The 9 year old boy that died at the school is my brother. He died the year before I was born so unfortunately I was robbed of the experience of having him as my older brother. His death still remains unsolved. We have always believed that he was murdered. The school claimed that he was sleepwalking and jumped off the roof. Meanwhile he had never sleepwalked before. It’s very hard to go against the Catholic Church. They immediately transferred the “Brothers” out so that they couldn’t be questioned. I recently found out that they didn’t even tell the other campers that he died. They thought he just went home. Many detectives have tried to re-open the case but have been unsuccessful in solving the mystery. I have never visited the school. It seems very strange to me to read all these posts and to think that it could be my brother haunting it. I think I might actually visit it now after reading the posts.

Chuck Stephens said...

Ms.Ciancio,
My name is Chuck and I was a student attending the school from 68-70,I'm currently working on a book about the school and part of the book is about your Brother. If you could please reach out to me at chuckstephens06@aol.com, I'd like the opportunity to speak with you. Regards, Chuck

Brian said...

That's wasn't a crypt. It was a water pump house for the lake.

MTK2022 said...

When I was a kid I was fascinated by this place, as I was by all abandoned places. In the early 00s as a teenager I was friends with some people in Goshen so they brought me inside the school and we used to go in all the time. It wasn't a park then and there wasn't a fence around it. I vaguely remembered hearing the story of someone having died there, and randomly just thought to look it up and was led to this blog. The story is creepier and more tragic than I realized.

I only went into the mansion once, it was dilapidated and very dangerous, not to mention full of gross stuff. The school was cool to explore though. I even found a ton of old Life magazines from the 70s inside that I used for a project. Somewhere I have a ton of photos of the inside of the school. I'll have to dig for them. I consider myself lucky I was never caught trespassing.

Unknown said...

I was born in Goshen and lived on Murray Ave. not far from the school. I graduated from Goshen High in 1990 went to college and moved out West. When I was very young, my family belonged to the Presbyterian Church (also another amazing building in Goshen with windows sent from Louis Tiffany of Tiffany's! and also believed by kids to be haunted. I mean, between the upper balcony and the weird basement tunnel, there was a lot of possibilities). Anyway, we would have big church picnics at the Salesian School grounds. I loved going there and exploring, but inside the buildings felt very oppressive. I remember getting really depressed being there after too long. I always assumed it was the Catholic vibe, and hadn't heard about the death of the boy and his possible haunting until recently. I love all things paranormal and wish I had been able to go back as an adult. For those of you who felt nothing but punishment there, I hope you've found peace. I can't imagine living there.

Unknown said...

I wonder if people are going to visit this blog after Laurenzsides video on this.