I used to tour with the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. We once stayed at Rock Island High School in Illinois for a few days.

The first night there, a few friends of mine had add dreams about walking through the halls of the school. Later, one of the guys from a nearby town told us that the school was supposed to be haunted.

There was a small group of us that had been drawn together by our experiences with the paranormal. One of these was haveing weird dreams each night we slept there.

A few of the corps members, not of our group, decided they wanted to go on a ghost hunt. My closest friend and I decided to go along for the amusement. We followed them around a bit and then found ourselves in the school's basement and boiler room. Suddenly, I felt a strong presence right in front of us. It amused me and my friend that the group walked right through it and never even noticed. We shared the joke with a look at each other and in the direction the spirit moved away.

When the group moved on down the hall she and I decided to stay behind and find out what was going on.

I noticed a laundry cart in the corner by a steel grate. I pulled it out into the light (for some reason) and there was the face of a girl burned into the cloth! Just then, Jan (I'll call her) went kind of glassy eyed! I asked her what was up and she said, "Shhh...she's talking to me!" I got chills...again. She told me the little girl was afraid of men and was drawn to her because she was female and could hear. Just then I felt the two spirits separate and the evil one moved near to me.

Jan the said "She is being held here by a man. I think the man killed her."

The dark one grew think and menacing. I moved toward it to quiet it down. Child killers are the worst, in my oppinion, and I despise spirits who trap others. Especially ones who trap innocent little children.

It backed behind the grating and stood in the darkness. I knelt before the gate and challenged the spirit to not be such a chicken! I pushed at him and he moved toward me, then ran back around the corner into the shadows behind the power breakers.

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It wasn't Jan. I grew very angry and exploded my moved it off of me. My shoulder felt cold and icy, though, still. I got the feeling it wasn't the same spirit.

I stood up and put my hand on the gate.

Jan asked me if I was sure I wanted to do that. I said I had to.

I started to open the gate and the spirit flew at me like a big black curtain...and went through me! I felt a chill wind pass through me. Then it came back through from behind and stopped in front of me. I opened the gat e and walked inside.

I challenged it and it backed away. I walked to where it stood and knelt again. It fled off into the deep shadows again and beconed me. I told it, out loud, that if it thought I was coming in there it was out of it's mind! Then I turned and walked back out to where Jan was standing.

We decided it was time to go and started off to get ready for evening rehearsal.

The next day, as we were packing up to leave, I noticed a black man, in a black suit, with black sunglasses on watching us haul our stuff out to the busses. Every time I walked by him I could feel his eyes follow me.

Later, after I ate, I saw him sitting in the grass watching the football team practice.

I walked up to him and said "hi."

He turned his head and said "HI! It's good to see you again!"

I let it go. I asked him what he was doing sitting out here? He told me that his son was playing football. He asked me about the corps and stuff like that. There was a bible sitting about 3 feet away in front of him.

He told me he had been to his church up the road this morning. That somehow had an od ring to it to me, but I don't know why. He asked me where I was from. I said Louisiana. He said "Oh yes? There is much work down there." I told him that, actually, it was hard to find a job...then I realized he wasn't talking about jobs. He turned and looked at me, still with his shades on, and smiled. I got a serious chill.

The truck's horn blew and I told him I had to go. I stood up and he offered his hand. I took it and said it was nice to meet him. He said, "Yes, it's nice to see you again, Chad."

I was on the bus before I realized I had never told him my name! I jumped out and looked to the field, but he was gone. I got another serious chill. (getting one now!)

Okay, this next part really did happen, but it sounds like a lie.

After I got home from tour, I was driving around with my best friend in her new car. She was very happy about it. Suddenly, I was overcome with chills and spirits sense and I started to tell her to turn here, here, etc....

Then I started to tell her about the story I just wrote down. Suddenly, we were at a stop sign and staring at a burned out building. I could feel the spirits and energy flowing from the place and it was overwhelming me!

She turned left and I watched the place go by. When I looked back to the front, there was a black van in front of us. I asked her where that had come from and she said she didn't know! Then the van slowed and stopped.

We sat behind it for a minute. Then my friend told me that she was getting really scared. I told her to just drive around.

She did, and I looked up at the driver's window. There, smiling back at me, was a black man, in a black coat, with black sunglasses on..at just after midnight!

I told her to step on it and didn't tell her what I had seen until we were almost home. She freaked out and told me she had been terrified by that van and could hardly drive. I can see why!