Ghosts Among Us - James Van Praagh [52]
That cold November night in the outdoor broom closet was not the first time I had hidden away. The routine seemed to be happening a lot. I wanted to tell someone about the things that I could see. I don’t know why I didn’t, but in a way it was “our” secret, and I felt that if I had disclosed what I saw, I might be harmed in some way. No one else was able to see what I could, and half of the time the other kids thought I was just plain crazy. Hiding was my only solace.
Suddenly the door to the outdoor closet opened.
“What in the world are you doing in here? You could have frozen to death!” Brother Martin shouted. “Now get to the dorm and make your bed. Hurry up!”
It was seven in the morning. I must have dozed off between the brooms and the rakes. I was fourteen years old and a student at Eymard Catholic Preparatory Seminary. Instead of attending high school, I had decided to become a priest. I was still not sure about my decision, but I thought if I could go to school in a beautiful setting instead of being stuck in a filthy city, then I was all for it. Eymard Seminary was in a pristine location along the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library bordered it on the south, and the Vanderbilt Mansion sat at the northern edge of the property. Actually, the seminary was once the Vanderbilts’ hunting lodge.
The moment my father and mother dropped me off at Eymard that first Sunday in September 1972 I knew something didn’t feel right. As soon as my eyes gazed upon the facade of the mammoth stone structure, I felt as if I were choking. Suddenly I heard a woman’s piercing scream. I turned to my parents and pleaded, “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go here anymore.”
“Do you know the sacrifices we made in order for you to attend this school?” my father said. My mother did her best to calm me. “It’s normal to feel scared the first time you leave home.”
“Okay,” I said with some hesitation. I just had to suck it up.
The inside of the mansion was just as menacing as the outside. It looked like something right out of a Vincent Price horror movie, only it wasn’t a movie set and I had to live in it. As I walked around the main foyer, I noticed floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows that cast colorful shadows on the highly polished, rich mahogany floor. The walls were paneled in dark wood. A wide, wooden staircase loomed over the center of the foyer. I could imagine the owners making a regal entrance as they walked down the stairs to the waiting guests below. I felt as if the hunting lodge was a museum consumed by an overwhelming sense of sadness.
The brothers came out to greet the freshman group and to escort us to a third-floor dormitory. As we ascended the massive staircase, I noticed that the walls were carved in scenes of hunters cutting the hides of their fresh kills. Perfect. At the top of the first floor was a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It seemed so out of place in this house of horrors. I looked over the stairs at the living room below and saw three shadowy figures flee into an adjacent room. I stopped in my tracks and stared.
“Keep moving, James,” said Brother Joe. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up the steps.
“Who are those people?” I asked.
“What people?”
“The lady in a gray dress and a young boy. They were walking in the back of the living room.”
Brother Joe ushered the other boys into the dormitory. Then he bent down and said in a hushed but firm tone, “This is a place of God. We don’t allow any nonsense here. You make sure to keep your thoughts holy. Get in your room.”
I entered the dorm. It was basically a long hall extending the length of the house with several side rooms and bathrooms. It looked like a converted attic.
“Hi, I’m James,” I said to a few of the boys. They just nodded and grunted “hi” back. I noticed that I was the shortest one there, so I felt awkward and somewhat self-conscious. My bed was at the end of the hall on the right. Steve was in the bed next to me. At first, Steve was nice to me, but as time went by he would