Abby Tompoles

With the month of October comes spooky costumes, chilling tales of monsters, and ghost stories. Whether a person believe in spirits or not, it can be interesting to listen to the tales of people who have encountered them.
“I was with my friend Rhiannon and we went to explore the outside of an abandoned mansion. We took some pictures just to see if we could get anything in them, but we didn’t look right away. When we looked at the pictures, there was evidence of spirits there, like a face in the window and glowing orbs next to us,” said junior Abby Tompoles.
People don’t often seek out haunted or dangerous places; however, some people choose to in hopes of seeing something out of the ordinary.
“We encountered the ghost at the Schweppe Mansion in Lake Forest, which has been abandoned for decades after the owner’s wife passed away. Charles Schweppe went insane when his wife died and ended up taking his own life in the bedroom he shared with his wife before she died. The face that we believe we saw was the face of Charles Schweppe or a servant that used to work there,” Tompoles said.
Encountering figures from worlds unknown can be a frightening experience. These experiences can also be even scarier when people are surprised by what they find.
“It was a scary experience because we didn’t expect to get any pictures, and we obviously didn’t know what had happened when we were there because we looked at the pictures after we left,” Tompoles said.
Due to the fact that there is controversy of whether ghosts are real or not, many people are hesitant to tell others about their experiences. Nonetheless, some people choose to tell their story to spread awareness and fun to those that are interested.
“Both Rhiannon and I told people of the picture of the face in the window and compared it to another taken at the same spot seconds apart but with no face. Some people saw the face and some people just saw a shape. We told people because we thought it was super interesting that we actually got something after seeing rumors online about other people supposedly seeing someone look out a window into the driveway,” Tompoles said.
While some may say it’s crazy to seek danger once let alone twice, but with the adrenaline rush that comes with horror, many people are eager to seek out spirits on multiple occasions.
“I would attempt to find or meet a spirit again because I think it’s interesting that we’re trying to communicate. I’m fine with trying to find a ghost or spirit as long as it’s not necessarily evil or bad,” Tompoles said.