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Show Me Paranormal ~ Featured Haunted Blog ~ America's Most Haunted Schools This special featured blog, first entry, is written by a prior fellow team member of another paranormal group, and Show Me Paranormal has chosen it to be featured on our site so others can continue to enjoy Delta's writings. We thank Delta for her leading all members out in this project like she did, and her effort and enthusiasm when she took on this project. Footsteps, doors creaking, and running water are some of the many unexplained happenings that we will come in contact with, as we take our journey through the Haunted Schools of America. The history of abuse, neglect and murder in some of our very own American schools, past and present, will appall you. The eerie tales of those who now haunt within those walls will intrigue, fascinate and maybe even frighten. So come join us in our journey. We hope you enjoy the history and the haunts of these schools as much as we do. THE LADD SCHOOL THE HISTORY - Founded in 1907 by Dr. William Gleason, Chairman of the Providence School Committee, the Rhode Island School for the Feeble Minded was established as a farm colony in Exeter, RI, modeled after the then Massachusettes School for the Feeble Minded, better known today as the Fernald State Institution in Waltham, MA. It's original purpose was for the schooling of mentally retarded as well as socially and morally delinquent individuals, in domestic sciences, factory and farm work, for their eventual integration into public society, by their placement in foster homes and work programs. Admittees were usually youths, committed to the institution by their parents at the suggestion of a doctor, a school teacher, or by order of a judge in juvenile court in the wake of unlawful infractions. Oftentimes, in the institutions earliest decades, adolescents of relatively normal intelligence were admitted to the Exeter School for such behaviors as sexual promiscuity (resulting, usually, in illegetimate pregnancy), hyperactivity, epilepsy, truancy from school, physical handicaps, and other perceived and decided 'defects' as dictated by the times. Despite increasingly inadequate funding and staffing, the Exeter School population grew exponentially for several decades, resulting in severe overcrowding. As the institution continued to expand in both size and number, it evolved to serve an entirely different purpose than that for which it was originally established, serving rather for the long-term custodial care of the mildly and severly retarded. Gradually losing sight of it's function as an educational facility, the Exeter School increasingly adopted a stance more akin to that of a penal institution rather than an educational one, enforcing strict policies governing the detention, parole, and discharge of it's residents, or 'inmates' as they were then called by all accounts. Such policies as were enforced for more than half a century came under public scrutiny in the mid-1950's amid allegations of abuse and medical neglect, raised to public awareness by the Exeter School's first documented murder case in 1955, resulting in the forced retirement of Dr. Joseph Ladd less than a year later. Dr. Ladd was not only Exeter School's first and founding Superintendent, but - until this time at least - was also the institutions only liscened doctor. The population of Exeter School at this time was more than 900. It wasn't long before Dr. Ladd's successor, Dr. John Smith, formerly of the Waterbury, Connecticut Training School for the Feebleminded, came also under scrutiny - this time, by the leaders of various State welfare organizations that had since come to play a greater role in the institutions administration by way of legislative bills and government mandates. Though under pressure from both hearings held before legislative bodies and picket lines formed by disgruntled institution workers demanding higher salaries and improved working conditions, Dr. Smith weathered well the days of the Civil Rights movement. Refusing to retire amid a barrage of accusations charging the institution's adminitration with misappropriated funds and continued medical negligence, Dr. Smith held his ground, seeing the Exeter School - now called the Ladd Center - peak at a populance of over 1,000 inmates in the late 1960's. Finally, in 1977, a State appointed commission of Doctors discovered the appalling conditions existent at the Ladd Center dental clinic, blowing the doors open on a legacy of physical abuse and medical negligence, resulting in a class action lawsuit against the State of Rhode Island by an organization called the Ladd School Parents Association. In the months to follow, Dr. Smith was releived of his position as Superintendent, and The Ladd Center was ordered by a Federal judge to dramatically reduce it's population to exceed no more than 335 in the ensuing decade. By this time, several organizations had begun to rise to the occasion of establishing a network of group facilities for the relocation of Ladd residents throughout the State of Rhode Island. Meanwhile, the institutions population dwindled, but slowly, missing two deadlines in the course of twenty years in the aim of closing the door forever on the institutionalization of the developmentally disabled. In 1986, Rhode Island Governor Edward DiPrete once and for all announced the closing of the Ladd School, and, in the wake of continuing reports of negligence and abuse, the institution closed its doors for good eight years later, in 1994. During the 87 years of its operation, Rhode Island's School for the Feeble Minded - the Ladd School - called itself home to more 5,000 unfortunate souls. Though records exist documenting some cases, nobody will ever truly know how many there suffered. The Ladd School left behind it a legacy of horrors; yet even today, this legacy lives on in those who are the former denizens of Ladd's dark past. They are the last tragic refugees of a dark chapter in Rhode Island history that has yet to close. HAUNTINGS AT THE LADD SCHOOL THE POOL The therapeutic pool building is home to several strange phenomena, including shuffling footsteps that can be heard but with no source. Cold spots can be felt throughout the building, and often voices are heard. The structure known as the Howe Building is host to other whisperers as well. LOCKED DOORS There are also doors that, though not possessing a locking mechanism, are nonetheless locked. PATIENTS ROOMS There have also been reports of strange noises, animalistic growling, coming from the patients' rooms. Closer investigation, however, proves the rooms to be completely empty. FOGARTY BUILDING The cylindrical Fogarty Building houses phantom footsteps, the clicking of the heels and brisk pace lead people to believe they belong to one of the hospital administrators rather than an inmate. Also the voices heard in other buildings are also experienced here, but in this building the voices are those of children. Check back often for more Featured haunted schools.

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