Time is a Flat Circle
As a God-fearing man who occasionally will drop a George Washington into the collection bin, I can say this: the Catholic church has its flaws. We all do, though. We stumble, we fall, and then get back up, this time a little wiser than before.
Sometimes, however, their ‘stumbles’ are heretical warfare that results in widespread torture, bloodshed, and death. The Catholic Church will dip its toe into a pool so red, the events recorded get an entire 68 pages in a Pearson textbook. The methods of mutilation are studied and marveled at in equal disgust and awe. Monty Python said it best, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.”
This instance here is not as convoluted and frowned upon, BUT still by no means should it ever occur.
Tragedy in Leo Season
In Goshen, NY once lay a gentleman’s home turned school. For boys. Catholic boys. Taught by the Salesian Fathers. Not looking so good already, huh.
Well as a former altar boy myself, I resonate with these children. The hushed, worried whispers and incessant questioning from adults, “Did he ever… It’s okay if… Don’t suppress these types of…” Hopefully these children can say these two letters as proudly as I can: N-O-. I wasn’t a cute enough kid.
But I digress. The history of this school is much more sinister in an entirely different way. Tragedy struck on August 9th, 1964, when a nine-year old boy plunged to his death. He had fallen 36ft off of the roof of the school. No suspicion of foul play was reported by the coroner at the time. However, in 2003, the town reopened the case for further investigation.
Cold Cases
After a reexamination of the scene, it was reported that the boy, Paul, had landed suspiciously far from the side of the building. His accidental death began to look less and less like an accident.
Unfortunately, the case was never solved. It was the result of a recalcitrant staff, along with a fire in the school in 1970. The fire had engulfed any records that could even begin to point to a suspect. Paul and his family were unable to get the closure they deserved.
It’s no surprise that paranormal events were reported at the school. There were ghost sightings reported on the grounds, but none indicating that it could be the spirit of the boy. The Salesian School was eventually abandoned in 1991 and bulldozed to the ground of Summer 2022.
Catholic Altar Ego
We had the opportunity to explore these grounds before the entire place was reduced to rubble. We never made it to the inside of this crime scene because of some decrepit maw watching us. Like a goddamn hawk, if the hawk had cataracts. Her hardly keen eyes, along with her bulldog shaped similarly to her, kept us honest citizens that day. Instead, we hopped in the White ’97 Volvo V90 and continued up to an abandoned women’s prison.
While we never saw the inside, the outside had a quiet and ominous air to it.
I couldn’t decide if it was the stone altar in the grotto that made my hair stand on its ends, or the fucking polished-clean deer skull atop it. What business did it have there? What pour soul was stripped flesh-to-bone because some maniac was practicing witchcraft? Is this the work of an altar boy less fortunate than I was?
It also seems as if the bird bones below may have been the work of a buffalo wing eating expert. Maybe the host of Hot Ones Sean Evans? Or maybe it was the work of Paul’s bully, whom the cops were never able to track down after August 9th, 1964.
