by David Hermanson, Staff Writer, October 2021

It is officially spooky season. With Halloween just around the corner, the time has come for students to find themselves terrified by not only their incoming quarterly grades but all sorts of monsters, ghouls, and ghosts as well. In the spirit of this holiday, The Nobleman has sought out the most spine-chilling stories from the student body to demonstrate our community’s experiences with the supernatural. After all, how can we all collectively cower in fear without a horror legend of our own? What good is Halloween without some sort of spookalicious ghost story?  

The answer, it seems, is “good enough” for most. Few people could recall personal experiences with the supernatural, and a majority scoffed at the question itself. However, as it turns out, Halloween has been saved this year. While more stories may be out there, one person in particular has made up for the average lack of supernatural connection at school: Lydia Gatnik (Class II). For Gatnik, mysterious ghost stories run in spades. In fact, from an outside perspective, it looks like she is living in one. Residing in the house of a former orphanage, it seems, has that effect. 

“I live kind of in the middle of the woods,” Gatnik said, beginning her tale. “[My house] is from the 1800s.” Gatnik added, “It was an orphanage for teenage boys.”
As if living in a former orphanage was not impressive enough, Gatnik goes on to explain that she believes she interacts with three spiritual beings on a semi-regular basis, the first of which are a creepy old man and an ominous young boy. However, while all these beings serve to spice up the life around her home, the third and most reliable spiritual partner for her these days remains the teenage boy that runs just outside her kitchen window each night

“Every single night around the same time for the past three years that we’ve lived here […] I always just see this kid running by just outside the kitchen window,” Gatnik said. She added, “I don’t know if I’m trying to imagine it because I want it to be real but I swear to god every single night, same time, if I’m down there I see a kid running by.”

Gatnik at this point clarifies that she is aware that most will not believe her. In fact, at first, she didn’t believe what she saw herself. Gatnik explains, “At first I thought I was literally going insane and I didn’t want to say anything to people […] but one night I randomly was talking to my mom and she brought it up and she said ‘you know it’s so weird, I always think that I see someone running by the kitchen window’ and I was like ‘Uhm alright? Great. So that’s not in my imagination.’”

Yet, rather than immediately moving away as far as possible and burning the house down for good measure, Gatnik lives life as if nothing dramatic has happened. For Gatnik, these experiences don’t inspire a sense of fear. While many in her situation would run screaming, Gatnik finds herself accepting her spooky circumstance. “At first I was scared because I’m a pretty jumpy person, but now I’m like ‘that’s my best friend.’ It’s every night! I’m used to it I guess.” Gatnik continues, “I kind of just take it as it is” 

This spookalicious season I think we could all apply Gatnik’s advice and mindset and take what has been given to us as it is. Regardless of your beliefs, Halloween serves as a time for everyone to connect over a shared fascination of that which mystifies and scares us. While for Gatnik these connections may surpass the physical world, the rest of us can do our best to simply enjoy our time together back here on Earth. 

Stay safe Nobles, and stay spooky.