This Abandoned Schoolhouse and Cemetery in Bucksport Tells A Real-Life Ghost Story
Get ready for the goosebumps. When you read the history about an abandoned schoolhouse and neighboring cemetery in Bucksport, Maine, it feels as though you've just read the back cover of a Stephen King novel. A schoolhouse that taught priests? A cemetery that holds the secrets of the "Red Paint" people? You can't make this stuff up.
The schoolhouse pictured is actually known as Wilson Hall to local residents. It was built in 1850 as a seminary for those practicing the methodist religion. The school remained operational until 1933. The hall was then purchased by the Roman Catholic Oblate Fathers who operated their own seminary until 1971. Since then, the property lay dormant. According to the Bangor Daily News, the interior of the building has been gutted and has suffered severe water damage. Some residents are hopeful of restoring the building, you can follow their efforts here via Facebook.
The schoolhouse isn't the only part of this creepy equation. According to the New England Historical Society, the graveyard next to Wilson Hall is one that belonged to the "Red Paint" people. Very little details are known about the Red Paint people other than the fact they inhabited Maine somewhere between 2000 and 6000 years ago. Their graveyards are rare, with existing sites only found in Alamoosook Lake, Ellsworth and Bucksport. Harvard archaeologist Charles Moorehead declared the Red Paint people existed in Maine prior to most Native American tribes.
Wilson Hall is located on the north side of Franklin Street on the outskirts of Bucksport. It is not open to the public to be toured. The Red Paint people cemetery is adjacent to Wilson Hall on McDonald Street.
So what do you get when you pair an abandoned seminary for priests and missionaries along with an abandoned graveyard filled with remains of people who are a true mystery to the modern day human? Real-life history. Amazing.