Kindred Spirits

This has always been a haunted space.

Something more aggressive has come in.

This new thing is escalating.

He just follows me around.

A few experiences, he was right in my face.

You've got a war going on in this building.

Whatever you're after is cocky...

**** you guys.

Stop doing that.

- ...arrogant. - You're the problem.

I don't think you're going to get the entire story.

He's wreaking havoc on this place.

He's not wanted here.

Cut him.

The dead want a voice.

We just want to help this family.

The living need our help.

Have you always been here?

He was watching already.

Well, here we are, Farrar School.

- Right away, I'm just struck by how big it is. - Right.

- And there's only two of us, so... - I know.

...that's going to be a challenge.

I mean this is crazy.

The Farrar School is a famously haunted

abandoned elementary school built in 1922 in Maxwell, Iowa.

While in operation, Farrar was the only option

for several small towns,

busing in children from four neighboring counties,

but fell into disrepair and closed in 2002.

The current owners, Jim and Nancy Oliver,

purchased it, hoping to convert it into an event space,

but it quickly became evident that they were not alone here.

As a result, it's become one of the biggest draws

for paranormal investigation in the country.

We're meeting Will today,

and he's kind of like the caretaker of the place.

The owners, Jim and Nancy, have some health issues,

so he's really the one looking after things here,

and, you know, this has always been a haunted space.

They've been investigating here for years,

but it's been kind of, like, a normal haunting.

Then over the last year-and-a-half or so,

something more dark and aggressive

has kind of come in, and he's genuinely worried.

The owners, Jim and Nancy, actually live on-site,

and Will is very close with them,

and he is concerned for their well-being at this point.

You know, this new thing is escalating,

and that has him worried.

What it sounds like to me is Will has had a good grasp

on what's been happening here for a number of years,

and something else has picked up,

and he may not be able to handle it himself.

- Right, yeah. - Right?

- We have to get to the bottom of it. - Yeah.

- Hey. - Hi. you must be Will.

- Welcome. How are you? - Hi. I'm Amy.

- Nice to meet you. - Hey, Will.

Holy cow.

Dude.

This is a wild space.

This place is just sitting here like they left,

and everything is still --

It was just like the zombie apocalypse happened,

and everybody was gone.

Homework in the desks. - Really?

There was coats in the locker, just nobody around.

Why did it close?

- For the safety of the kids. - Really?

So the building was in disrepair,

and they just wanted to, like, close it down? - Yeah.

Alright, and so building closes

because it's unsafe, and then --

The Olivers bought it, Jim and Nancy Oliver.

Did they notice activity immediately,

or was there activity happening before they bought it?

No, they didn't.

Shortly after they bought it, a local psychic stopped by

and felt there was something going on,

and she urged them to just open it up

to let other people experience apparitions of little girls,

children playing and laughing, shadow figures.

How has it changed recently?

It's gotten a little darker.

When you say "dark," do you mean,

like, are things happening aggressively?

Are people being pushed or touched?

What's the darkness?

I would say taking over.

- Okay. - Yeah, we've had --

The last few events we've had,

we've had to take a few people outside.

Okay, so it seems like

something has kind of moved in here

that's out of the ordinary. - Yes.

It wasn't just the normal kind of benign haunting.

- There's, like -- - Yeah.

I keep hearing bangs.

Yeah, it's weird.

So, I mean...

Welcome to Farrar.

Does that happen a lot, like, the knocks

and the bangs and weird stuff?

Do you want to walk us through and just kind of tell us,

like, the hot spots and some areas

where there's been activity that we should keep in mind?

Sure.

Okay. - Yeah.

Welcome to the third floor.

It's probably the most active floor.

You look down the south hallway, down the south stairs,

you'll see a shadow man come up and meet you.

What does it look like?

It's about the same size as me.

It looks like a man standing there, backlit.

It just comes up and checks you out,

watches you, watches over you.

Is he only seen on this floor?

No, he just follows me around.

A few experiences, he was, like, right in my face.

Wow.

Does he do that to other people, like --

Constantly.

Let's step into the auditorium here.

Along that back wall there, the same shadow man,

he'll go along there and peek around that corner...

...and just stand there and stare at you. - Okay.

What's up here that, I guess, is aggressive?

There's a heavy, heavy darkness, a very tall shadow.

- Not your most spoken of tall shadow men. - Okay.

There's something else that's much darker.

- And this is new? - Yes.

How new?

Within the last year, year-and-a-half.

So very.

How does it interact with people?

Mainly in their head and bodies.

They start feeling sorrow.

They start feeling uneasy, nauseous.

- Really? Okay. - Yes.

And that just happens on the third floor,

or is this happening building-wide?

Everywhere.

Well, we've got Miss Martin's room over here.

Let's check it out.

So, in here, over in that corner,

I seen the tallest shadow figure I've ever seen.

It was so big that it was hunched over

'cause the ceiling was too low.

- Wow. - Wow.

So that's not something native to the building.

No, no, and I hadn't ever seen it before.

Now, to differentiate just between

these two shadow figures, you have a shadow man...

...who is seen at all hours, and he's a tall man... -

...and then you also have this large, darker shadow figure,

the one that, like, can't even stand up in the room

without hunching over?

How long ago did this big,

hunched-over shadow figure appear?

October.

- Okay. - Recent comparatively.

- Right. - Yeah.

What are you hoping for us to accomplish while we're here?

Well, I'm hoping you figure out what it is.

I'm really concerned about the owners, Jim and Nancy,

and their well-being.

With their health and everything,

she kind of stays in the room.

And they don't venture out.

Right, and I'm really concerned about their safety.

Yeah, for sure.

You have something that is extremely tall

that causes these weird feelings for people,

that causes this aggressive activity,

and that's the thing that we need to focus on.

It is in our best interest to find out who it is,

why it's here, and does it have

the potential of becoming violent?

Can you try tilting it up a little bit more?

I don't anticipate that that very large,

tall entity is going to come right out and say hi to us,

but other spirits here could give us information to lead us

as to who or what this thing is and what's changed.

He sees that guy in the hallway first.

Maybe we start in the hallway...

- Yeah, we can. - ...see where it leads us.

Our SLS camera can spot things the naked eye can't,

even giant shadow figures.

If there's anything roaming the halls like

Will said, we're going to find it.

Here, let's sit here and look down this hallway.

Hello?

Did you see us earlier with Will?

Are you willing to come out and talk to us?

Do you want to step out and let us see you?

That was very loud.

That was almost, like...

- Footsteps. - Yeah.