haunted school ,

the funny thing about history ...

Back in the early sixteenth century, Trenton Castle was constructed by one Lord James Trenton, obviously. Back then those lords and ladies were rather self-centred. He was a wealthy man with far too much time on his hands, so he and his wife Lady Catherine Trenton had to do something to take up some time. Of course, they played croquet and ordered their servants around like any other self-respecting wealthy people back then, but then, one fateful day, Lady Trenton stumbled upon a book in the notable Trenton Library.

It wasn't just any regular storybook, though. This one was about raising people from the dead, and the occult, and ghosts.

Curious, she and her husband thought it would be a clever idea to do a sort of "experiment," so to speak. Lord Trenton's brother, a general in the Scottish army, had been killed recently by those British tyrants. So, the two schemed to bring him back to the living world, unaware of all the trouble it could cause. On October 31st, the two lit three candles and performed a seance. All they wanted to do was bring General George Trenton back to life, but their innocent intentions went suddenly wrong. The General's ghost, or so it seemed, ordered a sacrifice in his name. He said that he required at least one hundred souls in order to return his unharmed body to the world of the living.

Now, to Lord Trenton, this seemed like a completely insane idea. Who in their right mind would slaughter one hundred people in order to bring one person back to life? Lady Trenton, on the other hand, thought differently. She and the General had a secret love affair going on before his death, and she was irrevocably in love with him. When he had died, she had been crushed. Of course, she couldn't show it, because otherwise the Lord Trenton would get her beheaded or something else horrible like that. The only remotely desirable thing about her current husband, besides his potbelly and seven chins, was his fortune. His brother, though, with his svelte figure and romantic poetry, was much more attractive.

And so, the Lady Catherine proceeded with her plan in secret. Every couple of days, someone from the nearby village would disappear, never to return again. Catherine would drag them into the forest behind the castle, and for every dead body put into the river, she would scratch another tally mark into a nearby tree.

After one year exactly, Lady Catherine had slaughtered one hundred people with her bare hands. On October 31st, yet again she performed a seance, alone this time. She spoke to the General, and told him that she had fulfilled his challenge. The ghostly voice sent chills up her spine as he spoke. "Thank you, Catherine," he said with a sneer, "You have provided me with an army, and you will be my queen ..."

The next morning, Lady Catherine was found dead on her floor.

With this horrible discovery, the castle was quickly evacuated before any more damage could be done. Every table, chair, rug, and painting was taken away, and it was sealed from the outside to prevent any of the spirits from leaving. As he watched his castle disappear over the horizon, Lord Trenton couldn't help but feel a foreboding sickness in the pit of his stomach ...

---

... it always repeats itself.

In 1890, Trenton Academy was formed. The founder of the school, Wilfred Hampshire, discovered the old abandoned castle and thought it would be a brilliant plate to start a boarding school. The man was a bit of a crackpot, but he obtained the necessary funding and the school began accepting students in 1894. In short time, the school became one of the most prestigious boarding schools in all of Great Britain, even more than their rivals from southern England. Many of the future Prime Ministers, Lords, and high-powered barristers and doctors attended the school, and after sent their children in the same direction as themselves.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hampshire died in the early 1930's, and the school began to go downhill from there. A few Headmasters mysteriously disappeared during World War II, but popular belief just cited that they had been called away to serve in the Army suddenly. Enrolment started to stall, and the grand school faded away into near-obscurity. Fortunately, there were still enough students to keep the school running smoothly, so the board saw no reason to shut it down.

That was the story. At least, until a couple of years ago.

The forest outside of Trenton Academy had always been restricted because of dangerous cliffs and rickety trees, but since it was a boarding school kids often snuck in with no real difficulty. During a fateful game of Truth or Dare, one particular student was dared to go into the forest. Davey Hollnicker was pressed by his classmates to go in, and being the noble and popular boy he was, of course he went. As he reached the dark core of the forest, he heard a creaking noise behind him. Quickly, he swivelled around to see what it was ...

Two days later, the school was in an uproar. Davey Hollnicker was missing, and police had been called in to search for him. A bloodhound managed to track down his trail, and the authorities found his dead body in the forest several hours later. The entire student body and staff were in mourning, and the mood of the castle was somber. Some students, though, wondered how he had been killed. The story that was circulating was that he had stumbled on a rock and cracked his head, but that was completely implausible because Davey was one of the most coordinated athletes that Trenton had ever fielded.

And then, at a school dance, a boy named Adrian Oxford suddenly just dropped dead as well. The staff accredited this death to a heart attack, but some students knew better. This was no accident. Something was happening, and they had to figure out exactly what was going on, or else they were all doomed.

It was later discovered that Davey was a ghost, still haunting the grounds of Trenton Academy; however, he had changed. No longer was he the rosy-cheeked, cheerful fifteen-year old boy who was friends with everyone. Now, he was power-hungry, and malicious, and cruel. He would do anything to see the students at the school suffer. What caused the change was unknown, but now Adrian was his little sidekick and minion, and the two of them were wreaking havoc on the boarding school.

A group of students decided that enough was enough one day, and decided that they had to bring Davey down. He was causing too much pain and anguish, and since Headmaster Albino had turned a blind eye to the situation, they made up their minds to stop it. They dubbed themselves as The Ghostbusters. After many misadventures, like holding their own seances, burning down forests, and attempted suicides to try and kill Davey, they just seem to be digging up more questions than they can answer.

Besides being in peril whenever inside the school, they've also got to deal with the usual teenage angst that happens in boarding school. With all that and more, it's obvious why everyone at Trenton Academy is going slightly crazy. It is a HAUNTED SCHOOL, after all.