MV Haunted History: Moapa Valley High School

By NICK YAMASHITA

Moapa Valley Progress

The whisperings of chants echoing down the 200 hallway, the stomping of someone going up and down in the theater, voices murmuring in the locker rooms, and the showers turning on all by themselves. Again, as we approach Halloween, we take a look at another place in town that has some fame of being haunted…… Moapa Valley High School.

The current Moapa Valley High School is a relatively new building. It was constructed in time for the school year of 1993-94. The alumni class of 1997 were the first ones to go all 4 years of high school on the campus. But it was almost immediately recognized that there may be something superstitious there.

“I have lots of stories about weird and haunted things happening at the school,” stated Kenna (Dalley) Higgins who was part of that 1997 class. While going to school there, she was heavily involved in the theater program. In years past, Dalley taught theatre at the school and has recently returned to teach English at the high school.

Most of Dalley’s stories involve the school’s theater and in the nearby 200 Hallway; a place where, as a drama instructor, she has spent many late nights.

Dalley referred to several MVHS students who told interesting stories of strange happenings in the theatre.

Former theater student Ravyn Davidson stated that, while in the theatre sound box alone working on light shows for the plays, she heard someone run up and down the stairs constantly. But no one was there. Ravyn firmly believes the theater has a ghost.

Several other former theater students confirmed similar happenings. Others reported instances of lighting equipment falling down onto the stage, and of props being broken or destroyed.

Retired Special Education teacher Bonnie Getz, remembers walking the hallway down by the band room in the 200 hallway and hearing sounds and noises unlike anything she had heard before.

A former Home Economics teacher, Pat Grow had evidently related a story to several people about listening to ghostly conversations down the 200 hallway.

But the 200 hallway isn’t the only spot where haunted happenings have occurred. Former MVHS athletes and Physical Education students have told about hearing people talking in the locker rooms. But when they went around the corner to see, there was no one there. Another common paranormal experience reported in the locker rooms was shower mysteriously turning on all by themselves. More than a dozen former students have reported experiencing the spooky showers.

The most widely told story, though, is from people who report seeing a shadowy figure on quiet nights at the school. This dark figure is said to appear and has a tendency to follow people around, even passing through walls and fences. Then the figure suddenly disappears.

Moapa Valley High School is listed on several paranormal websites including Haunted Nevada, Ghost Quest, and about a dozen more. According to the websites, the paranormal activities are attributed to Native American burial grounds alleged to have existed in the area. The UNLV Archaeological Department did several Native American digs nearby in the sand hills around the high school, but there was no mention of human remains being found in that area; only historical relics and other similar items.

Even so, the websites claim that, because these alleged burial sites were disturbed, it has brought about spirits that continue to haunt the hallways and campus of Moapa Valley High School.