Even though the name is Mt. Delight Road, there’s a particular establishment along the side that makes it anything but “delightful.” It’s the little red schoolhouse from 1808.

Every evening on my way home from a long work day, my ride home and I pass a little red schoolhouse, built in 1808, with a sign out front reading: “Ghosts are gone, go away!”

As told by two mediums from New Hampshire Tour Guides, the eerie legend of the red schoolhouse dates back to the nineteenth century, circa the 1830s.

There were allegedly six children who were reported to be abused everyday after school then killed by a man named Benjamin and a woman whose first name begins with an “M.”

According to Epsom town records, there was a Benjamin and Mary buried in the cemetery in the schoolhouse’s front yard, but there is no evidence linking them to the crime nor is there evidence that they taught at the school.

In the records, there was no information on the deaths that may or may not have occurred in the schoolhouse, although according to Epsom town records, there was an increase of children’s deaths due to the whooping cough in that general time period.

Then there was the fire.

In 1833, the schoolhouse burned down and was rebuilt and reopened the next year. Currently, the school house stands vacant.

Due to the rumors that the little red schoolhouse is haunted, multiple occurrences of trespassing and property damages, such as broken windows and locks, have been reported. The perpetrators are largely people trying to witness paranormal activity. 

The New Hampshire Tour Guide mediums said that when they were in the schoolhouse, the temperature dropped substantially and it “felt like they were being watched.”

No one will ever know exactly what happened in the little red schoolhouse. Ghost-hunters will likely continue to camp out in the woods behind the schoolhouse to try and take a peek inside for something spooky to look back. I wouldn’t dare do so.

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