Mr Scraggly Walks The Halls

Mr Scraggly, spindly and tall. Mr Scraggly walks the halls. If Mr Scraggly was found to like you then Mr Scraggly would surely find you.

Or at least, that’s how the story goes. The story of Mr Scraggly has been told to every kid in my town for who knows how long as one of those scary stories that the old timers tell their children to keep them from running off and making fools of themselves. Basically it’s our town’s version of The Boogie Man.

There’s an old abandoned boarding school, the Jackson School, that is just on the outside of town, and supposedly has someone roaming the halls at night hunting any kids dumb enough to trespass. That someone is dubbed, Mr Scraggly. Pretty straightforward right? Well, it’s not as straightforward as it should be. No one can keep their story straight on who or what Mr Scraggly actually is. Some say he came from an old run down circus, some say he’s a serial killer that escaped from a nearby psych ward, some say he’s an old Indian curse placed upon the school, and some say he’s a townsfolk’s mutated baby that they left in the woods. From lizard people to aliens, the stories always seem to get more wild with every generation. Sometimes Mr Scraggly is a man. Sometimes he’s a spider-like creature. The stories even differ on what happens when he gets you. The only true consistencies are that Mr Scraggly has long limbs, walks through the halls of the Jackson School, will try to find you if you enter said school, and as the name suggests he looks quite scraggly. Whatever that means.

In spite of the legend, over the years it has become a bit of a tradition for the students of my old high school to break into the old Jackson School where Mr Scraggly is said to roam. Everyone had to do it at least once just to mess around and say that they did. Sex, drugs, vandalism, trespassing, acting like idiots. Everything that stupid teens do, myself included, without parental supervision. All that is to say that everyone has their own story of Mr Scraggly, and now that you’re all caught up, this one’s mine.

***

It was late in the hot Oklahoma spring, and the night before senior skip day. My friends all thought it would be a perfect night to explore the Jackson Boarding School because we figured the local cops would be more prepared the next day. That is if they would even care at all. The logic wasn’t wrong. I wish it was, but it wasn’t.

No Police at all. It was just my friends and I that night. There were five of us after the three of us, Claire, Daniel, and I met with our two other friends, Jeremy and Emma, outside the school in a fit of boredom.
Jeremy was, well let’s face it. A bit of a douche. Not in a bad way. He was one of my closest friends for years, and despite his douchiness we as a group all loved the guy. Along with everyone else that knew him. Basically he was the stereotypical popular kid with an annoyingly high amount of charisma that made it hard not to love him.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Daniel who was, how do I put this politely? A little basic. Boring. A stick in the mud. Not to any fault of his own, but to the fault of his parents being the most helicoptery parents to have ever helicoptered. I’m sure you get the picture because we all know that type of overbearing family. Still, Daniel was great in his own way, and had the added benefit of having a car. He also gave into peer pressure easily enough that we could get him to join in on our wild adventures. In this case, casual trespassing.

Claire was never really close to any of us except Daniel, but she still liked to hang around with our group. She mostly just stood to the side watching and laughing without adding much until she decided to hit us with a snarky remark, but still, she fit in well. We liked having her.

And last but not least, there was Jeremiah’s sister, Emma. I’m sure you’ll see how I felt about her as the story goes on, but just like most high school crushes go, it didn’t pan out. In short though, she was my world.

***

The five of us all managed to sneak out under the guise of fake concert plans. I’m sure my parents knew I was lying, but they didn’t mention anything before Daniel picked me up. Claire and I were in Daniel’s car as he took us to the road outside the Jackson School. “Here we are, guys. Who are we betting is first to get caught by Mr Scraggly?” Daniel said jokingly while looking at Claire and I.

I stepped out of Daniel’s car, and onto the road where I took a deep breath of the muggy late night air. The school was just a short walk away standing behind a tall chain link fence. The school was a large three story brick and wood building with weathered white paint. Upon seeing it, it obviously wasn’t designed to look comfortable. Even on the first floor, the windows were slightly raised in a way that was more suited for a prison than for a school. While I was taking in the surroundings, I answered Daniel’s question. “Honestly, probably you.” I said, giving him a teasing look that said “I’m sorry.”

Claire got out of Daniel’s car, and stretched her arms up in the air while she answered. “Yeah, I think he’s right. You’re the one with the car keys after all.” Claire gave a playful smile to Daniel which caused Daniel to smile with his hand raised and finger pointed as he was ready to retort, but he didn’t get a chance before we heard a familiar voice coming from the side of the road in front of us.

“It’s about time you guys got here!” Jeremiah called out. Claire, Daniel, and I looked over to see Jeremiah and Emma walking in our direction.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we could have walked the whole building three times before you guys got here,” Emma said in a teasing manner.

I crossed my arms, and tilted my head to Emma. “Uh huh. You guys just got here didn’t you?” I asked smugly.

Emma placed her hands on her hips and smirked. “Actually, we got here four minutes ago thank you very much.”

“Ah, you poor thing!” I said. “I’m sorry to keep you both waiting, ma lady.” Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”

As Emma and Jeremiah stop next to the rest of us, Emma says “I’ll forgive you. Just this once of course.”

Now I was the one smirking. After having lost myself in Emma’s eyes, I pulled myself together, and looked around at the rest of the group. “Is everyone ready?”

“Oh yeah,” says Jeremiah, turning on an annoyingly bright flashlight in Daniels eyes. “I was practically born ready! Do you not know who you’re talking to?”

“No, we know,” says Daniel, squinting and covering his eyes. “Just trying to forget that you exist. And weren’t you born premature?”

“Ha! I was just eager.” Jeremiah walks up to Daniel laughing before patting him on the shoulder and handing him a flashlight. “Glad they drug you along bud.”

Daniel grabs the light from Jeremiah. “That makes one of us because I still don’t know if I am.”

“It’ll be fine.” Emma says to Daniel. She looks at me before handing me a flashlight. “Are you ready?”

I flicked on the flashlight, and pointed the light menacingly beneath my chin. “Let’s go find Mr Scraggly.”

***

“Who’s going first?” Asks Jeremiah while looking around at the group. He’s holding up an out of place corner on the bottom edge of the tall wire fence to create an opening.

“Is there not another way in?” Daniel asks Jeremiah. “Preferably one that doesn’t involve me crawling on the cold dirt?”

I chimed in. “Well, unless you have a pair of bolt cutters on you, you can always climb the fence.”

“Ooo. I guess it’s been decided who’s going first. Over or under Danny boy?” Emma asks as she smacks Daniel on the butt.

Daniel looks up and down the fence before letting out an audible breathy sigh. “Fine. Under it is.” Daniel lowers himself to the ground, and starts to mumble something under his breath while he belly crawls under the raised area of the fence.

“Atta boy Daniel!” Shouts Jeremiah, clearly pleased with himself. “Claire, you up?”

Claire covers her head with the hood of her sweater, so as not to let it or her hair get caught on the fence. “You better not let that drop on me Jeremiah.”

“Ye of little faith. I wouldn’t dream of it.” Jeremiah gives a wink in the direction of Emma and I. The temptation he felt to let the fence drop on Claire simply because of her comment was nerve-wrackingly obvious, but he stayed his hand. “Emma?” Jeremiah asks, queuing his sister up next.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Emma elbows me in the shoulder. “Enjoy the show.” Emma then gets on her stomach, and starts to crawl to the opposite side of the fence.

“Then there were two.” Jeremiah rises to his feet, and stands by my side before talking to the group in his usual teasing voice. “See you guys later, we’re gonna go grab something to eat.”

Emma pipes up. “Be sure to get me an extra order of get your sorry butts over here before I come back to kick them over.”

“Do you think that comes with fries?” Claire playfully asks Daniel.

I walk to the fence to pull it up for Jeremiah to crawl under. “I guess they’re not hungry.”

Jeremiah dives on his stomach to crawl through the fence. “That’s good because I am hungry for adventure.” Jeremiah’s statement is followed by three boos from the other side of the fence before he makes it across. Once he reaches the other side, he relieves me of my duty, and grabs the fence once again. “Your turn. Don’t get stuck.”

“You made it under, so I think I’ll manage,” I said before I lowered myself to the ground. It was chilled under the night sky, and the grass slightly damp. I crawled my way through the opening while feeling the wire brush my shoulders as I moved, and when I stood back up to pat the dirt and grass off of my clothes, I saw a figure briefly move past one of the windows of the school. “Did you guys see that?” I said pointing up to where I saw the figure.

“Oh yeah, that’s just Mr Scraggly.” Jeremiah says looking in the direction that I’m pointing despite there obviously being nothing there anymore.

“Oh great! He’s already scared,” says Emma putting her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry wittle one. I’ll protect you.”

“That is a shock. I thought Daniel would be the first to get scared,” says Claire.

“I too thought Daniel would be the first to get scared,” says Daniel noticeably trembling as he looks at the school.

I forced out a laugh. “Okay, fine. I bet it was just an animal anyway. I looked around at the high windows, and boarded doors of the old school. “So, how exactly do we plan to get in?”

Jeremiah steps forward and turns to face the whole group with a smile on his face. “That’s the fun part.”

***

“The basement?” Claire asks while we all stand in line looking at the old battered door at the side of the school building. “You want us to go into the basement?”

Emma points to the broken window about ten feet above us. “Over or under Claire?”

“Well, whichever we decide, I am not going first this time,” Daniel says, visibly trembling.

I won’t lie. I had to take a good breath to ease my nerves before I said “I went last when we crawled under the fence. Looks like this time I’m up first.” None of the group stopped me as I stepped forward, turned on my flashlight, and raised the basement door. “Bravo six, going dark.”

“Good luck soldier,” says Emma. I glanced in her direction to see her saluting me as I took my first steps into the basement.

The group all filed in behind me while we entered the cramped enclosure. The basement air was dusty and stale to the point my nose got dry. Damaged old school desks are scattered across the floor as well as splintered old bookcases and used metal furnaces, and as I point my flashlight around I can make out the glistening of spiderwebs throughout the old furniture in the brick laden room. “Well if this place isn’t haunted I don’t know what place is.”

“Yeahhh,” says Emma in a really drawn out tone. “It definitely fits the vibe.”

“I hate to be a buzzkill,” says Daniel, “but we’re more likely to find tetanus than a ghost or Mr Scraggly in this mess.”

“A dead rat also seems likely,” says Jeremiah pointing his light around the room until he finds a beaten old staircase. “There,” Jeremiah says pointed before leading the way.

As we walked up the steps, every bit of the wood creaked under our weight, and every step felt like we were moving through a fun house because of the warping of the old wood which caused the boards beneath us to be smooth at weird places and tilted or angled in others.

We soon reached the top step to find a door that opened with ease. Based on the broken lock, it was probably from the damage done by other “urban explorers” like us trying to get into the school over the years. I slowly crept the door open, and peeked my head through into the eerily empty hallways. Beside me I could hear the giddy voice of Jeremiah say “Mr Scraggly. We’ve come to play.”

***

“So, Jeremiah. Where to next?” I asked as the group gathered into the hallway.

“I don’t know. I never got further than the basement,” says Jeremiah, looking around the hall in childish awe.

“Of course you haven’t,” says Emma rolling her eyes. “Some guide you turned out to be.”

“Oh come on guys,” says Jeremiah. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Pretty sure I left mine in the car, but I’ve been wrong before,” says Claire.

Daniel has a light shined at the massive hole in the ceiling above that reveals the next floor hallway. “I think my sense of self preservation is stronger.”

Fighting the urge to sneeze, I said “I’m actually with Jeremiah on this one. Let’s just walk around, and see what there is to see.”

Jeremiah’s eyes lit up. “See! I’m glad at least one of you is having fun.” Jeremiah turned to his sister. “What about you Emma?”

“I’m just here for the ride,” Emma says with her arms crossed.

“Perfect! Majority rules! Now gang, who wants to split up and search for clues?” Jeremiah points his light in our direction which reveals the previously unnoticed load of dust falling from the ceiling above in a way that enhances the movement coming from the next floor.

We all look up at the movement above. “Oh great,” says Claire. “Now Daniel needs to worry about getting mauled by a raccoon too.”

***

Claire and Daniel were led by Jeremiah through the rooms opposite Emma and I. It’s one of those situations that in hindsight, Jeremiah was orchestrating to get Emma and I alone together over the years. As much of a pain as he could be, he was just as much a brother to me as he was to Emma.

“Look at all this,” I said. Emma and I walked into what looked like the remnants of one of the old bunk rooms. There were beds lined along the walls of the room facing inward and packed tightly against the wall from the thin wooden structural posts in front of every other bed from floor to ceiling. Keeping more in line with the prison aesthetic, it wasn’t cozy to say the least. From the looks of things, even before this place got run down, comfort was not top priority for the residents. Still that didn’t stop Emma from Joking.

Emma nudged me with her elbow to get my attention, and with a wink she said “which bed are we taking.”
“How about that one?” I pointed to the bed in the far corner. The frame showed signs of wood rot from exposure to moisture, and some of the ceiling had collapsed on top of it. “Nothing gets me in the mood more than termites.”

Emma just laughed. “I hope Mr Scraggly likes your sarcasm as much as I do.” She turned her body to mine, grabbed my arms, and leaned in. Emma’s pale blue eyes reflected the light of our flashlights like the sea; causing my entire being to melt, but before I could lean in to meet her lips, Daniel’s voice came from just outside the room; and stabbed me like a dagger.

“Hey guys! Come check this out!”

Emma and I looked at each other before she rolled her eyes. “Better go see what all the fuss is about.” Emma probably saw the disappointment in my eyes, so before she started to walk away she gave a quick peck on my cheek. She then whispered one breathtaking word in my ear. “Later.”

With that one moment, the whole night was worth it. My mind was ecstatic, and my heart fluttered like a puppy when its owner got home from work. As I watched her walk out of the room, I thought that nothing could ruin this night.

***

“Alright, what did you guys find?” Asked Emma. When we entered the room where Daniel’s voice came from, we saw Daniel, Claire, and Jeremiah all circling around something against the wall. They were looking at an old photograph hung at eye level showing the students and staff of the school. It also showed two massive slash marks across the center of the picture carrying down deep enough that they gash into the wall.

Jeremiah turned to Emma and I grinning ear to ear. “Danny boy here found our first sign of Mr Scraggly.”

“Oh come on,” says Claire. “Surely you don’t actually believe Mr Scraggly is real. An animal probably just scratched the picture or something.”

Daniel’s eyes are still fixed on the gashes. “Mr Scraggly or not, I don’t think I want to see whatever can make a scratch that deep.”

“Come on!” Says Jeremiah. “Don’t be a…” Jeremiah’s insult gets cut off by the sounds of heavy footsteps pounding quickly across the floor above us, and with that we all changed our attitudes to match Daniel’s. No words were spoken, but like a hive mind we all started walking quickly to the door realizing it was time to leave.

Daniel, regrettably, had managed to speed walk to the front of the pack. As we made it to the hall, we all stopped in shock as a long taloned limb reached down from a hole in the ceiling above to grab Daniel by his head. Each of the four piercing claws had dug into Daniel’s skull with enough grip strength to lift him from the ground causing agonizing screams and gurgles to come from our friend. “Daniel!” Shouts Claire.

I looked around at the others. Claire’s mouth was wide, Emma was frozen stiff, Jeremiah was backing away, and I, I didn’t know what to do. I tried to shout, but nothing came out. Eventually I managed to spew out the word “run.” It sounded more like a grunt than anything. I swallowed my spit and summoned all my might from the bottom of my gut. “Run!” I shouted as I turned my body to start running.

Jeremiah and Emma started sprinting down toward the end of the hall, but Claire was still fixed on Daniel. I grabbed her arm and started sprinting so hard I thought I’d pull Claire’s arm out of its socket. Behind the two of us I heard a loud thump which caused me to briefly turn to see the body of Daniel after it had been dropped to the floor; with neither a sign of what grabbed him nor a sign of Daniel’s head.

***

“Is everyone okay?” I asked as quietly as I could. The now four of us were all bent over panting and out of breath.

“I’m good,” says Emma. Jeremiah just nodded his head. Claire was leaning against the wall catching her breath, and staring off into space. “Claire!” Emma said sternly.

Claire left her daze and looked at Emma with shattered eyes. “Daniel.”

“We know,” I said. It wasn’t exactly the best or most sympathetic response, but what else was there to say? I stood up tall, and looked away from Claire. “Jeremiah. Are there any other ways out of here? Preferably a way that doesn’t involve us jumping off the top floor.”

“Uh,” Jeremiah places one hand on his hip while he thinks before rubbing the other through his hair. “Yeah. There should be a fire escape on the second floor.”

“Should be?” I asked.

“There is a fire escape on the second floor. It was added when part of the building was converted to a public elementary school.”

Emma spoke out. “That sounds great and all, but the second floor is where whatever grabbed Daniel was.” Emma was right, but our options were to go there; or head back over Daniel’s body hoping that whatever grabbed him was gone.

“In case you haven’t realized Emma, we don’t have a lot of options.” Emma seemed almost startled by my tone. I know I came off as short. Actually, I sounded like a panicked prick, but I felt an executive decision needed to be made.

Emma glared at me at first, but she understood. “Alright. Let’s find some stairs.” After a moment of silence she looked at me with heavy eyes. “I hope you’re making the right choice.”

I nodded, and after I took a heavy breath and a gulp I uttered words that I’ll soon come to regret. “I’ll go first.” It took all the strength I had left to prevent myself from collapsing from just speaking those words, but thankfully Emma put her hand on my sleeve which gave me the little push I needed to go forward. Whether going up the stairs was the right choice or not, I sometimes wonder how different things would have been if I let someone else take the lead.

***

The four of us quietly crept through the hall to the staircase. Well, as quiet as the building would allow a bunch of panicked teenagers to move. The decision was made that our lights would stay off, so that we didn’t bring any unwanted attention to ourselves. It was a good idea in theory, but in practice it fell short to say the least. The floor was scattered with debris and old furniture that we kept stumbling over, and if that wasn’t enough there was a hole straight to the roof that caused the warping and rotting of the floorboards from all the overhead rains over the years. We were loud and unable to keep our footing, and In short we all knew this building would be our tomb.

“Here. Here’s the stairs.” Jeremiah’s voice was still broken after witnessing what happened to Daniel, but at the same time he almost sounded relieved. It’s crazy how progress, no matter how small, can move anyone, and get them to hope. Still, even with the little hope Jeremiah was displaying, it was hard seeing him acting so differently than he had before our world became a nightmare.

“Any idea on where the fire escape would be?” Asked Emma.

“It should be in the center of the hall on the back side of the building.” Jeremiah’s words unintentionally had an edge that became more noticeable as he processed his words which made it clear none of us want to walk deeper into this forsaken hell.

“It could be worse,” I said, trying to be reassuring. No one gave a reply. Like what I thought I saw with Jeremiah, I couldn’t push through the fear, but was trying to hold the mindset that things were looking up because at least we didn’t have to walk to the complete opposite side of the building. In the minds of the others though, being in the building at all was still soul crushing.

I started up the steps while Emma’s hand was gripped to my shirt sleeve like we were glued together. Once we made it to the top step I peeked my head up just enough to make sure that our good friend Mr Scraggly wasn’t walking the halls in front of us; and as far as I could tell, he wasn’t. Just an empty hallway. It was just as dirty, but significantly less cluttered than what we had to deal with on the first floor. It also had the added bonus of moonlight gleaming through the windows illuminating our steps which was a welcome change.

“All clear,” I said, leading the way. The four of us all moved single file down the hall until we reached the corner where we’d need to turn right. Once again, I peeked my head through to the moonlit floor to see nothing, and that’s when I learned that the story of Mr Scraggly was wrong. Mr Scraggly doesn’t just walk the halls. Sometimes, he climbs the walls. Or in this case the ceiling.

There was a noise close to us us which caused us all to instinctively look. We were nothing more than prey and we knew it, and we were about to come face to face with what was preying on us.

I started to make the corner with Emma and Claire following close behind. I couldn’t see the source of the sound, but I could tell it was directly in front of us; moving closer and closer. My eyes darted all around trying to find its source before a drip of water hit my shoulder; causing me to look up to see a pair of yellow eyes piercing through the darkness above. “Everyone move!” I shouted.

Too late. Jeremiah was the last in the pack, and Mr Scraggly pounced on Jeremiah at the exact moment Jeremiah had the reflex to look up. Jeremiah’s screams were nerve-wracking. I still feel the same sharp sensation in my body when I think about it. Mr Scraggly tore into Jeremiah like a wrapped present. Clothes flew with the blood and flesh until the screams stopped which thankfully was quick.

The mutilation however, didn’t stop. Claire, Emma, and I were backing away down the hall not able to take our eyes off of the thing known as Mr Scraggly. The disgusting scraggly mass with spindly limbs makes short work of whoever it finds, but what the stories don’t tell you is the ferocity in which its talons lacerate through flesh. Nor do they tell you about the birdlike yellow eyes and unnerving bloodied smile that it gives you when it lets you walk away. I grabbed Claire by the shirt, and Emma by the arm in an effort to break them away from the sight. Emma never screamed for Jeremiah. She didn’t even resist when I started to drag her away. It was as if her very soul left her body.

***

I’m both sorry to say, and incredibly thankful that the rest of what happened that night was a blur. What I can tell you is that we ran, and ran, and ran some more. Eventually we found the fire escape; a rickety old ladder haphazardly janked onto the side of the building. The three of us made it down to see police lights behind the fence. We later learned that Daniel’s parents called the police to report him missing when they realized we didn’t actually go to a concert, and for once I’m thankful they were so nosy.

The three of us ran to the lights, and were surprisingly greeted with handcuffs. Not that any of us complained. The cold steel of the handcuffs felt like a warm embrace when compared to what every step through the school felt like.

The police took us to the station, and questioned us as criminals. I suppose we were trespassing after all. The thing is that they never mentioned that. Never charged us, and never followed up after that night. They just kept asking what we saw while we were in the school, and what happened to our friends; like they didn’t already know.

Come to find out, they never went back in to recover the bodies, and the news just said that a group of local kids went missing in the woods on a camping trip. The absolute load of bull that was ended up being passed off as the “official story” is what led us to suspect the police know what really happened, but are just covering it up. After doing some digging on disappearances throughout Oklahoma, I certainly wouldn’t put it past them, and when you take into account all the stories I doubt we were anywhere near the first.

***

After that night, Claire became distant. I don’t know anyone to hardly ever hear from her again in the following months after our high school graduation. That is until a few months later when the news spread that Claire committed suicide. Maybe it was the grief, a misguided sense of survivors’ guilt, the pain of no one taking her story seriously, or simply what we saw that night was too much for her to carry on in life with the memory. One night that summer, Claire went to one of the local street pharmacists for some pills, and took them all in one sitting. She left no note. No goodbyes. Nothing but a memory.

Emma and I, we just drifted apart, and grew distant. It’s not that we didn’t try to keep things the way they were. It’s just that after that night things were just different between us. We are still friendly on the off chance we see each other. We even set aside time on the occasion to meet. We’ll go out to play catch up, have a drink, and make believe our normality; but still, it’s nothing like how it used to be. We’re working on it though. We’re really the only friends we each have, and we try not to take that for granted.

It’s been a long six years, but as for me, I am not doing too badly. Sure I’m occasionally ready to bite the bullet myself, but as long as Emma is around I keep trying to have hope. And that’s why I’m writing this. It goes without saying that we went through a lot, and all it took was one bad night. So whether you take this seriously or not, just remember, if you ever decide you want to explore the old Jackson Boarding School, or any location with an old urban legend for that matter. Think twice. Because if you don’t, who knows what could happen. Unless you’re lucky, Mr Scraggly will surely find you. Or at least, that’s how the story goes.

Credit: Vincent Dailey Jr.

Author Email: [email protected]

Chilling Tales From Sahpooly County