Beatice High School, Beatrice, Nebraska
by Sarah Phillips
(Wilber, Nebraska)
Charlie Grimille 1983
My mom told me this story just a couple years ago. She went to Beatrice High School and I went to Tri-County (just outside of Beatrice). In 1983 a boy named Charlie Grimille died at Beatrice High School while performing on stage. My mom said he hung himself in front of the whole audience, but I guess it was an accident. For such a small town it was a big and scary deal, but not big enough to make national headline news and I guess it was sort of forgotten. After he died, locals thought the theater was haunted. They heard noises, and there was a superstition about saying Charlie's name in the theater. My mom said she heard that in 1992 there was a substitute drama teacher who came for a couple days. They said he got sick in the theater and left early. Like four days later, his ex-wife hung herself. Weird.
But the really paranormal stuff didn't happen until just a few years ago. In 2008, there were 3 students who broke into the school at night. Why they did it is still not really known, but the next morning when police finally showed up, they were all found hung! I saw it in the Daily Sun myself and it was totally shocking, but when my mom told me the story of Charlie, I was incredibly freaked out. Most people say they committed suicide because the police didn't find any fingerprints or any evidence of an outside attacker. My opinion? The people of Beatrice were scared and tried to cover up the fact that something weird was going on in that school. Nobody talks about it there. Personally I am still confused, and I don't really believe in the supernatural, but I would be lying if I said I didn't think Charlie had anything to do with it. I pulled this picture from the Daily Sun issue on the story.