About a year ago I wrote an article on the Ten Most Haunted Schools on the US East Coast, and it got quite a response due to a particular section written about a ghost haunting Chopticon High School. I am an alumni of Chopticon High School, and while I went to Chopticon High School I would hear many stories of a female ghost that was said to be the unsettled spirit of a woman who once taught at Chopticon High School…a woman by the name of Mrs. Heater.
The story varies from person to person, and many of the accounts told debate the true occurrence surrounding the untimely and tragic death of Mrs. Heater, but one thing mostly everyone agrees on is the fact that Chopticon High School is most definitely haunted by someone…or something. Is the ghost that haunts Chopticon High School the
ghost of Mrs. Heater or is this “hogwash” as some claim?
Mrs. Heater’s Tragic Death
Mrs. Heater was a teacher at Chopticon High School. The topic that she taught is debated by the Chopticon High alumni now, but she was either an English teacher or a Business teacher for in the 1980’s. Mrs. Heater was a teacher that was well-loved by much of the student population, and everyone knew who she was. When she was murdered, the student body and surrounding citizens in the town were quite shaken…not to mention her family was thrown into a battle of emotions and imminent mourning.
A man by the name of Lester Broome (it’s not a made-up name as some claim) was Mrs. Heater’s murderer. Apparently Mrs. Heater was at Chopticon High School one day when a disturbed individual took a knife to Mrs. Heater…taking her life. One source says that she was working at the school during the summer of 1983 when this Lester Broome who was a part of some work-release or handicapped program was cutting grass at the
school. The story goes that Mr. Broome hated Mrs. Heater and wanted to take her out…and so he did. Some say he stabbed her many times and dragged her body from a classroom to the nearest bathroom on the second floor.
Other sources say he tried to hide her body in the ceiling of the bathroom. Where were the other teachers that day? Didn’t anyone hear this going on or see something strange? One Chopticon High alumni says a music teacher named Mr. Jester was also at Chopticon High that day but was in a different section of the building, thereby disabling him from hearing any of the activity. When Mr. Jester went to close up the school and check on Mrs. Heater, he found a trail of blood leading from Mrs. Heater’s classroom to the
bathroom. That was where Mr. Jester found Mrs. Heater’s body.
Lester Broome was tried as a competent adult for the murder of Mrs. Heater and is apparently still in jail to this day. Some references state Lester Broome’s lawyers tried to get him off with an insanity plea…but that plea was said to have been thrown out by the judges. Now, I have to stop here and say that I truly feel sorry for the victim in this story and her family and my heart goes out to them, even to this day. My stepsister knew Mrs. Heater’s children well and confirms that this story is indeed truth…and a very sad truth at that.
Now legends and stories circulate St. Mary’s County and Southern Maryland about a very haunted Chopticon High School. Could these hauntings be the ghost of Mrs. Heater? While we’d like to think that Mrs. Heater is in a better place, it is sometimes true that ghosts reside in places where their lives were tragically taken…so it is quite possible.
A Haunted Chopticon High School
So what sorts of creepy things occur at a haunted Chopticon High School in Morganza, MD? Footsteps are among the most common occurrences in Chopticon’s haunted hallways and classrooms. One source claims she and her friends were standing in one of the hallways of Chopticon High School when they heard phantom footsteps…footsteps sounding like high heels clicking down the hall and walking right next to where they were standing. Needless to say, they were spooked and fled the hallway immediately.
When I went to Chopticon High School, I spent the night the smaller auditorium during a cheerleading fundraiser night. The girls and I were terrified, to stay at the school, even though the stories of hauntings weren’t quite so popular back then…the school still carried an air of “something isn’t right here” and tended to creep most of us out to the point where we didn’t want to leave the auditorium without a large group of girls present. I never heard footsteps or experienced blatant paranormal activity, except the feeling of something being around us…a feeling that I never quite shook.
Feelings of impending doom and an air of uneasiness are quite often felt by students and even teachers that go to Chopticon High School to this day. Could these feelings of discomfort and phantom footsteps be attributed to Mrs. Heater’s ghost? They could very well be.
Is it the Land Itself That’s Haunted?
I am also a believer imprints are left in places, so it is possible the land that Chopticon High School sits on is haunted…and not necessarily the school itself. If you research the history of St. Mary’s County, then you would know that much turmoil has left its energetic imprint on the land.
Before and during the time the English settlers came and began building in St. Mary’s County, there were Natives living in the area. Most of these Natives were eventually driven out or have since died…so the Natives could be haunting the land where Chopticon sits. What about the battles between the Catholics and Protestants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? If one is to do research on the troubles between the Catholics and Protestants in Maryland, much fighting occurred between the English
settlers…possibly causing a residual haunting upon the land of Southern Maryland…and possibly the land where haunted Chopticon High School sits.
What do you think? Is Chopticon High School haunted by the ghost of the woman who died tragically in the summer of 1983 or are these hauntings simply residual energetic imprints left behind by soldiers, settlers, or Natives? Maybe it’s all of these.
3 Notch Paranormal Investigations 
Wow what an incredible story…and yes there are certain phenomena that we have yet to understand…my interest in the supernatural goes way further especially legends in st Marys county that people don’t even know about….there’s more going on than stories like did……like one about the witches so I’ve heard
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Are you referring to the Moll Dyer story in Leonardtown? That’s a great one!
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I owned her old house. And it too was haunted. Dark shadows. Dogs barking for no reason as if someone was there. Laundry detergent flying off shelf and busting all over kitchen floor in middle of night. Someone walking up front deck steps but noone there. My young child having screaming fits in its bedroom at night and locking eyes with something in the corner…get her out of the room and she was fine. 29745 vincent circle mechanicsville md 20659.
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Wow that’s crazy! I’ve lived in Mechanicsville for many years and also attended Chopticon H.S. I know exactly where Vincent Circle is! I wonder who lives there now would love to investigate it! – W
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Went to Chopticon also I lived on Mason drive off of Vincent Circle , the Heaters would let us sleigh ride down there front yard when it was a good snow. Sad story and I remember people being upset in our neighborhood about it.
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Michael Vernon Jr
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That’s definitely her house, I was close with her son and grandkids and it did seem weird there when they lived there also
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This is complete BS. I graduated from Chopticon in 1987, never heard this story or saw any ghosts
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I graduated Chopticon in 1982. I remember Mrs Heater very well. I also remember her murder. She was a business teacher. Lester Broome was a mentally disabled man. He deserves to stay incarcerated forever. She did not deserve this.
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Hi Garry you were a couple years ahead of me but I don’t remember having Mrs. Heater for any classes. I’ve always heard very nice things about Mrs. Heater and appreciate people sharing about her….this way it keeps her memory and spirit alive!!!
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She actually killed in the summer of 84.
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I had Mrs. Heater for a class when I was in 11th grade. She taught a business class and supervised students like myself who got to leave early to go to work. This was the ‘82/‘83 school year. I also sold her my Volkswagen bug. Mr. Jester was my band teacher. He told me the story of seeing the blood (2nd floor) coming out of her classroom and going into the boys bathroom. She was on the floor. Lester Broome hid the knife in the boys bathroom ceiling. He was working at Chopticon on a work release program from the boys home Loretta House. When the police got to the school, he was just sitting on the curb. If Mrs. Heater is haunting anyone, it should be him.
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Hi Nelson…my last year at Chopticon was 1983 – 11th grade, My senior year I was shipped to a very small private school to graduate…thanks to Mr. Taylor lol. I don’t remember Mrs. Heater and I don’t think I had any classes with her. I wonder if she taught the typing classes? I really appreciate people sharing about Mrs. Heater…it keeps her memory and spirit alive~!
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I attended Chopticon High school and had several classes on the particular hallway of her classroom and the bathroom where she was found. The hallway itself had a strange ora and the bathroom was very eerie. It was cold and unsettling, to the point during or traveling to my typing and record keeping class I stopped using it, I would walk the distance to use another bathroom. My seat in typing class was in the front near the door, and I can tell you many times I looked up and out into the hallway because I could hear heels clicking down the hall, to look up and see no one. I did not even know the story of Mrs. Heater until years after I graduated. I generally do not subscribe to the idea of ghost or the paranormal, but the feeling of that particular part of the school was very real.
I can also tell you that my family owns all of the land around Chopticon High. The little house that sits to left of the school adjacent to the tennis courts and in front of the football field is my grandparents home.I spent my entire childhood running all over the farm land around that school as well as the school grounds and I never encountered any type unsettling feelings like I did in that hallway and bathroom.
With that being said I believe that it is most definitely the school itself, and the land that it sits on.
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It wasn’t in 83 it was 85 I believe because I was working with her husband Sam at Mosher Steel in St. Charles when this happened. I remember the police officers coming to get Sam and take him to her. It was very tragic.
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Nelson Blanton is spot on w/ the accounts that happened that day at Chopticon. Beverly or Mrs. Heater, “Peachy” as her family called her, was my second cousin. She was at the school preparing for the new school year, setting up her room, unboxing new supplies etc. I was to go that day to Chopticon w/ my aunt, Mrs. Armentrout, who was the business dept. head. My aunt was Mrs. Heaters cousin. I don’t remember why we didn’t go but I can’t help but wonder if it was a blessing we didn’t or if we had gone, we could have prevented it. We would have been just down the hall from her room, by the school bank.
The school has since been remodeled and looks nothing like it did back then from the outside. Is the 2nd floor layout the same? I’ve always thought about going myself to see or witness any paranormal happenings… I’ve just never had an opportunity to do so.
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I went to Chopticon back then and my children also graduated from there and your right it looks nothing like it used to. Very sad situation.
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