Things that go knock in the night...

August 14, 2005
California Cops Want to Bust Ghost Hunters
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:15 p.m. ET

REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) -- Police here are determined to bust the legend of Billy's ghost. For more than 20 years, ghost hunters, amorous teens and the just plain curious have flocked to Mariposa Elementary School in the wee hours in hopes of spotting the ghost of a boy that legend says died in the school nurse's office.

Or maybe he was hit by a truck. Or perhaps he split his head open after tumbling from playground swings.

Whatever the actual story, lovers of the paranormal believe little Billy decided to spend his afterlife roaming the school's halls after dark.

The legend may be harmless, but police say they are tired of sending patrol cars to the rural campus to keep trespassers away.

So authorities intend to install a video surveillance system -- not to catch the ghost, but the ghost hunters.

The cameras will be installed within a few weeks and will be partially paid for by a federal grant. Police aren't saying how many cameras will be installed or where.

Police dispatchers will be able to tilt and pan the cameras to keep tabs on intruders.

The legend seems to stem from the real life death of a boy in 1972. Problem is, he didn't die in the school and wasn't even a student there. It's not even clear his name was Billy.
The boy was riding his bicycle down a hill road that dead-ends at the school when he was hit by a truck and killed.

Thus was born the legend, which says, among other things, that if someone knocks on the school's office door at night three times, Billy will knock back.

Will the cameras deter the curious?

''As long as there's a Web site that says it's haunted, and as long as there's teenagers that want to see if it's true, they'll keep coming,'' said police Lt. Russ Dalzell.
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