A Lesson on Murder

The Construction of Caledonia Public School took place in the 1870s when Caledonia’s population required a central school that could educate the large number of children residing in the community. Construction was on a tight schedule and the foreman hired to oversee the workers was having trouble meeting deadlines. His workers would leave the site at the end of a long day’s work and not show up in the morning. Stranger yet, they weren't seen around town again. It was as if they had disappeared! The contractor finally got the local constable involved after five workers had gone missing. The constable instructed the toll keeper not to let anyone working on the school leave town, but the next day another worker was missing.

         One day when talking to the contractor, the constable received word of gunshots being heard down by the river during the night. The constable set up camp down by the river, and sure enough after night had fallen, he heard a gunshot sound over the river. The constable searched the riverbanks North and South, but could not find any person, living or dead.

         Just as the constable was making plans to call for an investigation team from the City to assist, a terrified couple ran into his office. They explained that while they were out fishing on the island, they came across a ditch full of human bodies! The constable quickly got the contractor and together they made their way across the river in a small boat. The contractor identified seven of the eight bodies as workers. But neither he nor the constable could identify the final body. They figured that the gunshot heard the night before was the killer committing suicide. He was never identified.

         To this very day people believe that the demon spirit of the killer still lingers on the island, some also believe that the island is haunted by the souls of the construction workers, warning people to stay away!