Abstract noises and illusions of scattering animals stop junior Chris Vu in his tracks. On just a typical Saturday night, a frightening aura hovers over the football field as the set of bleachers becomes a home for wild critters.
The usual cheerful, spirited and friendly atmosphere of Saratoga High during the daytime is the environment most students are used to. The few who have experienced the school at night, though, know of the eerie sounds and images that loom throughout the dark campus and football field.
Junior Chris Vu regularly spends his weekend evenings idly walking around the school’s track to relieve stress from the week, but one night his stress level actually increased as he was accompanied by an unexpected creature.
“I was minding my own business, walking around the track,” said Vu. “All of the sudden I hear a scratching noise coming from the bleachers.”
Vu cautiously looked around to find a pair of eyes staring right back at him. With a rational inclination to scream, Vu scared the critter away.
“To this day I still don’t know what the creature was or why it was there,” said Vu. “All I know is that I am never going back to the high school at night again.”
Within the bubble of the town of Saratoga, the only scary sight residents come across during the daytime might be watching a student react to a bad grade. However, as soon as dawn turns to dusk, some spots in Saratoga can give you the heebie-jeebies.
Another spooky location, Hicks Road, a street up in the mountains past Pierce Road, has been notorious in Saratoga for years for its supposed albino citizens that come out at night and the several eerie “no trespassing” signs.
Over the summer, senior Kaitna Shankar and several of her friends decided to see the infamous Hicks Road for themselves, completely unaware of what was in store for them. As if driving up the narrow mountain road in the darkness wasn’t enough, there were not any signs of life.
“To the left, there’s a lake with signs that say there are no fish due to radiation,” said Shankar.
“On the right there are ‘no trespassing’ signs in front of houses with eerie flickering porch lights or just abandoned houses in general.”
Hicks Road is virtually what you make it, said Shankar. If you’re reluctant to go and have a tendency to see things in the dark, then the trip to Hicks Road will be quite the experience.